Which budget setup?

[admin_exported]

I'm in the lucky position of buying. Can anyone offer an opinion? Tesco are selling the Sony ~BDV E300 5 star rated in this months magazine group test for one box systems) for £300! It's 5 star rating was based on a £400 selling price. Which leaves me with a quandary.

I'd planned to buy the Jamo A102HCS5 and couple it with the Sony STR-DH800 or maybe the Denon (cos I like Denon) AVR1910 which I'm sure on the Jamo's is overkill. Question is, how buig is the performance gap between the one box solution and the seperates? Should I go for convenience or performance?

I have a PS3 for blu ray already and a 37" Sony screen. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Messiah]

Personally I would go for the seperate receiver and speaker package. It will provide a better performance and will be an easier system to upgrade.

As for the Denon being overkill, I am a great believer in getting the best you can afford. At least then when you have more funds available you can upgrade the speakers and the amp will be up to driving them.

 

[Anonymous]

Key question is, do the seperates provide £200 worth of extra performance?

 

[JonnyD]

I'm in a very similar situation, where I've seen the SonyBDV E300 for £300, and the Panasonic SC BT200 also seems great value. However, I sometimes think I'd be better off going the seperates route, with the Denon 1910 (or similar), and add matching speakers to my B&W 685's Hi-Fi when I can afford them, starting with M1's.

I'm torn between a system giving me full 5.1 straight away, or going for better quality more gradually. As I currently watch movies with stereo sound, I think a gradual improvement would be ok, and I'd get to enjoy more upgrades en route!

Have fun making your decision, my mind is swaying towards the seperates.

 

[Messiah]

millsn:Key question is, do the seperates provide £200 worth of extra performance?

Only realyy you can decide that! Ideally you should demo both systems.

Personally, I would expect the separates system to outperform the all-in-one. It is certainly the way I would go.

 

[Anonymous]

A no brainer - the Denon and Jamo's. You already have a PS3, so the BD side of the BDV-E300 becomes irrelevant, and the Sony won't compete with the Denon/Jamo combo for either sound quality or features, let alone it's sparse selection of inputs.

 

[Anonymous]

A separates system, whether hi-fi or home cinema will always outperform an all-in-one system for the same price.

You must remember that an all-in-one system is always designed with a specific budget in mind, and therefore there is bound to be compromises in the quality of the system produced.

A separates system will also make upgrading in the future a much simpler process.