Surround Sound Advice

[admin_exported]

I recenty spent a royal fortune on a Sony KDL40Z4500 and BDP S550 Blu Ray player. I am absolutely delighted with the results but now my budget is feeling a bit stretched. I'm thinking about the surround sound set up, as I want to get the best from my new TV and Blu Ray. I currently have a Denon DHT500SD home cinema system (its about three years old and works fine), and am currenty using it as an amp (Sky+ HD connected via optical and BDP via digital coaxial), I'm not using it to view DVDs as the blu ray player upscales.

However, time for a confession - I'm still using the bellwire supplied with the system! Its sounds fine to me, but it seems to be universally accepted that I can get more out of the system by upgrading the cable. I don't want to spend too much but was thinking of this - "the Monster Cable home cinema system connection kit" (on sale at Ebay for £30 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110357734056&cguid=fa4052a111f0a0aad2d179a1ff0ba072) Would this do a sufficient job given the age and cost of the system (it was about £450 3 years ago) and would it make a noticeable difference over the bellwire (I'm not an audiophile, but can appreciate quality sound). I don't really need the included Scart lead, but this seems to work out cheaper than buying cable and the Speaker pins (which are quite expensive (around £5-£7 for 4) and difficult to get hold of). The denon is only really used for movies and for the odd CD.

My alternative (if I can convince the missus) is to purchase the Sony STR-DA2400 ES for £349.99 from Play and initially use the existing Denon Speakers (they seem fine with the denon system, and pretty sturdy) - is this possible or would this be a bad idea (I want to eventually get the Q acoustics 1010i but this could take a while)? Any thoughts/ advice appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

mate just to give you a guide re power cables speaker and hdmi , sub, and optical i spent close on £700 + to ensure pure power,signal, sound to my system which cost around £6500 all in

 

[Anonymous]

Wow - thats very impressive. Unfortunately, I'm not in your league there (wish I was!).

I just don't have a clue about speaker cables and what is a good buy for my modest system. 10% of £450 indicates that as a rule of thumb I should spend no more than £45 on cable (you can see I'm a maths genius!). Will that make any difference at all or at this price is it not really worth the bother? Is it worth spending a bit extra on a new amp for now (I was thinking about the 2400ES), slightly better cable and using the existing Denon satellite speakers (and upgrade them to something better later). Confused..

 

[Anonymous]

well you could try chord carnival silver screen £5 a meter but then again a new amp would certainly make a difference and sonys new offering is getting great reviews for sure . As for me i worked every weekend for a year ot to get my stuff but it was worth it . go along to your local hi fi shop and have a listen to some amps mate but you could pick up an onkyo 605 for around £200 on e bay ? good luck on your choices pal

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this. Any comments from WHF as to whether the Denon satellite speakers and passive subwoofer would be okay to use with the Sony Amp (for a while at least) or would they really be letting the capabilities of the Amp down?

 

[Anonymous]

The speakers would probably do the new amp a misjustice. Also the subwoofer needs to be an active model as most HT amps don't have subwoofer amplification. I would save up for a bit longer and buy the whole lot in one go. As advised earlier ebay might serve you well.