Systems: $6000 home theatre

August 2007

For the first time, the brief to the retailers veered away from music reproduction to movies. We asked the retailers to put together a home theatre system, excluding video display, for $6000.

Of our five retailers, three (Hamilton's The Listening Post, Auckland's Eastern Hi-Fi and Christchurch's The Listening Post) failed to provide a solution.

The Real Music Company, Wellington

For a $6k budget in terms of home theatre, we are recommending the Cambridge DV89 DVD player, the new Cambridge 640R AV receiver and the newish KEF KHT 3005.2 sub/sat speaker package.

The DV 89 we like for its compact footprint, its plethora of video outputs – composite, s-vid, component, RGB Scart, and both dvi and HDMI. Picture quality is exemplary for this machine at this price, particularly with both 720p and 1080i upscaling. $600 retail

The 640R receiver extends the features of the value for money 540R, but extends its muscle with 7.1 channel processing x 100watts, analogue video upscaling, HDMI switching, Incognito multiroom connectivity and a new internal cooling system, meaning its nice and quiet when the proverbial dynamics kick in. The overall steering of effects is some of the best I have heard for a receiver at this level. Exceptional value for money at $2200.

When combined with the new KEF KHT 3005 sub sat system in its stunning gloss silver or black finishes, it gives excellent all round sonic performance for music and movies which is a pretty rare occurrence for a home theatre sub sat system. The 3005’s new subwoofer and centre channel design means we have been able to drive them harder with greater clarity and impact in bigger rooms than we had expected. A definite improvement over the venerable 2005’s below them, albeit at a cost of $3500 complete.—Steve Ching

Totally Wired, Dunedin

Contradictory as it may seem, some of our best home cinema systems will be heard but not seen. We abhor the clutter and complication (not to mention compromise) of many home theatre systems. All we want to see is a crystal clear picture, and simply know that the sound will fall into place around this.

To this end we start with an array of speakers you simply won’t see - the SpeakerCraft in wall or in ceiling models - with an extensive range there will be a model to suit just about every requirement. We’ll use the example of a real life cinema we have in progress at the moment choosing the AIM8 Ones for the front speaker array and AIM5 Ones at the rear. With inbuilt speakers you have the advantage of knowing you really do get what you pay for - you can see the drivers and crossovers before they go into the wall or ceiling, and you are certainly not paying for showing cabinetry or packaging. There are a couple of tricks to the SpeakerCraft range - the first number is the bass driver diameter, final number denotes the quality level - so you can clearly work the balance between quantity and quality - every room is going to be different so this is where a bit of dealer experience comes into the equation. $1468 for the 5 speakers.

Ever wished life was a little simpler? Ever been trying to find the right remote in the dark? Most cinema systems have too many remotes - with Control4 we can simplify everything with one RF (it will work through walls) system remote that can be programmed to do just about anything - and then some. The brains behind the operation reside in the diminutive Home Theatre Controller. There simply isn’t space here to cover all that this can do so feel free to visit Control4 and find out. $1599 including the new MK2 remote control.

DVD/Harddrive recorders are potentially the most unfriendly item conceived by the consumer electronics industry with impenetrable manuals, multiple connections. Loewe, being no-nonsense German types, produce the sleekest smoothest machine on the market which has both the operation and performance to match their very best screens. We see no reason to mess around with anything else. $1695.

In a perfect world, I’d be adding something tasty by Rotel or even Meridian or the likes to this system to deal with amplification. Alas, a budget has been set and our killer home cinema will be something we upgrade over time. However all is not lost, and at just on $1200 the Cambridge Audio 540R home theatre receiver would get a nod from anyone one with an ear or two.

Which all goes to prove that with a little bit of lateral thinking you can have a fully featured, modern and easy to use home cinema without compromising your living space one iota. You may just find this a little easier to sneak past your better half than the conventional plethora of boxes.

Of course $6k can buy a lot of evenings out during film festival. Which would you prefer?—John Ransley

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