Fitting A New Head Unit

[Kris H]

Scott - when I go into the iTunes folders it gives me the option to convert stuff to AAC, which presumably means that it's in MPs at the moment. How would I convert to WMA anyway? I don't have any software additional to the basic iTunes set up.

[Scott_Mac]

WMA isn't an option with an iPod Kris... its a windows format, so unlikely to be used by Apple!

 

AAC is very good and similar to WMA - in a sense MP4 - however the units above won't play it AFAIK. You will be fine with MP3 i can assure you.... even when travelling to the Lake District, driving around for a week and then driving back, we only heard 2 or 3 songs more than once when the entire disk was on random! So based on the fact that with MP3 you may get slightly fewer songs on a disc, i really wouldn't be too concerned.

 

You are welcome to listen to mine at BoB before making a decision....

[Scott_Mac]

Oh you could convert everything to WMA using the program i suggest above, but that would mean you would require a duplicate of the songs that you want on your computer.. which seems daft to me.

 

One minor irritant with the Acoustica program is that it won't recognise discs larger than 700Mb I have some 870Mb ones which would have allowed even more music, but it decides that they are 700Mb

[Kris H]

Cheers for all of the info Scott - very helpful. Will have a listen to yours at Brunty and see what to do from there.

[Kris H]

Scott - sort of on the same theme - have you used 'Richer Sounds' in Brum before? Any good? Looking at TVs etc and they seem about the best price wise. Also looking for some more sennheiser headphones etc but can't be arsed with flogging into Brum if they're not up to much...

[Scott_Mac]

Yes have used Richers several times....

 

BUT, what are you looking for in a TV, IME they aren't the greatest. There are 2 other HiFi shops within 100 yards of Richers too...

[Kris H]

Probably looking for either large plasma screen for wall mounting or large LCD, plus a full DVD/cinema system. Not for a few months but the prices on these things seem to be getting much more reasonble now. You'd not necessarily suggest going there then?

[Scott_Mac]

They ahve some good deals on Plasma's... but the problem with Plasma is the cheaper ones tend to have more "dead pixels". A friend bought one of the JVC ones and it is quite blocky - you have to be sat a very long way away...

 

That said some of the Panasonic and Hitachi prices they have are very good. Possible to get cheaper elsewhere.

 

IMO LCD is better - i have a 17" Widescreen JVC in my bedroom... they are still expensive though, and only really go up to 36" at the mo.

 

As for DVD, i find Superfi a lot cheaper....

 

Feel free to ask for further advice nearer the time :up:

[Simon G]

For tellys etc try www.digitaldirectuk.com usually the cheapest and a very good service.

[Scott_Mac]

 

Thats where my LCD came from.

[Kris H]

Only just seen the replies on this - looking at a few the other day and basically a 42" plasma one seems to be about half the price of a 32" LCD one (£3k +). They had some pretty good looking hitachi and panasonic ones for about £1.6k, which got 5 stars in whatever the tests they run are. (very technical me, oh yes). Kind of thinking that sitting a reasonable distance away is OK for £1.5k as it goes. Will be going on the wall in the sitting room anyway so I'd be sitting about 14 feet or something away. Also good thing about putting it on the wall is that the little hooligan won't be able to stick his hands/toast/crayons on it. Picture quality on the LCD ones did seem noticeably better though. Have a 19" lcd monitor which I can watch DVDs etc on which is great.

 

Will have a look at the othe suppliers recommended and doubtless ask more gormless questions in due course.

 

Cheers

 

Kristian

[Scott_Mac]

Thats pretty much it Kris.. LCD is better, but more expensive.

 

14 feet away is probably ok for a 42" Plasma..... i would recommend a good one though - such as the ones i mention above.

 

Make sure the rest of your kit going into is good though as it'll really show up otherwise!

[Kris H]

Will get back to you regarding teh rest of the kit I reckon. If I'm going to spend a shed load I need to get the rest of it too but also would rather avoid selling my kidney. Had a quick look at digital direct and it looks pretty good. Tend to nip up to currys to have a quick look at how they work and then order from elsewhere at better prices.

[Scott_Mac]

I think everyone does that Kris

 

Feel free to ask questions whenever...