New Projector, Screen and speaker set up

[craftycooky]

Just moved and refurbing the house. I want a Projector and screen setup, not worried about 5.1 just a couple of decent sparkers or better still link into a couple of Sonos Play 5s.

Does a sky q mini have an optical sound out?
Would it be possible to connect it to the Sonos Play 5 via a optical to 3.5 jack convertor?

Have a couple of HDMIs run in to connect the projector to the Sky q as it will be remote from the projector,

Or any better ways of setting it up.

Thank you

Dave

 

[RandomGrinch]

Hi,

The Sky Q mini does have an optical output.
Personally, for the price of a Sonos play, I would look at an AV amp and some decent speakers.
You would have the option of surround and sub woofer, if you wanted it. You wouldn't have to rely on a terrible optical to 3.5mm DAC and the amp would take care of switching the HDMI inputs.
But that's just my opinion!

 

[Lucid]

Optical to stereo RCA convertor (active signal conversion), then an adaptor cable with stereo RCA to 3.5mm jack for one of the Play 5s would do fine. Set the Q mini to stereo PCM.

Q Mini does 1080p max and so you don't need to go overboard with the HDMI cable. I suppose that it is conceivable at some point that the Q mini will do 4K, but there's nothing on the cards for that in the immediate future. However, if the house is somewhere you're likely to stay for some time then it would be wise to make it easy to pull new cable if it came to an upgrade.

1080p HDMI cables are not expensive even for fairly lengthy versions. Whilst pulling that though I would also pull two or three (better) Cat6 cables for futureproofing insurance. It's possible to hang boxes off each end that will convert 4K to- and from- something suitable to travel over twisted pair wires. I wouldn't spend money on that right now. Long term this tech is falling in price and so delaying until it is needed (if needed) makes more sense financially.

Projector and screen wise, there's still some 1080p projectors out there but there's a shed load of pseudo-4K stuff too. Personally I would get a s/h JVC X35 rather than spaff £600 on a new budget 1080p projector or £1000 on a pseudo-4K one. The X35 was £3500 new and will still knock spots off anything under £3K new.

 

[JP_]

An AV amp will solve so many problems. I have a relatively cheap Marantz that looks after all my sound needs - you just plug everything in with HDMI cable, one HDMI to the TV, and change sound / visual channel on the amp. Couple of good stereo speakers and a centre speaker a great investment. I have floorstanders for the bass (from my old hi-fi from pre-AV days) and a couple of little rear speakers, for a 5 channel setup.

 

[JohnD]

same here. There used to be a great fashion for 5-speaker surroundsound home cinema systems. Richer Sounds sometimes have bargains. An AV amp will run whatever you've got.

Unless you are single, you need a small, neat speakers, not old style ones the size of a fridge.

I have JBL Control 1 plus a centre speaker, but you can also get thin column speakers, about 80cm tall, that will go in the corners of the room. British-made speakers have a particularly good reputation.

Some of the soundbars are good, but being so small, it is difficult to get good sound, so the good ones are expensive.

p.s.

I want a Projector and screen setup, not worried about 5.1

If you have not had 5, or 5+1 before, you will be stunned at how good it is.

 

[craftycooky]

Thanks for the answers, very helpful.