[gregmantis]

Hi,

I'm thinking about making my first foray into surround sound. Right now I'm looking at this receiver:

Yamaha RXV361 (AV Receiver) - £119.95
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=YAMA-RXV361

mainly for the 2 optical inputs, to go with these speakers:

Yamaha NSP 110 - £79.95
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=YAMA-NSP110

I think I am right in assuming that then all I need to do is hook optical cables from both my sources into the receiver, and cables from the receiver to the speakers and I'm ready to go - Does this look reasonable?

One thing is though that I don't have any table space for any speakers and wall mounting is not an option so either they will all be on the floor (with the rear ones behind the sofa) or on stands.

I assume the stands option will be better, but I really don't want to spend loads.

This set caught my attention:

Sona Set of 4 Glass Base Home Cinema Speaker Stands - £29.99
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...tm#producttabs

They say "Universal fixing kit." which could mean anything. I saw in the PDF manual for the speakers linked to from the Richer Sounds Website that they say:

Quote:

The following optional accessories are needed for mounting the speakers on commercially available speaker stands.
* Inquire at your authorized YAMAHA dealer for the optional accessories.

but then the diagram shows the mounting at the bottom, whereas the picture of the stands makes it looks like they mount from the rear which confuses me even more.

A fair bit of googling has still not provided me with a definitive answer - only some links to people appearing to be selling them both second hand, which is promising - , so I am turning to you, the good people of this forum to help me .

Does my suggested setup look reasonable (I haven't set myself a strict budget, but I'm certainly approaching the upper limit with my pricings here)?

Do I need stands?

Would those stands work? Would I need extra attachments to use them?

Thanks in advance

Greg

[KevIW]

Me and my father in law both have this Yamaha Amp and Speakers and its really good for starting off in Home Cinema.
He bought the stands you are talking about and they fit fine out of the box. The diagram shows bottom mounting but also they are rear mounting. Your connection plan is correct you get all the speaker wire you need in the box. Just buy the optical cables. Have fun you will love the sound!

http://www.soundandvision.co.uk/more...Google-Adwords

£195 inc del

[sleem01]

Hi Gregmantis/KevIW,
I too am looking at purchasing the Yamaha AV63 theatre kit which comes with the NSP110 speaker set. I too have my doubts about the speaker fitting however and have just emailed a retailor of the kit that says that they cannot be rear mounted, except for hanging on a wall i.e. they have no screw fitting but only two holes for hanging on fish hooks or similar.
Please could you confirm how you mounted yours in the end? I currently have 4 x Alphason stands with universal fittings for only rear mounting speakings, each feature a single threaded screw design if that makes sense. Ideally I do not want to have to buy new stands and so this is likely to affect whether I choose to go with this or not at the moment.

Many thanks if you can help,
Scott

[KevIW]

Mine are wall mounted but my father in law definately has them rear mounted on stands. His stands came with multiple fixing options that enabled a bolt for want of a better term being there so the eye on the speaker could locate. Can you post a link to your stands.

[sleem01]

Thanks for the quick reply. Had my stands for quite sometime, but just searched around and found a place that still sells them:
http://www.standanddeliver.com/acata...ials_SS20.html

[Deacon1972]

The Yamaha RXV361 is a good starter amp but for an extra £30 you can get the RXV363 which does have a better specification, notable the addition of HDMI, which is 1080p compatible, it also has component switching, 3 in/1 out, also HD compatible, this will give you a certain amount of future proofing, especially if you are going to be adding any HD sources to your system at a later date and TV connections are limited.

It also includes auto setup and audio delay.

Well worth the extra £30 IMO.

http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk/produ...FSNPMAodvWKhqA

[sleem01]

I agree, well the kit I was looking at is AV63 pack which combines the RX363 amp with the NSP100 speakers and can get that for about £199, for me it all depends on the speakers.

If not then my next option is the Sony DDWG800 or the Sony HT-SF1300, both are a bit more expensive but means I can either make use of existing stands or simply use the tallboys that come with the latter.

Just out of curiosity, would you happen to know which of the three is the best spec system for the money?

The more I look into it, the more options or questions I seem to be asking myself lol.

[Deacon1972]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleem01

I agree, well the kit I was looking at is AV63 pack which combines the RX363 amp with the NSP100 speakers and can get that for about £199, for me it all depends on the speakers.

If not then my next option is the Sony DDWG800 or the Sony HT-SF1300, both are a bit more expensive but means I can either make use of existing stands or simply use the tallboys that come with the latter.

Just out of curiosity, would you happen to know which of the three is the best spec system for the money?

The more I look into it, the more options or questions I seem to be asking myself lol.

There's not really a lot to tell them apart, they are all basically of the same power/connections but the Sony models do have an extra HDMI input which could be useful in the future.

The speakers on the Sony DDGW800 do look to be better quality than the ones Yamaha are offering, now whether they will have a better sound quality I don't know.

The Sony HT-SF1300 system is measure at 3ohms, this is where they get the 1000watts, you wouldn't get this in reality, I'm normally put off by manufacturers and systems that advertise their systems in this way, so personally I would drop this model from the list.

Ideally you would need to hear all three systems if you can, then you will be able to make your final decision, because once you have decided all models will take care of all your connections it's the sound quality which will be important to you next. I have always found Sony to be too bright for my tastes, I much prefer sound quality of the Yamaha, it's still very detailed but has a warmer sound. When you demo the systems take a few discs of your own to try out, something you know well, this will help in making the decision, and try to go to a dedicated dealer, not one of the high street stores as their systems are rarely setup correctly.