Good Home Sound System?

Talent

My wife and I are looking for a good sound system, preferably one that can be connected to radio, TV, DVD player. Classical music is a favourite of ours.

We were recently blown away by a demo of a Bose system but it cost more that €5000 although they do a less expensive system for €1500. Later a Sony rep showed us a good system starting about €1200. We are not tech-aware in this department - can anyone point us in the direction of good alternatives, or perhaps persuade us we do, after all, need to spend thousands?

The Pontiac

Talent wrote: »

My wife and I are looking for a good sound system, preferably one that can be connected to radio, TV, DVD player. Classical music is a favourite of ours.

We were recently blown away by a demo of a Bose system but it cost more that €5000 although they do a less expensive system for €1500. Later a Sony rep showed us a good system starting about €1200. We are not tech-aware in this department - can anyone point us in the direction of good alternatives, or perhaps persuade us we do, after all, need to spend thousands?

Everything I've ever read on Bose systems say they are seriously overrated. AVforums is a brilliant website for getting advice on this sort of thing. Richer Sounds in Belfast specialise in high-end stuff, and have their own forum on boards here. Their customer service is superb, and their prices are very hard to beat. They also offer free delivery to board members. Some of the prices being charged by shops in the republic is just outrageous.

A few questions you need to ask yourself - 1) Will you be using it more for TV or music? Some amps are just crap for music (e.g. Onkyo), but great for movies. Some av amps can do a good job for both movies and music (e.g. Yamaha). You could also buy a dedicated Stereo Amp (e.g. Cambridge or NAD) for pure quality stereo sound, and a separate AV amp for movies, and use the same speakers for both. 2) Will you be hooking up a blue-ray dvd player/Sky HD box to the system? You'll need a system that can input your high-definition audio needs. 3) The size of your room and how many speakers you'll need - 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup? The size of the speakers - floorstanders or bookshelfs? Is the room big enough for floorstanders? You can buy the speakers as part of a package or buy separately. Monitor Audio, B&W and Kef are all top names in the speaker department i.e. these companies specialise and only make speakers. What kind of subwoofer do you need? BK are a UK company that sells direct to the public and all their subs are handmade (the only sub to consider, IMHO).

This is the wrong forum btw. It should be here.:)

Wertz

Probably get some better replies in the Home Entertainment General forum.

Personally I don't think you need to spend thousands, but it would depend on exactly what type of set up you want (all rooms, central control system etc.), the size of your home or your listening room(s).

For my humble abode I bought an AV receiver (onkyo) and 5.1 speakers (mordaunt short) from richersounds/ebay/adverts.ie. Cost me altogether about €400, including speaker cable and wall mounts.
AV receivers usually have a tuner built in. Hooked up to this are 3 games consoles, skybox, PC and DVD player. I mainly use it for TV/games but also for music (which I can't fault the onkyo on) from an mp3 player dock or from the PC.
Mine has a second zone output that can feed another audio signal to a set of speakers in an another room also, which is handy.

Talent

Ollie,
thanks for a comprehensive reply. Will check your recommendations and might also try the other forum.
Talent

Talent

Wertz,
Great to learn I don't have to spend thousands!
Talent