Home cinema - AV2 with 2 x 140's ? worthwhile ?

Posted by: Roy Donaldson on 05 August 2003

Hi there,

I'm currently using a nice 72/140/flatcap combination for music, which I've been very much enjoying over the last few years now.

I'd wanted to put some home cinema into my house and decided initially upon buying the Yamaha DSP-E800 which allows me to send a line level out to my front system (no centre) and then use the Yamaha to power the rear speakers.

Now, I've booked to listen to an AV2 (which I'm really looking forward to) and wondered what people would think of using the AV2 with 2 x 140's, one for the front 2 speakers and another (probably second hand purchase) to power the rears. I'd probably consider still running it with a phantom centre as I don't have space for another speaker at present.

I know there are newer amps, 150, 175 and wondered what people thought of my idea as a relatively cheap way to get into a proper AV setup in the house ?

Thanks,
Roy.
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by Simon Matthews
Off subject but a hicap for the 72 would do loads to improve musical performance in 2 channel.
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by Frank Abela
I haven't done it myself, but running 140s with an AV2 should give a great result sicne the 140 is a lovely little amp which does nothing wrong and a lot right! Not that impressed with running a phantom centre however. The more I hear surround sound systems, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that the centre is absolutely essential as part of the solution. Running phantom is ok as an intermediate stage, but you really need to think of it as intermediate.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by Phil Sparks
quote:
Not that impressed with running a phantom centre however. The more I hear surround sound systems, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that the centre is absolutely essential as part of the solution


Interested to hear that. At the mo I have a sony projector firing onto a plain cream wall. At the bottom of the picture are the kans of my main system. the kans are just at the bottom of the picture (i.e the bottom edge of the picture is about an inch above the kans) and they are about 6" inside the picture, so the outside edge of the picture is a few inches wider than the kans outside edge. My plan was to go with a phantom centre as having 3 kans in row separated by only a couple of feet would not go down well in our lounge.

I guess one alternative for me would be to treat the kans as the centre (hit the mono button on my 82) and get 2 small satelites a bit further away for the main stereo sound - Grahams were recommending some small spheres that I may be able to hide away.

Phil
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by karyboue
I've done that : using 2 speakers (+ passiv sub from a triphonic system) as central speaker. I plugged all that in the v175 central (not using Naim cable but Chord odyssey) and it works really great. The sound, even in mono is astonishing of depth. But I have a full 5.0 system.

The central speaker is the most important speaker but if you can't have 5 identical speakers, I believe the best is to have the central "phantomed". It works great too. I started using a 4.0 system with a Nait 5 for front.
The AV2 is good enough to provide a nice wide front "image" in phantom. So, try both it depends on what you prefer : centered ou wider.
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by red severn
I have av2 with nap 150 powering fronts no centre at moment and nait 3 powering rears at xmas ill buy napv 175 so i can power up centre, av2 sounds execellent in 4 channel plus active sub use direct mode for music not stereo its superb regards red
Posted on: 05 August 2003 by tonym
I agree with Frank, a centre speaker is essential for good surround sound, since it carries the dialogue. I've listened to a few phantom set-ups (admittedly not using Naim electronics) & they are a poor compromise in comparison.
I'm thinking of getting the Naim centre to replace my KEF THX, but the problem is, it's so incredibly deep!