Is this combination OK?

[admin_exported]

I'm not knowledgeable on this, but I've read reveiws etc and plan to buy the following home cinema system. Can I have an opinion please on whether these items are a sensible match. Is there an obvious weak link or an item that's more expensive than necessary given the rest? My wife and I will watch Sky HD, occasional BDs, play audio CDs and link to a PC.

TV - Sony KDL-46W4500

Blu-ray player - Sony BDPS550 or BDPS350

Receiver - Sony STR-DA2400ESB

Speakers - Warfdale Diamond 9.1AV home cinema system

I am undecided on the Blu-ray player because I'm not clear on the benefits of the BDPS550 over the BDPS350 if I'm using a new receiver.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Anonymous]

invictusbob:

I'm not knowledgeable on this, but I've read reveiws etc and plan to buy the following home cinema system. Can I have an opinion please on whether these items are a sensible match. Is there an obvious weak link or an item that's more expensive than necessary given the rest? My wife and I will watch Sky HD, occasional BDs, play audio CDs and link to a PC.

TV - Sony KDL-46W4500

Blu-ray player - Sony BDPS550 or BDPS350

Receiver - Sony STR-DA2400ESB

Speakers - Warfdale Diamond 9.1AV home cinema system

I am undecided on the Blu-ray player because I'm not clear on the benefits of the BDPS550 over the BDPS350 if I'm using a new receiver.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

ÿ

Sounds fine, perhaps the speakers are theÿweakestÿcomponent. What are your speaker requirements in terms of budget or size?ÿ

If you have the 2400, you can decode HD Audio, so the 550's ability to decode is not needed, and you would get HD Audio from a 350. There are other reasons the 550 is a better player, but for me the main one is unnecessary. ÿ

 

[Messiah]

If it were me then I would get the 350. The 550 does have more features (that you do not need, unless you want Profile 2.0?) but I cannot see the performance being vastly different. Maybe it is??

At the end of the day I think you will be very happy with the 350. The rest of the system seems fine and should give you a great experience!!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that. We don't have a strong feeling about the speakers but if we go for the 350 then we have around £600 ~ £650 left from our intended budget. We could probably stretch to £800. My wife would prefer something with more style, say KEF KHT2005.3, but we suspect "style" might be at the expense of performance. The next step up that appeals is the B&W MT-20 but this would probably overstretch the budget unless there was a big benefit.

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi 'Bob',

Have you seen the Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 speaker package? The speakers are bigger than the KEF 2005.3, but the sound would be better too.

'Traditional' speaker packages are always better than the 'style' versions, and the Q Acoustics are as small as they come......

http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/surround_package/

The money you save, will unsure you can purchase good cabling.

Hope that is 'food for thought'..................

 

[Pistol Pete1]

By the way, the Sony 350 blu ray is very good... I have one.

The Sony 550 is meant to be very similar in picture quality, but with improved sound and connectivity. The Sony 350 can be upgraded to 'profile 2.0' with a download of the firmware.

Cheers.......