complete beginner for audio

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Im recently moving into my new flat and would like to get a decent surround sound/hifi system for my living room.

Currently i just have my Samsung PS50C96HDX speakers doing all the work in my folks home which isn't too good.

So the question is what seperate system would be ideal to play music,movies from my pc, Sky+, xbox 360 with hddvd add-on, and possibly ps3 in the future.

Im a complete novice so any mistakes please correct me, have been reading a few posts and seems to me like i need to get a receiver and a good set of speakers.

Thanks Vince

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="vinceg"]have been reading a few posts and seems to me like i need to get a receiver and a good set of speakers.[/quote]

Yup, I'd go Onkyo TX-SR605 (£400), plus KEF KHT2005.2 (£600) or, if the budget's tighter, Jamo A102HCS (£250). If you can live without 'style' speakers and are happy to go for something more conventional, the Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 (£500) has got to be in the running.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply andrew. The onkyo sounds good, is there anything like that cheaper to consider. If not then £400 sounds ok.

What would be the way to connect all these up best? plus would i need to buy some better cables?

Thanks,

 

[Andrew Everard]

Well, you could go for the TX-SR505, which would save you some money, or perhaps consider the Sony STR-DG910, which is pretty good.

The TX-SR605 and Sony will take HDMI audio from some of your sources, but the simplest way is probably to leave the set-up as it is for now, with all the sources connected into your TV, and take digital audio connections (optical or electrical, where available) from the source components to the receiver.

Or you could use the pass-through switching in the receivers to connect up some of your sources (those with HDMI outputs), with one HDMI cable running to the TV.

However, you'll still need to run the Sky+ box video out, and probably that from your PC, direct to the TV

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew

Any thoughts on the samsung AV-R720, would that be suitable for my needs??

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="vinceg"]Any thoughts on the samsung AV-R720, would that be suitable for my needs??[/quote]

None whatsoever - don't know it, I'm afraid.