My son wants to sell his Quad for an AV system!

[Stratmangler]

My son seems intent on getting a 42" Finlux TV - anyone had any experience of these? It's not a brand I hear much about myself.

Or should it be Panasonic all the way....?

Panasonic

[loonytunes]

OK after further discussions and thoughts - Sam and I have made a swap - I have his CD player in exchange for my NAD Viso 5 (good deal eh?) - thus we now have his amp sorted and that should certainly be good enough as an AV amp and 2 channel stereo for that small room of his.

He will be selling his Quad Stereo amplifier separately in due course.

OK for the the first time in months I have a CD player in my own hi-fi rack so I can make useful comparisons between a good quality player and my netbook coupled to a Blacknote DAC-7.

I know that plasmas have come a long way way energy efficiency wise (so you say) - but are there any good quality LED's you can recommend which at least come close to a good plasma?

[Reid Malenfant]

The only LED TVs that will get close to a plasma are backlit with area dimming, the edge lit ones don't come close While they have great dynamic contrast they can't do full white & pitch black at the same time, unlike one TV I can think of.

The only one I know of is probably a bit too big & rather too expensive Philips 58PFL9955.. 10,000,000:1 which is in the league of the best plasmas.

Though I'm sure there must be some out there, they'll take some hunting down & they are not as thin as any edge lit LED or plasma TV as the LEDs need to be set back a bit of a distance from the LCD panel.

[chris@panteg]

One of the better LED sets is the Samsung 5520 , having tried a Sony EX723 and now running a Panasonic G30 , no comparison really , I'm just blown away by it

[bollypoly]

{Spam shite removed}

[DSJR]

Can I jump in quick please?

Rotel, Linn (5225?) and Arcam (FMJ) have all made some good multi-channel power amps with proper power and Quad 99 level (at least) of sound quality IMO. certainly, the far eastern manufacturers have the technology and engineering to make first class processors and for good old fashiond music-power, there's enough there, but I still feel the amps I've referred to are better in audio terms. The Quad 99 was a good quality class B or AB amp which hopefully hasn't been dragged down by poor components as I understand the later 909's were.

Hope this helps someone if not the OP.

[ursus262]

David! You're back

[Yomanze]

No way man your son should get surround sound from his 'propa' 2 channel setup & forget this surround sound speakers nonsense. :P

[loonytunes]

OK thanks everyone - in the end we ordered a 3D LED, LG 42LW550T - for the stonking price of £499.97 (plus credit card surcharge - but got reduced delivery by trying Which? magazine subscription).

I know most people here rate plasmas as better - but I wanted to save on the electricity bill - knowing my son is likely to doze off in front of the TV (a bad habit he has now in front of our plasma downstairs).

This LED looks like it does the 3D job well (for an LED) - so this is the best I could muster with limited funds.

Also I like the idea of using passive 3D glasses.

I will tell you all how we get on with it.

[loonytunes]

Can I jump in quick please?

Rotel, Linn (5225?) and Arcam (FMJ) have all made some good multi-channel power amps with proper power and Quad 99 level (at least) of sound quality IMO. certainly, the far eastern manufacturers have the technology and engineering to make first class processors and for good old fashiond music-power, there's enough there, but I still feel the amps I've referred to are better in audio terms. The Quad 99 was a good quality class B or AB amp which hopefully hasn't been dragged down by poor components as I understand the later 909's were.

Hope this helps someone if not the OP.

Don't you think the NAD Viso 5 is good enough then?