First setup - Possible options and prices

GirRobot

Hey,

I've been considering getting my first proper setup for a while now, and was wondering on general costs/items to get.

I've been mostly looking at a Denon 1610/1910. I'm pretty sure from the looks of them, the 1610 is basically the same as the 1910 but just not 7.1, only 5.1... This would be fine for me, as I would only be getting 2.1 to begin with and then looking into upgrading to some more speakers when budget allows.

The thing in most uncertain about is the speakers themselves. I wouldn't be able to mount anything, so I guess floorstanders would be the best, as there is nothing really for me to put bookshelf speakers on near the tv stand (although i guess some speaker stands could work).

So could anyone tell me what sort of price a 1610 / 1910 would be, and give me some suggestions for speakers? I guess in total I would like to keep it somewhere between 750-900 euro in total. (cheaper would be better too, if its not sacraficing on quality.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/tips/prices etc people can throw my way

GiR/Ben

BadDog

Hi GirRobot, and welcome to your next addiction!

With regard to receivers, there's a few differences between the 1610 and 1910 - one of the deciding factors for me was the HDMI handling. The 19190 can accept pretty much any Video / Audio signal, and then send the picture to the TV over HDMI (I believe it also upscales it, so the picture should look better too!).

The 1610 on the other hand can switch between HDMI sources, but cannot send signals from non-HDMI over the HDMI output, so you need to run more cables to the TV if you have anything like an X-Box or Sky box that doesn't output HDMI.

All-in-all, that means 2 things:
1. Less cables betwwen the Receiver and the TV
2. Less complication when switching sources (you don't have to swith to a different TV input).

At least, that's the way that I understood it - maybe someone else will correct me

For speakers, it's really something that you need to listen to, though I'm sure that a few people on here can give you some recommendations.

Dog

GirRobot

aha, so if im going to be using solely hdmi on everything im connecting, (360, ps3, sky hd+), then im probably not going to have as much of a difference between them to warrant a higher price?

and thanks for the info


EDIT: I should probably add, this will mostly be used for movies and games, not so much just music. I know the choice of gear changes a bit based on the use :P

GirRobot

Oh, and just to throw another question in here too. If I do decide to start with 2.1 and then later upgrade to 5.1 if I can afford it and can convince the gf to have the speakers etc in the room (shes not very fond of cables and were only renting, so cant go digging floors up etc to wire under them or anything), would it change the choice of speakers much? As in, should I go for something that can be matched up to the same set rears/center from the 5.1 set, or is there likely to be much difference if I just get the best I can for the speakers even if there is no matching rears/center

I hope that question makes sence :P

Thanks again for any info and potential prices! Need to figure out how much this will cost roughly and then plan out how I'm going to convince the gf it will be worth it :P

GirRobot

After some searching around and checking out some other websites, I think I have settled on wanting the Monitor Audio BR5s + sub in cherry, they are so damn nice looking and get recommendations all over the place for their price.

Still undecided on the 1910 or 1610 though. Got any advice on which to go for and for what reasons? Also, what sort of general price for the speakers and both the denons will i be looking at?

Depending on how wages end up ( had some screwup with previous ones so aparently i owe work money ) I may be looking at purchasing this month. If not, then I guess next month instead.

Richersounds.ie: John

GirRobot wrote: »

After some searching around and checking out some other websites, I think I have settled on wanting the Monitor Audio BR5s + sub in cherry, they are so damn nice looking and get recommendations all over the place for their price.

Still undecided on the 1910 or 1610 though. Got any advice on which to go for and for what reasons? Also, what sort of general price for the speakers and both the denons will i be looking at?

Depending on how wages end up ( had some screwup with previous ones so aparently i owe work money ) I may be looking at purchasing this month. If not, then I guess next month instead.

GirRobot,

Thanks for the posts & also thanks for BADDog for the posts & assistance.

Ok I'm being honest - it's going to be tough on the €750-900 budget - but when it comes to quality you have nailed it with the 1910/BR5/BRW10 system.

The retail on the Monitor Audio BR5 / BRW10 Subwoofer / Denon AVR1910 is £1150 / €1349 - however that is befor we have gone to work on a Boardie deal!

The best combined price I can do on the above system is £929.95 / €1099.99 delivered - if you opted for the AVR1610 the price would drop to just £799.95/ €949.99 or £849.95 / €999.99 for the BR5 / BRW10 / Onkyo TXSR607 combination.

Whatever you do allow an amount for decent interconnects and speaker cables as these will make or break your system.

All the above kit is available from stock.

