All In One System, or seperate Receiver & speakers - Max £500 budget

[admin_exported]

Hi there

Just signed up to this website.

Before Christmas I purchased a 42" Panasonic Plasma TV and blue-ray player. I know I am not getting the most from it, by simply using the speakers on the TV, therfore I want to give it some oomph.

I have a max budget of £500 (blame the wife for that) and want to get 5.1 surround sound. Looking at the all in one systems, they all appear to come with a blue-ray player and I dont need that. I just need the amp/receiver and the speakers.

Should I be looking at buying separates - but would they be in my price range? Also I am a complete novice at this stuff and fear connecting it all up.

Additionally I only live in a single bed city centre apartment, so it doesnt have to be anything to blow the walls off - the neighbours probably wouldnt be impressed!

If anyone could give some advice it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

John

 

[d_a_n1979]

We have just reverted from an Arcam & B&W surround sound system to the Sonda DAVIS50 system and it's superb!

The Arcam/B&W system just wanst being used and to be honest it was too much for our living room. Kindly enough my brother has been hankering after it for ages so he bought it and we've replaced it now with the Sony system.

The Sony DAVIS10 got rave reviews from What Hifi a year or so back; the DAVIS50 is the same system but with optional wireless rear speakers which work very well indeed.

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000V9F532/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-DAViS10-DAV-iS10-DVD-HOME-CINEMA-SYSTEM-HIFI-5-1_W0QQitemZ270534100339QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_AudioTVElectronics_Video_HomeCinemaSystems?hash=item3efd16c573

With your budget I'd be inclined to look for either via eBay and spend the rest of your budget on some more DVD's

 

[professorhat]

Good as the Sony DAV-IS50 is, it can't handle HD audio and, given you're buying from scratch, it makes sense to ensure you're future proofed now.

With £500, it is possible to get a separates system and I would definitely go this route as it will give you the best sound for the money (even at lower volumes) and also offers you the most flexibility in the future should you want to upgrade, were you to move to a larger living room with less noise constraints for example.

On your budget, I'd be checking out the likes of the Sony STR-DH800 (available for about £230 now) and the Jamo A102HCS5 speaker package (available for about £250). Alternatively, looking around, this Q Acoustics package looks like great value for money - no subwoofer but given your circumstances that might not be a bad thing, and you could always add one later. The full size speakers in this package will certainly sound much better than any style system like the Jamo package.

Alternatively, there is something like the Sony HT-IS100 which has an HDMI port which will accept Linear PCM - what Blu-Ray player do you have? If it can decode the HD audio formats onboard, the styling of this might go down better with your other half, though you lose the flexibility of a separates system. There's also the forthcoming Onkyo HTX-22HDX (discussed at the bottom of this blog) which with the added SKS-22SX package gives you 5.1 surround sound, HD audio decoding and future 3D compatibility all within your budget.

EDIT - oh, on your point about hooking things up, there's a guide here and you can also always post on the forum with any issues

 

[Anonymous]

For your needs an all in one would be ideal. However, if you later want to add a PS3, XBOX, Wii etc or even having your TV running through it then seperates is the way to go as all in ones tend to have limited inputs. This is the reason I upgraded my Panasonic all in one for seperates.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

An Onkyo TX-Sr507 and Jamo HCS5 pack would be a good starting point.

 

[Anonymous]

You can get a Pioneer VSX 819 for 239.00.

I got one and I think its great.

 

[dave_k]

I live in a small flat, so have neighbours to keep happy. The TV also has to go in a corner because of the room it is in. I recently bought a seconhand stereo amp and a pair of floorstanding speakers, which also fit into the corner (I intend to get some pictures on the Your System bit of the forum soon). The TV, xbox and bluray all run through the amp, and the improvement is really very good - sound effects are apread around quite well, dialogue comes from where it should, and bass is sufficient to lend movies and games a good air of solidity. Watched the Hurt Locker at the weekend, and while i'm sure a sub would have shook the house suitably it would have drawn complaints from all around. The floorstanders have sufficient oomph for good explosions and gunfire without annoying everyone else.

Just my tuppence worth, i personally think 2.0 or 2.1 is better in small spaces.