As an aside I thought it was a bit funny how in one post you regretted not being able to get a ps5 when it was on sale, and the very next post of your set up had a ps5.

 

I think if you want to feel like you're getting the cinematic experience, upgrading your sound does more for you than upgrading your picture. I'd rather have a £500 TV and £1000 sound than a £1000 TV and £500 sound. And above all, the thing that makes the biggest difference is a subwoofer.

That said, if you're watching stuff on a monitor at a desk, you may not really be aiming at a cinematic experience. It's always about what you're aiming to achieve. McDonald's is perfectly tasty and filling if you're looking for something cheap and cheerful. But if you're looking for a special experience, McDonald's isn't going to do the job.

For me, at this point, I actually get a better experience at home than at my local cinema. I can turn off the lights, up the volume, heat up a bag of popcorn and feel like I'm having a special experience at home. On a purely technical level, the visuals on my TV are sharper with deeper blacks than the local cinema, and the sound is just as good (and the dialogue is clearer at home than at my cinema).

(Obviously my home set-up can't compete with a big cinema but the local cinema is a small independent place with just 2 screens and likely rather ancient AV equipment.)

 

So I've basically done a complete 180 on plans for after I move.

I was thinking of using my current living room/TV set-up for music in dining room and home office, and getting a soundbar for living room.

I am now thinking that I will keep my current speakers in the living room as a 3.1 set-up and just forget about having surrounds. My current surround speakers will be used in home office and I will get new speakers for dining room.

In full:

Living room: a 3.1 system focused on home theatre, using the Dali Oberon 5s, Vokal, SVS SB-1000, and the Denon receiver. LG CX and PS5 as the main sources.

Home office: a 2.0 system, kept to a reasonable budget, to be used for music while working/writing. The primary source will be Bluetooth from my laptop. The plan is to use the Dali Oberon 3s for this space, to be combined with a Bluetooth enabled amp.

Dining room: a 2.0 system focused on music, using the Rega Planar 1 as a source, plus streaming. I may also get a CD player because a lot of my favourite music isn't available on vinyl. I am more or less settled on the Wharfedale Linton Heritage speakers for this system. I need an amp capable of driving the speakers, with an MM phono pre-amp built-in, ideally with Spotify Connect compatibility as well (though I am open to the idea of a separate streamer, if price can be kept under control).

On the streaming side, I am keen to avoid getting locked into some janky app/proprietary ecosystem. I like the way it works on my current Denon receiver: all I have to do is connect the receiver to the WiFi, and the Spotify app detects the presence of an audio output which you can select from a drop-down list of all audio devices on your network. This seems to rule out a lot of the amps with built-in streaming.

For dining room amps, I was looking at the Audiolab 6000A Play as one possibility - it seems to have all the features I want for under £1000 - but I'm not sure if the 50W per channel is enough for the Lintons. I was also considering the Cambridge Audio CXA81 for the dining room. At 80W per channel it seems like it has enough power, and it's well reviewed. But it doesn't have a phono input or streaming so I would have to get separates for those. A separate streamer in particular could get quite pricey as some of the cheaper options available in the US are hard to get in the UK (e.g. Arylic S50 Pro).

For the home office, I've really struggled to find anything Bluetooth-enabled that doesn't have terrible reviews that's sub-£500. Really at a loss with that one. I may have to increase the budget if I can't find anything in this price range, but I am somewhat reluctant to spend a lot of money on something just to drive the Dali Oberon 3s.

Comments welcome.