Hey guys, moved into my new place a few months ago here in Bulimba and I am looking into buying a home theatre package for my living room. I s*** you not, I used to run a measely Altec Lansing 1xSub and 2xSpeakers and boy did they pump for $100 lol. Anyway, on new years they decided to give up on me, and now I need something new and pumping.

I don't have any idea when it comes to Home theatre audio, but had a look in Harvey Norman and Jb in carindale and I thought their range was somewhat limited and not too impressed by what they had.. I looked online at todds hifi and they had a nice selection: http://www.todds.com.au/www/Products/Speakers+&+Subwoofers

I also stumbled across yamaha's website and saw this puppy: http://www.yamahamusic.com.au/products/avit/htsystems/YHT-975BGII.asp

But really I have no idea, and was wandering what your experiences/opinions are on this topic.

thanks.

Places like WoW, JB and possibly a few other big joints (never been to todds, too far away from me) will actually let you listen to combinations of amps/speakers. Any joint worth a toss should also have someone there who can guess which combo would sound good in your size room and which one would simply be overkill.

I would say a lot of it comes down to personal preference about how you want your sound to sound. I absolutely HATE the way my friends car stereo sounds, it's all bass/midrange with very little trebble and sounds like complete ass yet he loves it & hates my trebble filled setup (which also has lots of bass).

edit: It's probably a stupid thing of mine but, I stay away from anything kenwood after having a kenwood stereo die on me, my friends kenwood car stereo died both probably within a year of being bought and so did a kenwood stereo I had given to me (parts of it still work) so kenwood =


last edited by whoop at 21:31:44 06/Jan/07

when it comes to home audio theres one saying that never fails -
you get what you pay for.

So don't be skimpy on home audio if your really serious about getting a decent system otherwise you will be disappointed. I'd say don't go anywhere else but WOW or JB and if possible buy directly from the supplier.

got it, no kenwood.. I guess I'll shop around, find the right product for me and ring around and get the price.. Cheers.

The Yamaha NS series of reference speakers are apparently frightening to listen to... in a good way. They reckon the soundstage they create is unbelievabley awesome. The top of the Range package NS-*HX(arround $10K) is what I am keen on getting for our new house. Eastwood Hi FI gave them a big wrap when they reviewed them. I dont care what some audiophiles reckon, but Yamaha make some great stuff. I still have a 5 dsic cd and a yamaha amp running into a couple of Krix 'Lyrics' speakers and it still sounds awesome after a decade...

oOoOoO

my mouth waters at the thought. fresh home theatre is exciting.

I live in Hawthorne bloke, so just down the road from u i'd imagine...

If you like, you could come have a listen/demo of my setup - B&W 600 series.


I am bias towards B&W, obviously, because I own some... but I only own some because I did the s*** of my research and listening before i bought em.

B&W speakers are used in
- Skywalker studios (George Lucas THX recording studio)
- Sony Music recording studios in New York
- Abbey Road studios
- 80% of all classical recording studios

so yea... gimme a hoi if u want to pop round, bring some music, dvds, whatever...

imo all the s*** they sell at JB and wow is trash.

Depends
Are you after PC based or traditional audio setup?
How bigs the room
Is it confined (ie close the door or just a half wall divider etc)

http://www.lenwallisaudio.com.au

This is the only store you need to visit..Look at their site for information and prices and then go from there..they are based in sydney,but get brand names and that then do shopping round here..

these - http://www.lenwallisaudio.com.au/products/details.php?pid=1199 are the loudspeakers used in those studios i mentioned. a cool $35,000 a pair.

The 600 series is far more affordable you will notice.

If you still want to go for a PC speaker setup, Creative Gigaworks 7.1 S750 Speakers ~ $770 @ CA
I've got em hooked up an they have a pretty big sound for such little fellas
Might help that I have them paired up with creatives x-Fi soundcard

I use headphones for my pc, I'm just after something purely for home theatre, dvd's etc etc..

I stumbled across this place this morning.. they are an enthusiast retail outlet down in Victoria: http://www.carltonaudiovisual.com.au/

I rang them and told them I'm from Brisbane and they could think of only one place in Brisbane when it comes to good s***: http://www.northsidehifi.com.au/

I'm tossing up between these 2 setups (and whateva this shop up in brisbane has):
http://www.yamahamusic.com.au/products/avit/htsystems/YHT-975BGII.asp
http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/1205monitor/


I heard the "Monitor Audio Silver RS 6 Speaker System" is incredible when it comes to sound quality and value for money. I'll keep ya's posted.

last edited by Marty at 20:08:11 07/Jan/07

As bargain said probably best to listen to a rig , speakers are like a fine wine, it depends of your pallet (ear) B&W do make some mighty fine s***, love the 700 series and well if I won lotto the 800's would be up there in the top three picks. If you can try and get a listen to some Boston Acoutics (M series i think)as well. As bargain pointed out B&W are used in a LOT of the big recording studios and for mastering, the only other speakers that even come close to that level are th NS Yamahas I mentioned. Apparently a lot of current modern music is mastered on either speakers set, so they must be good.

Funnily enough tonite I fired up my Krix Lryics with some mighty fine Tommey Emmanuelle guitar s***z, crancked it up and f*** me they are STILL awesome speakers. I was figuring on selling them when I did the uber house upgrade but man after listening to them again tonite, I'll hang on to them forever...might throw them in the bar/billiard room in the new house.

I have a nice set of Jamo surrounds sound floor sytems on my HT setup at the moment and they do a fine job, a bit clinical in their response but everyone who has watched a movie at our place is impressed with the 'pressure' they can generate. The Jamo E770 system which uses a newfangled 'decoupled tweeter' system is also supposed to be brilliant, they won the EISA 2005/6 surround sound package for Europe.

* offer applies here as well Marty, if you want to come listen to my Jamo's ....no problem.

those yamaha's are pretty good for the money, but check out the Jamo S606's.

we've got them at work and they're pretty respectable for the money. couple that with a nice amp, like a yamaha RXV1700 or a marantz 5001 and they'll go well.

but boston's are where it's at if u want something a little nicer.

where do u work erik?

Just checked out the Yamaha site again and they new Soavo range of top end speakers looks very tasty indeed, especially the non parralell design they use as it relates to acoutsics. The tech/design specifics are interesting indeed.

I'd like to get a listen to a set of those babies as well.

bargain - harvey's indro