Page 1 of Seperates Home Cinema Advice

Hi

I`m upgrading my current Stereo Hifi to have Surround Sound

My Current system is:

TV: Sony KV32LS35
Amp: Arcan A85 biwired to...
Speakers: KEF Q35.2`s

I am going to keep the Stereo circuit "Pure" by using the Pre-outs of a Surround Amp and plugging them into the Arcam for the fronts, but I need some advice on matching equipment.

In terms of Amps:

I like the look of the Marantz SR4300 and the Sony STRDB-1080 but which one would sonud best with the Arcam (I suspect the Marantz would becuase its more musical)

In terms of Speakers:

I would like to keep to KEF products, either the Cresta series Centre and Cresta 1 (both cheap) or maybe the older versions of the Q85 Centre and Q95 Surrounds. However, these are ageing and I`m not sure they would go well with the "newer" electronics. I like the idea of the 77DS Mission surrounds but I wouldn`t know what Centre speaker to match them with...

...any Ideas????

Greg

If I were you, I`d definitely go for the Mission M77DS as rears, and find a KEF centre to match in with your fronts. I`d say it`s more important to get the front three matched than the centre and rears. You could also forego the centre for the moment and run the surround amp in "phantom centre" mode - I do this with my Naim pre/power amps and Shahinian Arcs (with M77DS surrounds), and it works well - in my case it would be hard to find something that matched the Arcs, hence the phantom centre. I`m sure both the amps you mention will run as phantom centre - might be worth checking that this would work via the pre-outs (I use a PC as decoder, so it`s not quite the same!!).

HTH

Richard`s right you know, the Kef fronts will help no end in this respect thanks to their tight focus in the soundstage - so running in phantom mode,( which will pass through fine from the pre out sockets), will suffice with very little compromise for now. When you can afford it the Kef Uni Q centre from the current range will be a great match for your fronts - Kef have always made strong centres, and the Uni Q is no exception.

If you can track down some 77ds, buy 2 pairs so you can utilise the second pair for the surround back output for 6.1 sound - once you`ve got it you`ll never go back to 5.1!

As for recievers, What Hifi gave the Sony 1080 a good response - much to my besumement, i thought it was average - but i know the Marantz 4300 is a superb piece of kit, and yes it`s warm balance will make the most of your Arcam. You should certainly audition the Sony, it`s not the worst reciever in the world, but seeing the Kef`s and the Arcam in your list suggests you like your music and to my ears the Sony is too hard edged and upfront to make a good fist of anything other than dance music.

Let us know what you think!

Westy

Thanks for the advice Westy

In the end I plumped for the SR4300 with a KEF Cresta C (£59.99) and a pair of Mission 77DS rears (£99.99) now hanging proudly behind my seating position. I have to say that when I first spun AOTC I was blown away!. Even listening to something like War of the Worlds through Dolby PLII sounds fantastic. Unfortunately I can`t put in a centre rear as I have a galley kitchen behind me with an entranceway and knowwhere to put another speaker. 5.1 will have to do until I move I guess.

The only niggle I`ve got is the Marantz and the Arcam both run off the same frequency with the remote, so if I use the volume on the Marantz, the Arcam volume goes up too! (which isn`t good because the volume for the fronts should be control by the pre-out gain from the marantz, the Arcam Master volume remaining constant) Also, If I just want to listen to plain old stereo I can`t just turn the Arcam on from Standby because the Marantz comes on too! Does anyone know if you can get the frequencies changed? (Unlikely)...oh and before anyone says it, yes I am a lardarse and I can`t be bothered to do the thing manually!!! :)

Cheers

Gregww