AV receiver and speakers

markmeus

Hi Guys

I’m looking into getting a home cinema system, I currently have a Toshiba 42” LCD hooked up to a Media Centre PC and Xbox 360, but the sound from the TV is a bit underwhelming.

I have a budget of about £550 for the receiver and speakers,

Looking on your website Onkyo receivers seem to be good value – but I’m totally clueless, I’d like something that’s relatively future proof, and good for music and movies.

In my mind I’ve split my budget £350 for the receiver, £200 for the speakers, and looking at your website the following receivers caught my eye:
ONKYO TXSR508
YAMAHA RXV467
ONKYO TXSR578
Denon AVR1611

Haven’t a clue about speakers though.

Or would I be better off with a package like the ONKYO HTS6305, it seems to be good value and I like how it comes with an iPod dock.

Having said all that and despite a good bit of research I’m still totally confused, so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

Richersounds.ie: Dave

markmeus wrote: »

Hi Guys

I’m looking into getting a home cinema system, I currently have a Toshiba 42” LCD hooked up to a Media Centre PC and Xbox 360, but the sound from the TV is a bit underwhelming.

I have a budget of about £550 for the receiver and speakers,

Looking on your website Onkyo receivers seem to be good value – but I’m totally clueless, I’d like something that’s relatively future proof, and good for music and movies.

In my mind I’ve split my budget £350 for the receiver, £200 for the speakers, and looking at your website the following receivers caught my eye:
ONKYO TXSR508
YAMAHA RXV467
ONKYO TXSR578
Denon AVR1611

Haven’t a clue about speakers though.

Or would I be better off with a package like the ONKYO HTS6305, it seems to be good value and I like how it comes with an iPod dock.

Having said all that and despite a good bit of research I’m still totally confused, so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

You have ran into same the problem we all face in picking our home cinema system which kit to go for. Took myself 6 months to finally pick my gear,then 4 years to complete. Hopefully i can give you some advice to make the decision easier.

The amps you have shortlisted all have their own merits the questions between the 4 would be;

do you want 5.1 or 7.1 for upgrading to later?

would you like to upscale composite feeds to HDMI (1080p)?

Depending on who you speak to each amp can handle home cinema and stereo listening to different degrees. Some would say for example that the Onkyo's are very good at the 5/7 channel sounds but a bit to brutish with the 2 channel, on the flip side the Yamaha's and denons can be a bit subtle but forceful when required in both the 5 channel and 2 channel.

The speakers choice is the toughest part, that being said some of the speaker packs rely hugely on the subwoofer to produce the low end frequencies(bass). In the budget you have set aside there a couple of very good contenders;

Tannoy SFX 5.1 - £199.95 very accomplished system which has changed very little in the last 5 years (not broke don't fix it)

Jamo A102 H5 - £219.95 5 star award winner with What HiFi and many others.

The Onkyo HTS6305 is a very popular choice at the moment due to it being all there to start esp. the ipod dock which is exclusively used by all onkyo amps.

The budget you have set yourself will get you a brill system it just making the final decision one will point out not all the speakers systems supply cables which could be an extra bit on top.

I hope i haven't confused things even more.:o

If you want to speak to one of the guys or myself give us a call and we'd be more than happy to help you out. 00443339000070

regards

Matthew

markmeus

Hi Matthew - thanks for the reply and the advice.

I'm not to bothered about HD upscaling to be honest - both the Xbox and PC will be connected via HDMI anyway - and I can't see me using any devices that dont have a HDMI port in the future.

As for 5.1 vs 7.1, I guess 7.1 would be the more future proof option, but at the moment I'd call it more of a nice to have than a deal breaker for me.

Thanks for the speakers suggestions - I'll do some reading up on them.

I'm off work on Tuesday so I'll probably take a trip up to the shop, only live about 30mins away.

Thanks again,
Mark