Advice AV Advice please!

[Vae]

Hi all

This is going to be a bit rambly so bear with me! I'm hoping someone more familiar with AV setups can give me some advice or identify options.

My current setup is as follows:
40" Sony TV (KDL40EX403U) into which I have
Virgin HD box
PS3 (for streaming from a ReadyNAS Duo)
Wii, DVD
Also present are an iPad, 2x iPhone's and 2x PC's

I'm about to mount the TV on the wall above our fireplace and I'm locating all of the other stuff into the Fireplace and would like to be able to improve the sound from the TV etc.

I'd like to be able to stream music to some speakers (or a soundbar) in the room as well without having to do so through the PS3 and TV or using a standalone cheapy CD player (+speakers).

1) Speakers/Soundbar
Speakers would seem a better option overall than a soundbar but the soundbar might be a cheaper/easier solution as it wouldn't require me to run extra cables to speakers.

If I go the speaker route what are the options? 2 speakers, 2.1, 5.1? I could mount 2 small speakers either side of the TV screen as there might not be room in the front corners of the room. Also running speakers to the rear corners would be a pain and untidy. If there's a subwoofer where should that be located? Then what speakers should I get?

I assume I would need an AV receiver to drive the speakers unlike with the soundbar? Given the PS3 and Virgin HD box is choosing an AV reciever inevitably the better solution?

2) Streaming
I don't think a multiroom (Sonos or squeezebox) setup would be useful because our lounge is open to the kitchen and near enough to the study that we wouldn't use different music in different areas and we don't tend to use music in the bedrooms.

Airplay seems to be a contender using the iphones or ipad to remote control itunes on one of the PC's. Unfortunately, short of streaming from the ipad/iphone to the airplay speakers, there doesn't seem to be a way to stream directly from the NAS to the airplay speakers.

In terms of Airplay devices I notice that there are now AV receivers such as the Marantz NR1602 with airplay built in but they seem to be quite pricy and I need to be able to justify the cost/benefits to my wife (especially as she's also on these forums)!

Is there any other solution?

 

[DaGaffer]

Don't bother? If all your music is on your iPad/iPhone anyway, just invest in a good sound dock (there are some excellent soundbars - Orbitsound for instance - with iPhone docks already on them).

The other alternative would be something like Philips Streamium, which is a lot cheaper than a Sonos and uses your existing wi-fi so could pull from your ReadyNas directly and supports shitloads of formats. My only comment about that would be I've never owned a Philips product that lasted more than a year before it broke.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I'm personally keeping an eye on Onkyo AV/speaker packages. I'm just the same as you with the HDTV, SkyHD box, PS3 and streaming audio/video through the PS3.
My Toshiba TV has Onkyo speakers built in and they are a lot better than built-in TV speakers I've had on previous models. I also consider the pricing of these AV/speaker packages to be reasonable compared to more expensive makes (like the Marantz you mentioned... that's £500 for the AV *alone*)

There are a few models depending on price and capabilities.
HT-S3405 goes for about £250 (Richer Sounds) and is not bad for an all-round 5.1 AV + speakers solution. It can natively decode most audio formats, but lacks network connectivity.
HT-S5405 goes for about £350 (Richer Sounds) is is an improvement over the 3405. It has Audyssey2EQ which takes into account the acoustics of your room to deliver improved sound. It also has a USB port on the front to connect up your iPod/iPhone/USBstick and play the music directly from there.
HT-S6405 is the latest version and goes for about £500 (Peter Tyson). The extra feature here is the network connectivity to stream audio from another media source on your network (think PC, Mac or NAS here). It has the A2EQ and USB port of the 5405, but £150 is a big hike for just the network connectivity.

I'm personally looking at the 6405 for when I get around to mounting my TV and making my false chimney breast. Remember, these are packages. They have the AV + 5.1 speakers for one price.

 

[Zenith.UK]

1) Speakers/Soundbar
Speakers would seem a better option overall than a soundbar but the soundbar might be a cheaper/easier solution as it wouldn't require me to run extra cables to speakers.

If I go the speaker route what are the options? 2 speakers, 2.1, 5.1? I could mount 2 small speakers either side of the TV screen as there might not be room in the front corners of the room. Also running speakers to the rear corners would be a pain and untidy. If there's a subwoofer where should that be located? Then what speakers should I get?

I also thought I might have a problem with cabling, but I've decided that I'm going to go with coving as trunking.
False chimney breast in the front, plastic coving running around the top of the walls, cabling run through the coving, and the rear speakers mounted on the rear wall with short drop downs for the cables.

Something like this...
http://www.interplast.co.uk/pubcontent.asp?subcatID=193

 

[Vae]

DaGaffer - All our music is on the NAS drive so an iphone dock is not really an option. Soundbar would be easy and neat but I would still need a way of streaming the music to it rather than the PS3 and TV.

Zenith - The only problem with a non-network connected amp is the issue of streaming music from the NAS. Given that we have iphones/an ipad the airplay solution seems the best solution as opposed to using the built-in DLNA network functions to choose the music from the NAS.

I've noticed that Richer Sounds have the Denon 1912 http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avr1912/deno-avr1912-blk for £350 today (and other online shops do as well) which has airplay. So I would just need to team it with some speakers. I haven't found any cheaper airplay receivers cheaper than this so far.

 

[Vae]

I also thought I might have a problem with cabling, but I've decided that I'm going to go with coving as trunking.
False chimney breast in the front, plastic coving running around the top of the walls, cabling run through the coving, and the rear speakers mounted on the rear wall with short drop downs for the cables.

Something like this...
http://www.interplast.co.uk/pubcontent.asp?subcatID=193

That's an option although possibly not a popular one with the wife. I think the answer is more likely to be that we don't need 5 speakers!

 

[DaGaffer]

DaGaffer - All our music is on the NAS drive so an iphone dock is not really an option. Soundbar would be easy and neat but I would still need a way of streaming the music to it rather than the PS3 and TV.

Something like this then:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4028648/art/lg/hlb54s-blu-ray-sound-bar.html