As regards adding to a 2.1 system over time (when the GF allows...) I feel that this is an excellent idea and I would always recommend a decent 2.0 system to a poor 5.1 system and I think that this is the best way to build a great system - on the question of matching speakers to a 2.1 system - we would normally recommend that you at least go with the same manufacturer if not the same range - for the main speakers - however there are often exceptions to this general rule as many manufacturers speakers are similiarly voiced and work well together (ie Monitor Audio & Mosscade subs or B & W and Tannoys) so really every system should be looked at on it's own merits - however again I think that your route of building a 2.0 or 2.1 system in the 1st instance is the way forward.

If you need any information on any of the above kit - please just drop me a line (I promise not to take so long to get back to you this time!)

Thanks again and keep me posted,

ATB,

John Mc

GirRobot

I do have one question about the 1610/1910 choice for anyone with the knowhow about them to answer

The only thing I can see that will make any difference between the two is the upscaling - The 1910 can upscale to 1080p and the 1610 only upscales to 480p. However, if I'm only going to be connecting stuff through HDMI anyway, this won't affect me, will it? As in, even if I'm watching a dvd through the HDMI on my ps3, its going to be doing the upscaling itself (as far as I'm aware). As such, assuming that is true, is there actually anything I'm missing on the 1910 that makes it worth purchasing over the 1610 for me?

GirRobot

Oh, and one more thing! I have all the interconnects for the stuff I will be hooking up, but I have no speaker cable. Do they come with cables etc. themselves?

Unless there is any major changes, i'll probably be going for the 1610 + br5s and brw10, With a bit of work, I've managed to pull another 75 euro for the fund, so got 975 total to work with, which nicely fits for that stuff. Bit more than I was looking to spend, but I would rather get quality than sacrafice too much and have the overpriced rubbish stuff.

M00lers

GirRobot wrote: »

I do have one question about the 1610/1910 choice for anyone with the knowhow about them to answer

The only thing I can see that will make any difference between the two is the upscaling - The 1910 can upscale to 1080p and the 1610 only upscales to 480p. However, if I'm only going to be connecting stuff through HDMI anyway, this won't affect me, will it? As in, even if I'm watching a dvd through the HDMI on my ps3, its going to be doing the upscaling itself (as far as I'm aware). As such, assuming that is true, is there actually anything I'm missing on the 1910 that makes it worth purchasing over the 1610 for me?

GirRobot wrote: »

Oh, and one more thing! I have all the interconnects for the stuff I will be hooking up, but I have no speaker cable. Do they come with cables etc. themselves?

Unless there is any major changes, i'll probably be going for the 1610 + br5s and brw10, With a bit of work, I've managed to pull another 75 euro for the fund, so got 975 total to work with, which nicely fits for that stuff. Bit more than I was looking to spend, but I would rather get quality than sacrafice too much and have the overpriced rubbish stuff.

Hi,
I'm not 100% certain, but other than the scaling which you are aware off the other differences I can see are slightly more power on the 1910 which should in theory make your speaker sing a bit better. You also have the option of bi-amping your speakers using the extra channels of the 1910 which should again in theory make your speakers sound better. So in summary the 1910 will/should sound better than the 1610.

You will need speaker cable as it's not supplied with the amp/receiver. John will sort you out with suitable cable.

Hope that helps and good luck with whatever you decide. Either amp will sound great with the MAs, you can be sure of that.

Edit.....I've just seen the price John gave you for the 1910 and speakers, go for the 1910, if you don't you'll die wondering.

GirRobot

moolers2000 wrote: »

Hi,
Edit.....I've just seen the price John gave you for the 1910 and speakers, go for the 1910, if you don't you'll die wondering.

Hehe, yeah I know what you mean. I've been throwing the question around in my head for ages. The problem being, even with all the scrimping and saving and getting people to pay me the money for bills etc. they owed to get every penny I could together, the max I can get is 975 euro Transferred into pounds that would get me ~850 pound.

That's still 70 pound under the 1910 price (it seems the exchange rate atm favors paying in pounds anyways).

Basically the only thing atm that is stopping me saying Yes, I'll take it! is the thought that the 1910 deal is still quite close price wise and is probably better value.

M00lers

GirRobot wrote: »

Hehe, yeah I know what you mean. I've been throwing the question around in my head for ages. The problem being, even with all the scrimping and saving and getting people to pay me the money for bills etc. they owed to get every penny I could together, the max I can get is 975 euro Transferred into pounds that would get me ~850 pound.

That's still 70 pound under the 1910 price (it seems the exchange rate atm favors paying in pounds anyways).

