My A/V Setup

Television

Sony WEGA KV-32FX60U 32" Widescreen UK RRP 1300.00. Street price 1200.00 or less.

Purchased from: John Lewis plc, Oxford Street

Why John Lewis? The offer a free 5 year warranty with all televisions they sell. This is a big bonus because most TVs come with only a one year warranty. If you wish to extend it on a TV like this with say Dixons or the like, they'll charge you 200.00 or more.

Notes: Superb picture quality, however it is only at its best with a superb source, so analogue TV and VHS reproduction is sometimes ropey. The best source is DVD. There have been reports of some problems with the picture being bowed. However I have not experienced this problem myself. When I say bowed I mean that if you are watching a TRUE widescreen presentation, i.e. a 2:35:1 formatted DVD, you usually get black bars top and bottom. The complaint has been that these bars are bowed. Sony are also noted for having problems with the power buttons on their sets. Many old Sony sets suffered power button failure, which is really very poor. So I hope Sony have addressed this issue. This is a NTSC compatible TV which is very handy if you will be playing any NTSC DVDs or Videos. To read a review of this product visit Home Cinema Choice Onlines website.

DVD Player

Denon DVD-5000 UK RRP 1600.00 Region modified by Techtronics

Purchased from: Audio-T, Brentwood

Why Audio-T? I used to work in the hi-fi trade and the manager of Audio-Ts' Brentwood shop used to be my sales representative for Micromega products. Hence I got it cheap.

Click on the picture to visit Denons website.

Notes: Denons flagship DVD player, and an awesome bit of kit. It has all the necessary outputs, and is a superb CD player to boot. Its only draw back is that it won't read CD-Rs. To read a review of this product visit Home Cinema Choice Onlines website. This player is now no longer produced.

Main Speakers

Ruark Acoustics Talisman II UK RRP 749.00

Purchased from: Ruark Acoustics, Southend-On-Sea

Why Ruark Acoustics? I used to sell their loudspeakers in the hi-fi shop I used to work in, and thought they were the best of what we sold and ever since then I've had Ruarks. I also designed a temporary website for them until there official one is up and see their sales rep regularly for a Curry or Chinese.

Notes: The Talisman IIs are by far the finest speaker I have personally heard at this price level. To me they play all types of music well and perform brilliantly as the heart of my A/V setup.

Centre Speaker

Ruark Acoustics Dialogue One UK RRP 349.00

Purchased from: Ruark Acoustics, Southend-On-Sea

Why Ruark Acoustics? I used to sell their loudspeakers in the hi-fi shop I used to work in, and thought they were the best of what we sold and ever since then I've had Ruarks. I also designed a temporary website for them until there official one is up and see their sales rep regularly for a curry or Chinese.

Notes: A superb centre speaker, excellent value for money. To read a review of this product visit Home Cinema Choice Onlines website.