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So at the moment in our living room we currently just have a a set of Harmon Kardon Soundsticks plugged into the tv to provide sound for tv/films and then I unplug and plug it into ipod if we want music.
Now my father in law to be has a 5.1 Bose surround sound speaker set up he says we can have as he doesn't need them anymore. Am I right in thinking we just need an AV receiver then we can wire the speakers up and plug tv, blue ray etc into the receiver?
If so I have seen one with built in airplay, so I presume that means we can then use if to listen to ipod music just by changing the source rather than having to plug and unplug things?
Think it was a Pioneer one for about £200 that I have seen, any other recommendations?
Nowt wrong with Pioneer, but I swear by Yamaha.
Our onkyo one is miles better than the Cambridge audio one it replaced. (both under 200 notes)
I have a Yamaha hooked up to my KEF speakers and it's awesome.
If you are hooking up Bluray, then make sure you get one that can handle HD sound codecs - DTS Master Audio, Dolby HD. Sound is the major difference with HD IMO.
Bose speakers likely have weird connections on them. Does the system not come with its own Bose receiver?
Can't really go wrong with Yamaha recievers, just check the in/outputs as things are changing rapidly at the moment and you want a bit of future proofing. As mentioned by ricdiggle, the bose kit may have some strange connections but you can always cut these off and use bare wire.
Yamaha currently are tops for quality a/v receivers, but it generally swaps between them and Onkyo. Pioneer aren't bad either. If you see a good make with AirPlay, then it's really worth considering, because you can stream from an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, without needing a wired connection. I can't comment on Bose speakers, but from what I do know, they're rather over-rated, a bit like B&O; basically life-style stuff, not audiophile equipment.
Denon with kefs job done
+1 KEF 5.1 speakers, top quality.
Yup, just bought one of those to replace my old Yamaha system. Hooked it up to a set of Tannoy speakers. (All from Richer Sounds) The guy in the shop recommended this over the higher end Sony Ihad originally gone to look at as he said the processor was far better.
Glad I listened to him as its fantastic for the money & a vast improvement over the old system.
My old reciever is up for sale if anyone is interested
£65 collected
Gale powered sub £30 collected
Del
Hi everyone, thanks for the comments. I appreciate there might be better speakers, but these ones are free so i'd rather try and just get an av receiver to minimise cost outlay.
Have spoken to my father in law and he says that all the speakers plug into the subwoofer and then you run that straight from the receiver apparently.
Its really the airplay that has attracted me to this av receiver, I know i shouldn't base my choice on a gimmick but its something that will really come in handy for as I have been looking for for quite a while. I was looking at buying an airplay speaker or an airport extreme but this seems to fulfil both requirements.
Hey, anything that you use a lot isn't a gimmick, AirPlay is a useful feature, and, while Pioneer aren't up with the likes of Yamaha and Onkyo, they are still a quality manufacturer. Not everybody wants or needs cutting edge kit. If its what you can afford, and it does exactly what you need, then that's fine.
Have spoken to my father in law and he says that all the speakers plug into the subwoofer and then you run that straight from the receiver apparently.
This sounds very much like a standalone system. I reckon it'll just plug into the telly. No point having a big fancy AV receiver and then only using one output.
This sounds very much like a standalone system. I reckon it'll just plug into the telly. No point having a big fancy AV receiver and then only using one output.
Hmm yeah possibly, will go up and have a look tonight! Thanks for the heads up!