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
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.
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.
Why Audio-T? I used
to work in the hi-fi trade and the manager of Audio-Ts' Brentwood
shop used to be my sale representative for Micromega products. Hence
I got it cheap.
Notes: This is one of
the integrated A/V amplifier of the moment, it supports the
following formats: Dolby Surround; Dolby Digital; DTS; and is THX
certified. If you want what is currently the best with out spending
more than double the money the AVC-A1D is the one to buy. I am
reliably informed that Yamaha have something in the pipeline to
replace the A1 which may take us a step further than this in
quality. Who knows....either way as long as we keep getting better.
To read a review of this product visit Home
Cinema Choice Onlines website.
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. Check out their website here.
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.
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.
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
brilliantly musical active sub-woofer, massive grunt from a small
size. 100 watt internal amp driving a 12" unit.
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. Check out their website here.
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.
Alternative
Rear Speakers
Ruark
Acoustics Epilogue RRP £269.00 (with veneered side cheeks)
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:
These are the speakers I used to use on the rear of my system,
however, when Ruark discontinued the Talisman IIs I took the
opportunity of snapping up a second pair for rear speakers. Its made
a tremendous difference and the Epilogues are now used on my hi-fi
system.
The
Epilogues are a small bookshelf style speaker and in many respects
too good for rear speakers. However If your going to do A/V well you
may as well do it well in style. The speakers have real wood
veneered side cheeks and match in nicely with my existing Talisman
IIs. To read a review of this product visit Home
Cinema Choice Onlines website.
