Help for clueless person looking for surround sound speakers and amp

[admin_exported]

Hi.

I know a little but not much about this. I`m looking for a surround sound system for a relatively small room, with a few requirements:

Speakers need to look nice for the wife (I`m having to sell my old B&W 600/601s as too big and ugly for her).

I`m obviously looking for good performance, and would like to spend as little as possible ... ideally around £600 for speakers and amp, but could spend maybe upto £1,000 if it will make a huge difference to quality/looks.

Finally, we`d really like wireless speakers, but note that all the best reviewed items here aren`t wireless. Is this because wireless speakers are rubbish?

Look forward to any general advice or specific suggestions.

Thanks!

Paul

 

[chudleighpaul]

You wont go far wrong with the Sony STR DH800 for about £250 and the Jamo 5.1 speakers. These will meet your budget and hopefully be wife friendly. The Sony amp can take an adapter for wireless speakers but like anything else the costs will rise considerably.

 

[strapped for cash]

First, welcome to the forum...

The Sony amp is a good choice for a budget system.

It would be worthwhile to look at the Boston Acoustics Soundware XS if you want very compact satellite speakers (which may be the case based on what you say).

Otherwise, the Q Acoustics 1010i is a slightly larger speaker system available for £300 from Richer Sounds. This would be an excellent bet, if you can live with the slighly larger speakers (I think they look quite nice, but they're perhaps not as wife-friendly as the Boston package).

As always, audition before you buy; and if you want to push the budget a touch on the receiver front to get a little more presence and detail, you could listen to the current product of the year -- the Denon AVR1910 receiver. Or the Sony 2400ES. It's also worth considering the Yamaha RX-V765, which can be bought for £300 now as well.