package or diy sourround sound

ohm-ed

hey peeps need a bit of help here as im new to surround sound.Planning on getting sourround sound system for the house but dont know eather to go for the ol package from sony(speakers, subwoofer and dvd player which i wont use,) or would i be better off gettting a av reciever because i have quite alot of stuff to plug into it....blu ray player,x box 360, wii, iptv and a hd digital entertainer.....plus more to be added in the future..

the problem is i dont have alot to spend. Id either spend around 300 euro on a package one or else about pushing it 400-500 euro on the diy job.

any help and recommendations would be great!!

Owenw

An AV Receiver will be pretty much essential for the number of devices you want to hook up. €400-500 would get you a great mid-range model but expect to spend the same again for decent speakers to do justice to the audio output.

All-in-one systems are always limited on inputs. Seeing as you will be using 5+ devices, I would save for a while longer rather than jump for a solution which will not grow with your needs.

Keep an eye out for great deals on end-of-line units in the sales.

Speaker tech has not changed significantly in decades so you have options:

1. look for 2nd hand speakers just a couple of years old - they will have been worn-in to sound their best by the original owner.

2. You may be able to get your front speaker system piece by piece as funds allow: L/R fronts, then add matching surrounds, centre spk and finally a sub. I did this over the space of 2 years without racking up huge loans/debts.

3. Get new fronts and recycle old stereo speakers for surround duties (if you have a spare set), then upgrade at a later date. Upgraditis is part and parcel of home cinema anyway!

Well worth checking out AV Forums too.

johnnyflav

I would just going to give the same good advice as Owenw gave, there's not much available that would meet your requirements and price range if ou were to buy new.

Get yourself a second hand receiver for a start and possibly a pair of stereo speakers. For an all in budget of €500 you'll not get a lot from buying a HDMI capable receiver. If you get a receiver that has component/S-video/composite in, you'll be able to switch between HD components, but to get surround sound you'll need optical in too.

My budget/requirements in your situation.
€200 for second hand receiver, minimum requirements, 3 component in, 3 optical in. Will cover your video and sound for blu/xbox/hd entertainer. (you could always run the video straight from your components straight to the display and only send audio to receiver, in which case you don't need the component switching capability. If it has three optical in it will almost have a number of other connections too, that could be used for your wii or sky or whatever comes along

€200 for speakers, that would be plenty to get you started with a modest set of surround speakers, or a decent pair of front stereo ones.

€60 for a universal remote, Harmony 525 or similar. worth its weight in gold when you have so many different items to control.

kkontour

www.teufel.eu
I got the concept S speakers.
2 x tall speakers for L/R and the smappler ones for Center RL/RC/RR
1 x Sub ( not the one with the built in DD decoder. )
Very happy with them.
Also got a yamaha receiver, spent about €300 on it but now feel I should have got a higher spec for more inputs.
Still happy though.

ohm-ed

thanks lads really apreciate the replys spotted The Sony HT-DDWG800 from Here and checked reviews from avforums and seems right up my street price and input range....but still going to do a bit of research an might take yer advice on the buy one peice at a time....;)

johnnyflav

That's a decent piece in that. I had one of the predecessors of that system (HT-DDW790), and between then and now went through four different amps always upgrading to a slightly better model.

It's a nice setup and it'll give a great surround experience.

johnnyflav

That's a decent piece you've got in mind, I had one of the predecessors of that system (HT-DDW790), and between then and now went through four different amps always upgrading to a slightly better model. In my experience the seperate systems give a clearer more powerful sound, but can be a nuisance to get all the bits together and matching. The Sony will give you great value for money and you'll have no hassle getting it all set up.

It is a nice setup and it'll give a great surround experience.

(One note, I didn't read the specs fully, but check that the sound can be taken in through the HDMI if you're planing on doing that, on my old box it didn't)

ohm-ed

Yes it does take sound in thru hdmi but the only thing that is a minor glitch is that when you take lets say an xbox and you want to use hdmi and an optical input the amp overrides the selection and picks hdmi sound by default.. but the solution to this is plug the optical into the amp and just plug your hdmi into the tv instead of the amp....

Mark#1

€304 seems like a great price to get going in AV separates.

I've had my eye on a Yam RX-V363 receiver + NSP110 5.1 set for €330 (including shipping) from superfi.co.uk http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/4203 (or for €370 in Harvey Norman's Xmas specials brochure), but that Sony set-up could be a nice alternative at €320 (with €17 shipping cost).

Separates is definitely the way to go - so much more is available to you for future upgrading, if you fancy it. €320 is barely more than you'd spend on all but the cheapest all-in-one systems that would seriously limit your input flexibility, if not completely deny you in the first place.

+1 on the AVForums recommendation - seriously helpful forum. Just make sure you do a search first before you ask questions - it's a huge forum and somebody else has almost certainly asked your question already, and you may find good answers have already been posted.

Good luck,

Mark

ohm-ed

Hey Mark#1 was looking at that yamaha one aswell havent looked at the full specs enough but thought the sony had more inputs for my setup. The one thing i was kind of caught up on was the speakers look like something from the 80's on the sony one but look more rock solid and with 865w of power my neighbours are gonna hate my gutts for the next few months.

Mine arrived today at my girlfriends house but she wont let me at it till chrismas day. Big downer but I was like a big child and sat infront of it for about an hour looking at the pics and info on it.....LOOKS QUALITY!! will let ye know how i get on with it. It has also dropped in price to €288 + €18 shipping (got a optical cable also for the ol xbox 360):D

I have not been this happy about something since I descovered Hi Def