2.1 one box system or cheap seperates ?

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Hi , at the moment i have a cheap panasonic 5.1 one box home cinema system which is only used for playing the sound through when watching tv or dvd/blu ray via my fat ps3 and virgin v+ box . i was going to upgrade to a seperates system such as the onkyo 608 and qa 2000 cinema pack and eventualy a 50inch plasma but will now be sticking to my pana 42pz (still 2yr warranty left anyway)

Now as recently found out my wife is pregnant with our 2nd child i will no longer be spending out on above as other items are now needed and i wont be able to blast the sound out anyway if i did have the above !!

I would like to upgrade my current one box as its 3yrs old and sound is rather poor espec with music cds . i was thinking of going the 2.1 one box system such as the samsung htc6200 as reviewed here as 5star a while ago or would i be wasting my money as i already have the ps3 for a blu ray player anyway ? would getting a cheap reciever such as the sony 810 or onkyo 308 and a set of the jamo a102 be a better option ? only reason i didnt want to go the 5.1 again is because i cant run/use good speaker cable as new carpet laid and the cheap pana wiring is under carpet ! not allowed to run along skirting as all redecorated lol . also why does the samsung 2.1 seem to be around same sort of money as a good 5.1 such as sonys 370 set ?

 

[chudleighpaul]

You are in a real dilemma aren't you?

Most inconsiderate of your wife to get pregnant when you want to upgrade your HI FI!

I think you should go for the seperates, it will sound better and you can improve on it gradually in the future. I see no problem in the short term in using the Panasonic wiring that is already under the carpet. It is only feeding the surrounds so improving the cable will not make a vast amount of difference.

As for the mains and centre you can use something decent with these. The system should sound pretty good and will last you a fair time.

 

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just spent the onkyo 608 money on a pram !!! if you reckon the panas pin size speaker wire will be ok for the jamos then i may go that route , unless i try looking for a used better amp and speaker set up .

or i could sell my lexus to get a cmax and some apex speakers !!

 

[chudleighpaul]

How about putting the wife on Ebay?

 

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Tried but unfortunately no bids !

 

[chudleighpaul]

OK, There should really be no problem driving the Jamos with the Panny wire. For years quite large speakers were connected with bell wire before the advent of specialist speaker cables. Go for the seperates system, you wont regret it.