Buying A New Tv - Any Advice?

[Rab]

Bought a 60" Samsung well over my budget.

All I wanted when I went in to the shop was a 50" $500 screen

Am totally wrapped.

Wasn't expecting anything (or looking for) 3D

Didn't give a toss about "Smart Screen" stuff

Fark me - am so happy I blew the budget and kids ate noodles for a month.

The 3D blew me away

The "Smart Screen" stuff is actually extremely useable and usefull.

Everything - absolutely everything the Samsung does is brilliant - the touch remote thing is a piece of art. Not in the way that an Apple Touch Mouse is, but in the way that it actually works.

[bloodycrashboy]

My sound system is no match for .Stripes. but connecting to a pc is what I love, the sound system is also hooked into my home network and can access all music content from my pc's.

I built my own media pc a number of years ago, (the silver box) but now you can buy micro systems that will do the same thing for just a couple of hundred bucks.

In the current digital era, it is great to be able to access ALL of the available content and stream it into your living room.

I use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you can buy small form factor keypads) which has a very good range (about 30m)

Playing games is also extremely good through a pc, I haven't experienced mouse lag so I must have a half decent TV.

In short, once you hook up a pc with Internet access to your tv, you'll be wondering why you didn't do it sooner!

[masda74]

Pixy, listen to what .stripes has said. He knows his sh*t.

There are my floor standing B&W, last photo is of my centre speaker and what kids can do to them, even with the covers on.

[image]/http://imgur.com/ESVWLt0[image]

http://imgur.com/yed82NV

http://imgur.com/IasBgY1

[Pixy Angel]

No doubt stripes doesnt but still needed to check first hand ill check with local hifi store to see with they have the Focal.

[masda74]

Shop around as much as you can and listen to all the systems. When you find one that you like, BUY IT.

[Pixy Angel]

Starting now as ive got around 4 months before the walls and ceiling go up.

TV will be no problem picking one it will come down to the sound.

[Pixy Angel]

Dolby Atmos

Not sure if its another money spinner but not all movies are made using Atmos

http://blog.dolby.com/2014/06/dolby-atmos-home-theaters-questions-answered/

Edited 04/04/15 04:58 AM by Pixy Angel

[masda74]

Far out. I was not aware of the Dolby atmos setup.

Thanks for the link.

32 channels makes me

:D

[Pixy Angel]

More info on Dolby Atmos setup room layout.

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/dolby-atmos-speaker-setup/index.html

[Z2TT]

Too hard to mention it all in one post. But 4 years ago my brother and I went on a 3 week long marathan of speaker Auditioning to find the best speaker set upto $6000, and other price ranges. Learn't so much about speakers and Audio beyond what you will read online or hear on the TV.

1st Thing you need to know - There is a big difference between auditioning speakers in a shopfront, compared to a theatre room - then compared to your own home.

2nd - Steve's comment is spot on, once you understand this you will get somewhere.

Listened to every speaker possible almost in the high end market, then we joined a Audiophile enthusiast community, stereonet - Here we heard some of the most purest, mind blowing speakers above anything you can find in a Shop-front, custom builds, made to order sets etc - gear like Lenehan, Zaph Audio, Bakoon.

Do not go by online reviews, if you don't listen to speakers on a proper CD Quality track, you wont get anywhere

Home theatre sound affects vs music is a huge difference.

Focal, Jamo - OK/Good Value for money, Focal were bright sounding like most people have said.

PSB / PMC - Highly reccomend having a listen, with these we found sound quality increases as you spend more but you have to reach the 7-10K area where you really "feel" the next level rather than gradual increase in sound quality

Moudant Short - these were so Neutral and good sounding, very versatile, for the upto $2000 Mark we decided this was the speaker set to buy, but did not buy it.

B&W - Most dissapointing in the lower price ranges, however the high end Sets costing $7000+ were where it began to be very impressive.

Dali's - impressive and recommended, but we found that the 7K sets would give rattles that were unacceptable, whether faulty speaker or not we did not know.

Amplifiers going to make a difference - crap in = crap out. Don't think you can Audition one set off a cheapo amp in one shop, then goto another shop to audition a different brand if they are running a different amp - This really doesn't make it a fair comparison if you want to be picky, but do not worry about it too much so long as what they are using is half decent.

Amps - Jamo/Marrantz AVR's = OK for mainstream, but if your serious you don't run your speakers off an AVR, get a dedicated amp, DAC if you want to squeeze every last bit out, that being said a high end Marrantz amp or similar with decent speakers makes for a very decent sound.

Stereonet group - we met up with some Audiophiles - some of the most purest sounding speaker sets, brands you will never hear of. You will quickly learn lot of the common brand name stuff you just pay a huge mark up to an extent. Walked in a place in Osborne Park (WAR AUDIO), that had some of the purest sounding speakers ever, all custom built to order though. Auditioned a 30K custom built Setup that the guy said would equal to the SQ of the Focal Grande Utopias, it was insane - the sound affects would penetrate your soul, you felt the sound, amazing highs and controlled mids, ribbon tweeters etc, very unique setup, running off Bakoon amps. Basically guys invited us in to stay, we sat there for 2 hours listening to ancient ambient music basically staring at the speakers - some hardcore enthusiasts in there we were just outsiders who just happened to "walk in" on the action right time.

Next met a guy who had a set of Lenehan ML2's - Very good sounding speaker for Music, Standalone DAC, Accuphase amp etc. Unsure if any good for movies but they use the best Morel drivers in them. Some of these guys are mental with their setup.

We heard about the highly recommended Zaph Audio ZD5's - cannot buy them, it's a custom build, you get instructions, sheets and buy the components and do it to exact spec. We found a guy who had a set he built himself he was selling. Came over to his place and auditioned them. Absolutely mind blowing, our jaws dropped. Such a neutral, versatile speaker, will do anything you throw at it. We were most dumbfounded at how deep and controlled bass the Scanspeak revelator 5" drivers can create in a proper setup, it went as deep as any subwoofer. Watched a western movie, you felt the gunshots in your bones and stomach, sharp bass not fatiguing.

Basically the components for this kit cost $1000, all you have to do is build the enclosures. He said it cost him about $3500 to build all up including paint. These speakers sounded so good they would wipe the floor with most 8-12K Sets easily. We bought them off him.

These use a Scanspeak revelator 15W8530K00 woofer & Vifa XT25 tweeter, revelators regarded as one of the best drivers and used in extremely expensive sets. Everytime we listened to these we were just blown away at the sound quality, even running it off an AVR.

So my advice is LISTEN to the speakers in a proper environment, dont go off by reviews/opinions but do follow recommendation to some extent, and take your time if your dropping by just in your spare time to audition speakers that's not the way to do it.

Edited 05/04/15 03:11 PM by Z2TT