Holy jesus pedalhead… you have literally re-sparked my interest in the capitalist system. That's freaking awesome!

I just watched the AV forum video too. Well done!

One question… sofa or easychairs? Don't you have times where there are more than three people watching the film?

heh thanks guys. Took a lot of sweat & blood to turn a derelict barn into that room, but was worth it.

One question… sofa or easychairs? Don't you have times where there are more than three people watching the film?

Well I watch films on the recliner chairs, but yes the lack of a 2nd row can be troublesome. Thing is, I actually bought four pukka cinema seats (as per your local cinema) which were going to form the 2nd row, and kept them in the bottom of the barn whilst I did the build. Unfortunately they were decimated by mice, and I haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. I can shuffle chairs around a bit and get four in the front row, so that covers most occasions…and actually (sadly)…I generally watch films on my tod anyway as one of us always needs to be in the house with the kids (the barn is separate from the main house).

pedalhead

where do you live?

I'll come round and keep you company next time you watch a film

I'll evan bring a bag of butterkist!

@Dave360 – if you buy an amp could you not also stretch the budget a little to get a harmony 1 controller or similar? Then you can teach the controller everything it needs to know 🙂 Personally I bought an Onkyo 577 and just deal with seperate remotes – it's a decent amp for films – the centre channel is a little weak but this could just be that I have the smaller front speaker from the range I use for everything else.

Given the range of controls available on an amp remote these days it's worth looking at the remote to see if it has a 'DVD' section on it – popping into a richer sounds might actually help here 🙂

haha deepest darkest Oxfordshire. I had to build the home cinema coz the mountain biking round here is shite 🙂

lucky enough to have built a dedicated cinema room 4 years ago..

106" electric screen
Infocus 7205 HD PJ (looking to upgrade)
HTPC provides all DVD/blu-ray playback
Pioneer 2014i amp (7.1 THX)
Monitor Audio RS8 floorstanders
MA RSW12 sub
MA – 4 x RSFX wall speakers (surround)
Sky HD

Just recuperating from a hernia op – and while I can't get out on the bike… and getting my moneysworth out of the cinema!

Tobe. I've tried "universal" remotes before and found that even if they do work, I've then got to remember what function has been asigned to what button, which is a pain. so no thanks.

However, you will all be mightily relieved to hear that eventually I got through to someone who told me about Sony Bravia Sync. Seems to do what I want.

Dave

I've tried "universal" remotes before and found that even if they do work, I've then got to remember what function has been asigned to what button, which is a pain. so no thanks

What, the button that says "Watch DVD", "Listen to CD" or "Watch TV", and then turns on all the components as required to the settings you require for that particular activity? One button press, job's a good 'un.

You've plainly been playing with the wrong remotes. I've gone from juggling five remotes to a single one and life's just peachy, ta.

There have been a number of people actually giving you good input on your question, but you seem to be fairly convinced of the way you want to do things anyway, so good luck with that.

Yeah I have to agree there, the Harmony One is superb. I used to hate universal remotes, but this one is superb, and really is easier to use than lots of individual ones.

chalkstorm – nice setup

"a number of people actually giving you good input on your question"

Eh? "buy a universal remote" is the sum total of it as far as I can see…

the other problem with the universal remote that I bought previously was that it needed codes from all of the devices that I had, and I wasn't able to find these, expecially for the TV which is an unbranded LCD / plasma (I'm not sure which, how do you tell?)

So anyway, I've just been looking at the Harmony remote on the Logitech web site.
It doesn't go into any detail about how it works, but it does say that its compatible with Windows. Does this mean that it's set up via a programme on the PC rather than the code entering thing I was talking about?

I'd like to pop into a Richer Sounds, but I'm cunningly placed about 30 miles from both the Brighton and Southampton stores.

Yup, you plug it into your PC (usb), specify which devices you have via the PC software (it contains a database of just about everything out there), download to remote control, and you're done. In addition, you can create macros if you like. Dead easy.

I've narrowed the TV down to possibly 3 models, so I think I'm getting there. I'll get someone to help me take it off the wall later to see if anything useful is written on the back.

I've also been looking at reviews of the Harmony remote. A theme is that it takes "several hours" to set up. Is this true? Macros sound time consuming…

Took minutes to get mine set up. The macros take a little longer, but not much.

Righto then Mr Head, 515 just ordered from Amazon. It'll be here on Saturday which will give me something to do in the post ride stupor. I'll give it a trial run with my existing kit, and if that works OK, I'll take the plunge and get a decent amp and bluray sorted out.

yay good man. Any probs setting it up, drop me a line.

Awesome set up pedlehead, respect!

ta Pedal, appreciated

WAHEY, getting there. New spanky Sony amp & Bluray, plus existing TV n Sky box all working nicely with Harmony controller. A veritable piece of peepee to set up.

I'm re-using the speakers from my old Panasonic 5.1 all in one system. The front and centre speakers work fine, but not the sub-woofer. It's got normal 2 x speaker wires coming out of it but the amp expects a single plug. I've plugged it in using a 2 into 1 adapter, but I'm not getting any sound through it.
Any ideas watsup?

It's possible that your sub is expecting a full signal (no crossover on amp side), to then feed speakers onward from there. This is pretty common on all-in-one systems. Does it have a line level input (RCA/Phono connection)? Should have. Sounds like you're really not going to get the best out of your new kit without a speaker upgrade though.

s'right Mr Head, the amp has got a single RCA socket marked subwoofer, but the sub woofer I've got has got two bits of wire sticking out of it.

The adapter I bought is this one:

When you say "no crossover" are you saying that I should swap the wires over?

