Awards 2007 conondrum

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I am finally stumped, I've followed your recommendations for years, I've saved up month by month, put the money in a Building Society account and then acted on your "Best Buys". This is to slowly build up a Audio/Visual setup of a little quality. First I bought a Toshiba 37wl66zs flatscreen, then I bought a Toshiba 360E Dvd player, then I upgraded my ariel (I'm In a poor reception area) then I bought a Sagem 6200T 160GB PVR. All worked well so far. Now I want to add surround sound to complete the Movie expierience - thats where you have me stumpted! The reason, your 2007 awards, why? well my budget is £ 500 and Richer Sounds is offering a deal whereby for £499.95 One could have an Onkyo TXSR 505 Receiver, Kef KHT1005 5.1 speakers and a Onkyo DSVP 404 DVD player. A rival is offering the Sony DAV-IS10 system at £ 479. All have won at this years WHFIS&V awards. What should I do?
 

Clare Newsome

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We haven't tested that Onkyo player - its big brother got a solid four stars in the Awards issue though. But presuming it's decent, you'd probably get better performance from the separates than the system, plus the possibility to upgrade each part at a later date.

Yes, the Sony is a superb system, but all-in-ones are typically a compromise compared to separates - you're paying a style and convenience premium.

It's a shame it's Richer Sounds, not somewhere you can get a demo of both systems - with a DVD of your choice - to make your own mind up....
 
A

Anonymous

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If it helps, I went down the route of a Sony all-in-one amp/speaker
package a few years ago (good for films & a living room friendly
system that blends in rather than standing out under your telly). Its
still great (upto a point), but you cant easily upgrade parts of the
system, which means when you want to change anything, you will have to
change the lot! With my HTK215 system (yes I know its old), but now I
want to develop my system I find limitations with amp setup (if I want
to change speaker size) and Sony's decision to use non standard plugs
on back of amp also make this difficult. I am now looking to go down
the AV receiver route for this reason (despite the fact they are all
big ugly bricks - relatively speaking).

<>The new Sony DAV-IS10
system is excellent for film and will upscale to 720p/1080i. The
satellite speakers are amazing (very solid despite their size) and Sony
(for once) have provided relatively decent (better than bell wire)
cable for such a package. However the amp sill uses odd speaker sockets
(telephone socket type). From an audio perspective, the trick of
putting the mid frequencies through a speaker on top of the sub works
well when watching films (your ears are not drawn to the sub, it does
appear to come from the centre of the TV!) I suspect however that the
sub needs to be close to the telly to maintain this deceit (and its not
exactly small or pretty). I also found the satellites a little bright
at times and they would be useless for music (they are in effect
tweeters only). They are also so small, that they would look silly on
speaker stands. For the fronts, this is not an issue - their size is a
bonus in this respect. However it does mean you are going to have to
wall mount the rear speakers if you dont have a shelf or something
behind your sofa to put them on (something I cant do with my living
room).

<>As a first foray into home cinema the DAV-IS10 would
be a great / safe choice, but be aware of the limitations of any such
all-in-one micro home cinema kit.
 

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