The Norton Blog

Back at Richer Sounds Dan and his colleague nodded in agreement when I described what had happened. “You need a new player” they both spoke softly whilst waving their hand infront of my face. I don’t remember much after that except that I got home with a Cambridge Audio DVD89 and a bag full of cables.
After the brief setup period I tried the trailer from Spiderman2 and low and behold the cinema had entered my flat and made itself comfortable in my lounge.
Needless to say the new player along with gold plated cables had upped the picture quality and in combination with the surround sound system it was spine shiver central.
I demonstrated the new setup to my parents with the first few minutes of Two Towers. Falling through the chasm with the Balrog and Gandalf was an exhausting experience and everyone’s hair was on end by the end of the sequence. It is like nothing I ever experienced, even in the cinema!

2 hours after unpacking the surround sound equipment it was ready to switch on. To make sure I didn’t reproduce the scene from Back To The Future I kept the subwoofer off and turned the volume right down. I slid Fellowship into the tray and the menu loaded a sweeping orchestra almost swept me off my feet, I was grinning like a schoolboy and the menu music is only stereo. I started the film and cranked up the volume. The sound filled the room, it was not surround sound it was everywhere sound I was immersed. The speech was clear the music was rich and satisfying, I spine shivered like the first time I saw Fellowship in the cinema. Dan had known what he was talking about I had never heard anything this great in my life.
But…towards the end of the first disc the sound started to jutter and by the end of the first half we could no longer listen to it. This particular disc has had roughly 100 viewings so we thought it might be scratched, however Spiderman2 was the same, I wanted to cry.
The next day I continued trying different DVD’s but htis time got no sound at all. Perhaps it’s the optical cable I thought so I plugged it into the PVR and booming sounds were produced. I also tried analog coax from the DVD player and I got sound as well. The optical output from the player was bust!

I have just purchased a new surround system from Richer Sounds. I spect some time on the wibble web researching what looked like the best equipment in my price range. I checked that Richer Sounds sold this equipment and headed into town to spend my hard earned. After a short wait a friendly chap named Dan came to my aid and I promptly informed him that the Denon AVR1907 and the Tannoy EFX5.1 was the gear of choice. I tried my best to sounds like I knew what I was talking about! Dan quickly informed me that although the Denon was a good machine the Cambridge Audio Azur540R produced a much better sound for £30 less. I rubbed my chin and nodded. After asking what my budget was he promptly pulled me away from Tannoy’s and introduced me to the Mordaunt Short Premier package of speakers. Wow these were nearly double the price of the Tannoy’s but he assured me I would stay in budget. I nodded approvingly whilst stroking my chin, he knew I was a noob to all this so grabbed me by the rough of the neck and dragged me into the back room. Instead of a chair with no seat and a ball and chain I found 50inch plasma playing The Incredibles. Once I had got over the enormaty and sharpness of this plasma I started picking up the sounds coming from all around me. SOLD and SOLD this was an amazing experience. After all the boring part of cabling and wall brackets it all came £90 over budget ouch. This is when Dan, using every trick available to him, announced the price as just £10 over budget. Dan you truly are the Man. After parking the Yaris outside the shop he loaded the lot into the car, shook my hand and demanded that I watch King Kong with the surround sound cranked up. I went home very happy, but the wind of change seemed to be following me….