Does the subwoofer have a power cable?

no it doesn't, just two speaker wires

I'll pre-empt your answer as "no" and suggest you do NOT connect those speaker level cables to a line level output on the amp. Assuming the subwoofer doesn't have a built in amp (hence the power cable question), it is expecting a speaker (high) level input from the amp, which will have a different voltage range to the RCA line level connection (which is the preferable one in most cases). Some subs have both inputs (REL for example), but I think you're going to struggle to get this "sub" working in this system. You could mess about & try wiring it into a speaker out on your amp, but I don't think it's a good idea for a whole load of reasons. It's also likely that your old amp part of the all-in-one was doing all the crossover tasks, and feeding the "sub" a full range signal may cause it to struggle, depending on how capable it is.

Sorry…a crossover is a component that splits a full range signal into different parts…ie…a crossover in a subwoofer will take a full signal and discard the higher/mid frequencies that it knows it can't handle. Your amp will have built-in crossovers (usually adjustable). The subwoofer line level output on your new amp will, for example, have a crossover setting that might only send frequencies below 80hz or so to your sub.

Again, sorry. Got a good credit card? 🙂

fecknarse. Thanks for the detailed answer. Naive of me to think that systems would be compatible really. And true to form, usual way of resolving problem is throwing money at it..

I'm happy enough with the 5 speakers that do work, so any recommendation for a low cost sub that will work with the amp? Anyone want to sell me one?

OK, quick peek at Richer sounds shows:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/subwoofers/yamaha/ystfsw100/yama-ystfsw100-blk

or

http://www.richersounds.com/product/subwoofers/tannoy/efx-sub/tann-efx
Although it implies that this one needs a power supply. Is this correct?

Alright gents, here my little set up:

Sharp Aquos LC40LU700
Onkyo 577 configured in 7.1
PS3 Slim 250GB
V+ HD box
Cambridge Audio D500 CD player
Mordaunt Short Mezzo 2 (front L+R)
Mordaunt Short Alumni 5 (Centre)
Mordaunt Short Alumni 2 (sides L+R and rear L+R)
Mordaunt Short Alumni 9 (Sub)

The only drawbacks, the girlfriend always thinks its too loud! And with so many remotes they keep falling of the arm of my sofa and making her jump, she's easily scared! Might start looking into harmony one although the Onkyo remote can control tv and fair amount of V+ box, just not the PS3 or CD player.

Question @ thebikechain: have you had to deal with interference? I'm getting it from central heating timer and thermostat controls to my side and rear speakers. I get a horrible squawk every 5-10 minutes or so when the CHS is on! Ta

Don't suppose you can stretch to one of these…

http://www.richersounds.com/product/subwoofers/mordaunt-short/alumni-9/mord-alumni9-blk%5D.

It'll be quite a bit better than the ones you posted. Of course, you might want to look into the specs of your speakers, as I think you might find a hole in the sound between what they're capable of at the low end, and the top end of any sub you get. The perils of all-in-one systems I'm afraid.

hmm. I'll pop into t'shop tomorrow and have a looksee.

Generally, do these separates sub woofers all need a power supply?

The line level output from your new Sony amp to the sub requires amplification at the sub end, and so any sub worth it's salt will have an amplifier built it (and thus require power).

ah, that'll be a pain. Can anyone point me to some subs "not worth their salt" that don't need this?

This is turning into a classic hole in my bucket scenario. It all started because the DVD in my all in one system became noisy, and I thought I might as well upgrade to Blueray….

Sorry Dave, I guess what I mean by "worth it's salt" is…any sub that isn't the kind of sub you already have ;-)…which is essentially not meant to be used outside of it's all-in-one system.

Outside of all-in-ones, separate components such as amplifiers are designed for active subwoofers, hence why you won't find a "separates" amp with a high level sub output.

Slippery slope, this home cinema malarky.

I've fallen through the hole in my bucket and onto the slippery slope.
Richer Sounds here I come…

One more question: if the sub has its own power supply, do I have to turn it on and off manually, or do they come with a remote that I can control with the Harmony?

Some subs have remotes, though most don't. Also, some will automatically go into standby if they don't receive a signal for a certain time (some won't). Generally you'll be looking at manual power on/off, although just like a regular power amp, you could just leave it on all the time (many people do).

Our home cinema experience has been done pretty much on the cheap mostly due to a home cinema / wife incompatibility issue. Happy (ish) compromise is that we have a new TV (Panny 32" G10) and a blu-ray (Sony BDPS360). Part of the compromise was that we could use this as our entertainment centre so had to sound at least reasonable with music only. Sony does a pretty good job. So, because of the requirement for reasonable sound (and on a budget) that pretty much ruled out an AV amp and we have stuck with our hifi amp and speakers (Rotel RA931 and Tannoy Mercury S). Ok, so we don't get the bass end kick that you do from a sub but overall the sound is pretty good for both movies and CDs. More likely to end up upgrading the amp and speakers than going for an AV amp and speaker package though.

ta! The Tannoy EFX one says "switches on and off when a signal is detected" so it's looking favorite.

the Alumni 9 sub that I have goes into standby when it doesn't recieve a signal.

The sub you already have is passive, you could just buy, or make, a cheap passive X-over & use your existing 'sub' if you wanted. try searching on ebay under car stuff, they often have two stereo inputs & one low out & two high out, you want one around 70-80 htz.

If you want a sub then MrNutt is selling a REL Strata for a decent price, I think you'll find him on the first page of this thread, I would of bought it if I hadn't got a stadium at a decent price 😉