Looking to build a system on a budget

[admin_exported]

Hi Guys,

I have a challenge for all you experienced audiophiles. I'm planning on moving into a one bed flat in December, and I'm looking into possible budget home theatre systems, since I'm sick of watching them on my PC (good as the monitor is, the soundcard can't hack it for films and I have no way of setting up 5.1 around my desk). I've scraped together about £1500 through the standard student "Beans and Toast" savings scheme, and I'm looking for a solid system that will do me well for a few years and offer a little expandability once I graduate and start earning some money. I've seen a few good deals around, but I probably won't be buying until the sales at the start of the new year when I can get my tame sound engineer up from London to assist me in the purchase and installation. What sort of brands should I be looking at, and are there any particularly good stores in central Scotland which you would recommend visiting? I rather like the look of the Sony BDP-S370 for the Blu Ray player since I can set up my PC to stream music and videos to it and I can use it to stream IPlayer videos, and I've heard good things about Tannoy's budget speaker ranges. Alternate suggestions for that and the other components would be greatly appreciated.

I'm looking to get

TV

Speakers (Front, Back and Centre)

Subwoofer

AV Reciever

Blu-Ray player

Cheers

Onboard

 

[Anonymous]

how big is your room? how far do you think you will be sitting from your tv? you mentioned you want to stream music, so do you require the front speakers of the surround set-up to be decent performers with music? in which case budget sat surround systems are out..

 

[v1c]

I would consider the following for a £1500 starter system.......

Tv :- LG 50PK350

Speakers inc Sub :- Monitor Audio Vector (£900 4star What hifi)

Av Receiver :- Marantz NR1501

Blu-ray :- Sony BDP-S370 (sometimes deals for £99)

Comes just over £1500 but only by £35.11

If the size of the TV is to big (never in my book) you could reduce the size and cost and put the difference onto an amp upto about £450 but that is all i would contemplate changing.

Don't forget to factor in some cables , chord carnival silver screen + HDMI supershield would be good.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Depends if you want to go 3D, but if you're not bothered about that I'd go for:-

AMP: SONY STR-DA2400ES (£250 AT AMAZON)

BLU RAY: SONY BDPS370 (AROUND £100 IF YOU TIME IT RIGHT)

SPEAKERS + SUB: Q ACOUSTICS 1010i 5.1 (£300 AT SUPERFI)

TV: SONY KDL-EX503 (DEALS OUT THERE WITH THE VAT BACK PROMO) OR PANASONIC TX-P42G20

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW:
Depends if you want to go 3D, but if you're not bothered about that I'd go for:-

AMP: SONY STR-DA2400ES (£250 AT AMAZON)

BLU RAY: SONY BDPS370 (AROUND £100 IF YOU TIME IT RIGHT)

SPEAKERS + SUB: Q ACOUSTICS 1010i 5.1 (£300 AT SUPERFI)

TV wise I'm not sure, but with £850+ in the kitty, you should be able to get a fanastic TV

Good advice

This would be mine too, except I would suggest you get the QA 1010i 5.1 from Richer Sounds at £249.95 instead (assuming you have one near you!)

 

[Anonymous]

monitor audio br2..good front speakers for movies and music...£129...

monitor audio br1.. ideal for rears..£89

monitor audio brlcr centre.. £89..

acoustic energy radience subwoofer..brilliant sub, b stock..£197

sony bdp-s370.. feature packed blu-ray player.. £119.95.

onkyo txsr508.. ideal first av receiver..£269.95

lg50pk350.. excellent plasma tv..£549.95..

that comes in around £1450 which leaves £50 for cabling and interconnects..no need to wait till the new year, and it would be a mighty good first set-up

 

[richardw42]

The PP is an excellent suggestion, but as well as cables you'll need speaker stands (2 pairs if going for the BR2 & BR1) and you don't say but maybe an equipment rack as well which accommodate all your equipment and centre.
It may be sacrilege on this forum but I would seriously consider going without a sub at least to begin with. Living in a flat you might not be able to get loads of use out of it without upsetting your neighbours. If you swapped the BR2 at the front for BR5s you'll get some of the lower frequencies that a sub offers and you don't need stands for these little floorstanders.
As for amps the Marantz NR1501 is small compared to some and from experience handles the Monitor Audios well.
I'd then take a step back and look at what budget you have for your tv. There are so many good deals about and waiting until January you'll be spending more of your budget on the VAT Increase.

 

[v1c]

As great as the Monitor Audio BR2 package would be not sure i'd go with it over the vectors for a one bed flat. I know "style speaker packages" don't look like they hold up against the bigger counter parts but i can assure you as someone who went from a full blown mission 752 , 75c , 751 and rel sub to a much smaller MK K7 ,k15 ,KX10 sub to free up space without losing performance about 9 years ago can vouch that if you pick a decent one don't. The MK K7 system was in fact a step up from the mission system(which i loved by the way). The Marantz and vector option also offers a convenient size for your environment , i know i suggested a 50in TV but you can never get a big enough TV.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I think today is the last day for this offer, so be quick.

If you buy the TX-P42G20 from bestbuy.co.uk via TopCashBack you will get it for just over £489.

Here's how: Go to bestbuy website via the link at TopCashBack and buy your TV. In check out use the code TV3 to get 28% off £799.99, making the price you pay at checkout £575.99. You will get another 15% of £575.99 back from TopCashBack making the final price £489.60. A bonafide bargain.

 

[shreader]

i would recommend reading the reviews on this site then go to your local hi fi shop with your list of recommendations and listen to a setup your ears will tell you the best setup

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All....

I am doing the same except in a 3 bedroomed house with a front room the same size as a 1 bed flat.

The thing is I am tempted by the Panasonic 3D tv - just seen it and it looks well cool but wanted to ask the experts here what they suggest with regards to 3D DVD player would the Sony still be the right one to go for? Being a complete novice I wasn't sure if there would be set up/ compatability issues as seen as they seem to be the 2 biggest rivals?

Up till today I was going with the budget set up solution on this website and as suggested on this thread but now after reading this i'm not sure....

The shop I saw the TV in is offering the TXP 42GT20B and DMP BDT 100 3d DVD player (with 2 pairs of glasses) for £1099.99 but I'm not sure if this is the best choice to go for as everyone is talking about the Sony DVD?

Obviously I then need Amp and speakers and cables....I like the sound of Max's Monitor audio's and the Onkyo though as I would be streaming Spotify and playing London Calling and various other punk/indie cd 's through it ?

I'm looking to not go over £1700....Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Steve