Upgrade from Panasonic SA-PT460 - first budget amp/speakers

[admin_exported]

I've been using a Panasonic SA-PT460 DVD/cinema system for a good while now but i'm looking to finally get my hands on some basic separates mainly cause im fed up having to manually swap my inputs every few hours (sky/PC/PS3/etc..).

I was looking at either the Sony STR-DH800 or the Onkyo TX-SR-507 (possibly the 607 if I can find a bargain/save on speakers a little). Im pretty open to choice of speakers at the moment but dont really want to run to too much more than £500-600, so I have a couple of questions:

Does anyone have experience of running the Sony SA-VS150H speakers in 7.1 mode? is it actually worth it or just a bit gimmicky?

Am I really going to get my money's worth out of a £500-600 (e.g. Q Acoustics 2000) set of speakers over what I currently have? or could I aim my budget a little lower?

I would use my current speakers with a new amp but they have some random connectors on the end and I don't really want to go chopping them up "just in case". Or, at a real stretch, might there be some kind of Panasonic amp that these speakers may fit?

 

[Anonymous]

rleyshon:
Am I really going to get my money's worth out of a £500-600 (e.g. Q Acoustics 2000) set of speakers over what I currently have? or could I aim my budget a little lower?

Yes. Most definitely. Alternatively, you might also want to consider the JAMO A102's for under £250.00. These are cracking speakers and very good value for money.

 

[professorhat]

If you want to spend less, you could look for the original Q Acoustics 1010i package - it's not quite as good but Richer Sounds are selling it for £350 so it's about £150 less than the 2000 package. You'd need to find a store with some stock though. Alternatively, if you were after a style package, I think this KEF system is a bit of a bargain.

Out of the three though, I'd go for the Q Acoustics 2000 package if you can afford it.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies, but one more noobish question. Do these speaker packages generally come with the required cables or would I need to (or be better off) buying them?

 

[professorhat]

You'd normally buy them separately.