New home cinema set-up, all-in-one?

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone, I know it's a bit cheeky asking for advice in my first post -- but it's better than my giving bad advice to someone else I guess!

I've just moved house and treated myself to a Bravia 40W4000 TV and I'm really happy with it, the picture quality is stunning -- even when playing DVDs through my old Toshiba DVD player -- but I feel I need to upgrade to Blu-Ray (though my 400-ish DVDs may disagree with me there!).

Based on the What HiFi awards, it seems like the Panasonic DMP-BD35 would be a sensible first dabble with Blu ray (particularly given that it's only £184 on Amazon), but this leaves me in a quandry when it comes to sorting out a surround sound package.

I've been out of the loop with home cinema for a while now: my soon-to-be old setup is a Toshiba DVD player (that won a couple of What Hi Fi awards a few years ago!) and Sony's HT-BE1 amp/micro-speaker set. I've been incredibly happy with the HT-BE1, but it's in a bit of a sorry state after about five years, and one of the speaker cables got cut during the move, so I've been thinking of replacing it with the latest version (the HT-IS100, £409 on Amazon).

The question I want to ask is: am I being silly effectively trying to replicate my old setup? Am I missing a trick not looking for an all-in-one player/5.1 package? Could I even get one for the £600 it'd cost me for the Panasonic Blu ray player and HT-IS100? Does it just make more sense to get the HTP-BD31S, keeping it all Sony (£566 on Amazon) or is this Blu ray player vastly inferior to the Panasonic?

I realise that's slightly more than one question ... sorry about that!

Thanks in advance for any help! I've scoured the pages of What Hi Fi and various system reviews across the net, but it seems that unless I want to spend over £1,000 (which I don't) there's not much home-cinema advice on offer!

Thanks again, J

 

[Anonymous]

I like the look of the HTIS100 and it sounded good when I heard it in dodgy surroundings (in Sony shop, not set up or even positioned correctly) and is similar to the DAVIS10 which won awards.....but I've never seen a review for it and I've a friend who's been waiting for this site to do just that for a while now.

Also, you seem to be looking at replacing a system like for like, rather than buying one that suits your needs. The wireless rears on this system is a good idea but if you can get cable to your speakers then why risk any timing issues that may occur (not sure without reviews) ? Are these tiny speakers gonna be enough for you (you don't state the size of your room) ?etc,etc.

Post your needs and see what people recommend in your price range.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for replying Andy, and you're right, I should have given a bit more information about the surroundings, etc.

The room it's going in is actually quite big (about 20 ft x 25 ft), though it won't have to fill the whole room as the TV area will only occupy about a third of the space, and I'm not massively concerned about absolutely mind-blowing sound -- fact is I'm a bit of a film buff, and I just like watching things in cinematic surroundings. The 'oomph' of my old HT-BE1 is more than enough for my needs, even in my new place, so I'm not looking to buy a huge or particularly supercharged system.

I'm happy to consider alternatives to a full-on 5.1 system: the Yamaha YSP40 soundbar looks interesting, as it's the 'room-filling' quality that I'm really looking for (rather than loudness!), and of course a decent sub -- but at £700 it seems pretty expensive. I'd certainly consider something like the 2.1 Sony DAV-F200 for instance, if it were a Blu ray player.

I'm ideally looking at coming in under £700-800 for the player + speakers -- which I know is a big ask!

 

[Anonymous]

i am pretty much in the same boat as yourself. I have the same tv and was looking at the same surround system by sony. I have also had a look at the yamaha sound projectors but i have no idea what the differences of different models are about. Could anyone give advice on which one would be the best for 40 inch sony with ps3 as a blue ray?