New Home Cinema setup

[admin_exported]

OK, my head is just about to explode. I have been looking around various forums, web sites etc and have completely lost the plot as to what home cinema setup I want to get.

What I have is a Sky HD box, PS3 for Blu-Ray, XBOX-360 for Gaming, Archos 704/DVR Station for on the move movies and a Samsung LE40A656 40".

I was initially looking at a 2.1 setup hopefully something that would decode or accept the HD audio formats, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD. For this I found the Onkyo HTX-22HD. Starts off with 2.1 but can add the additional 3 speakers for 5.1. Great I thought, now to find a review. Can I find one, not a chance. Looked on various forums including this one and all I could find were people who bought this giving their opinions. Mostly that when connected to a PS3 they get a humming noise. Not good I thought so I started to look at a seperate Amp / Speaker setup. This was my mistake

After countless hours on the internet I eventually found the Sony STR-DG820, got very good reviews on this site (5-star I think), but no-one has any to sell as yet unless you want to pay full whack and even the they are not available untill the end of September. Anyway speakers next though about Q-Acoustics 1010i but then read there isn't a great deal of difference between the 1010i and the 1010, although about a £100 difference. Only problem is they are a little big for my TV rack, its already crammed with a Sky HD, PS3, XBOX-360 and a Archos DVR Station. The I read that the Jamo A102HCS5 were a good bet, a lot smaller again got 5-stars last year.

So anyway my dilemma is this:

I go for the Onkyo HTX-22D for about £250 add en extra £100 for the extra 5.1 setup. Cannot find a review from a magazine, has possible issue with PS3 or go for the seperates which will cost me a lot more, £250 for the amp, £250 for the Jamo speakers or £300 for the Q-Accoustice 1010 or £400 for the Q-Acoustics 1010i. Then theres all the interconnect stuff, speaker cables, sub-woofer cables, HDMI etc, probably add another £100 so were looking at a minimum of £650.

Money isn't the issue, saying that I don't want to blow £650 to £700 on a setup that is really too much sound for a medium sized room, about 15ft square, tv in one corner, sofa in the opposite corner. Theres also the placement of speakers, without pulling my corner-sofa into the middle of the room I'm pretty much going to be sitting level with them. Is 5.1/7.1 too much?

Anyway theres a lot of knowledgable people on here so I thought I would get some advice. Sorry about the "war and peace" post.

Thanks

 

[professorhat]

The Q Acoustics 1010i package is very good - far better than the Jamos will be I think but this is going to be true of any traditional speaker vs style speaker. I think you need to decide whether you can fit the traditional speakers in or not - they really need to be sitting on proper speaker stands to make it worthwhile. If you can, you will get a much better sound than you will get from a style package for the same money. If you can't, no worries, but at least you've narrowed it down a bit!
BTW - Clare Newsome was talking about the difference between the 1010 and the 1010i package the other day here. Hopefully this shows why the extra £100 is justified.