Basically the only thing atm that is stopping me saying Yes, I'll take it! is the thought that the 1910 deal is still quite close price wise and is probably better value.

GirRobot,
Maybe wait a week or two and try and save a few more quid...I reckon the wait and extra expence would be worth it esp when you're that close.

Has to be the 1910!!!!

GirRobot

Hey john,

Moolers here has been doing a bit of convincing it seems. I do wanna stretch for the better one if I can.

How often do special deals come up with like display model/open box etc. for the 1910? Would I be worth waiting it out a bit for one? I'm trying to think of anything that can help squeeze it into the price range! I have roughly 850 pound (depending on conversions) or 975ish euro. so its about 80 pound out from your price on the 1910/br5s/brw10 combo, so with some form of potential openbox etc. deal on the denon (if they come up enough to make it worth waiting for) I may be able to pick this combo up within my budget (which would please the GF to no end. She is already doing the 'your spending how much on that?!?' stuff ^^)

And as an additional - what sort of price would I be looking at for some speaker cables if they don't come included?

Oh yeah, and thanks again for having this forum! Normally with this sort of stuff you have to go out and buy from some random website or store, with no interaction from the people you are buying from.
I would have probably never stumbled across Richersounds if it wasn't for the forum here and the open friendly way you guys keep in touch with people and do what you all can to help everyone in any way you can (the recent thread by AshMiller asking people how they are getting on with their TVs and even offering to post out a usb stick with the updates to someone is a perfect example) has definitely been a very large part in my choice to do business with you guys (whichever option I end up going with).

M00lers

Hi GirRobot,
I was just letting you know the other differences between the 2 receivers that had not been mentioned. If the 1910 is not in your budget let it go or you could ditch the sub for the time being.
I take it you plan to get a center and rear speakers at some point anyway so why not push out the sub.
You're doing this the correct way i.e building your system slowly but I would get the best amp and front sound stage I could first, then add the rest when you can. You'll end up with a much better system that way.

Cheers,
Moo

GirRobot

moolers2000 wrote: »

Hi GirRobot,
I was just letting you know the other differences between the 2 receivers that had not been mentioned. If the 1910 is not in your budget let it go or you could ditch the sub for the time being.
I take it you plan to get a center and rear speakers at some point anyway so why not push out the sub.
You're doing this the correct way i.e building your system slowly but I would get the best amp and front sound stage I could first, then add the rest when you can. You'll end up with a much better system that way.

Cheers,
Moo

I'm gonna be a bit of a pain here, while I try and figure out the best way for me to get stuff.

What sort of price would I be looking at for:

Denon 1910 and the set of BR5s, but without the sub.
Also, what price would it be if I added the centre to that, to begin the surround stuff without trailing cables everywhere yet :P

And as mentioned above, cost for some speaker cable to connect it all up :P

Thanks,

GiR

GirRobot

Bump

Richersounds.ie: Kenny

Just sent you a PM Gir with some prices.

Hope they help!:)

GirRobot

Hey guys, I spoke with Kenny on the 18th and sorted out the details of this, and he said that the br5s (i think it was anyways) in the cherry were out of stock at the time, but should be in and ready to be sent out to me on by the next friday (25th). Just wondering if there has been any update on this? Sent you both a PM over the weekend but I know you guys must get a ton of PMs and some get lost in the masses

Thanks again,

Ben / GiR

Richersounds.ie: John

Gir,

your ears must be red hot - I think the guys were just trying to call you!

I'll kick them and get them on the phone now!

ATB,

J

GirRobot

Just got the update from Dave Thanks for the info!

Seems my phone wont accept phone calls at the moment for some unknown reason. Have no missed called but voicemail messages, which is why he couldnt actually get through to me.

EDIT: Are any of the other colours in stock at the moment? Off work for the next 4/5 days so would be perfect for being here for delivery and getting some time to set it all up and have a play with it

GirRobot

Just checked with the gf, she is fine with it in walnut or cherry, just not black. So if you guys happen to have the walnut in stock, I'll gladly go for that instead of the cherry as its not in stock atm.

Lemme know if this is possible - I gave kenny the payment details and delivery address etc. already, so incase my phone still isnt working (i updated the firmware on it now, so maybe it will) we should be able to confirm everything over pm/email I assume?

-GiR/Ben

GirRobot

Just as an update - Decided it would be best to call the shop as they could just check the stock ;P

Spoke to Matt and got it all sorted.

Thanks again to everyone involved!

MAJJ

You are going to love the BR5s, the sound is going to blow you away. That's from someone with only the pair of floorstanders. Please post up your feedback on them when their all set up and ran in.

Enjoy!