Xbox 360S and surround sound

Fallon2304

Good evening folks, hopefully some of you can help me with a query of mine.

I've got an Xbox 360S and have recently upgraded my T.V. to a Samsung 46" 1080p LED television, I've noticed marked difference with Black Ops II and I'm really happy with it.

Now, here comes my query, which I'm looking for some personal feedback rather than the generic articles off Google. I currently have a 5.1 Sony Surround sound system which is starting to go on the blink (failing to read discs etc) so I'm in the market for a new system.

The set up I'd ideally like is HDMI cable from Xbox to TV which is in situ. What I'd also like to do is start getting my sound from the xbox through the surround sound.

I've been looking at a few set ups and I'd like a 5.1 Blu-Ray set up. Again any personal feedback on your own set ups would be great!

I've been reading up a bit and it seems that to get sound running through the surround sound system I need to run an 'optical cable' from the Xbox to the Blu Ray unit and tweak some of the audio settings on the Xbox Dashboard. My current Surround Sound amplifier doesnt have any optical in or out. Although their is an optical jack on the rear of the television exactly the same as the xbox optical jack

Is this as simple as it is or am I missing something else, from googling there seems to be many kinds of Optical cables. Are there specific ones or are they like HDMI cables whereby a cheap one does the same job as an expensive one. If someone could link me to an appropriate cable, it would be appreciated, and also any Blu Ray Home Cinema systems that people are working.

Apologies if I've gone on a bit, looking forward to hearing some opinions!

PhlegmyMoses

Yup, an optical cable should do it. It's how most people run their wireless headsets. I have the cable that I got with my headset, nothing fancy, and it does the job. The 360s has the optical port already inbuilt so it's handy to set up.

SteveDPirate

I have an old Sony 5.1 system, and it works perfectly with just the optical cable.

If you have a bigger budget you could go with a receiver set up and just use HDMI cables to connect it up. I recently bought this http://www.uk.onkyo.com/en/products/ht-s6505-76145.html but I'm not using it until I buy a house (which should be soon). You can connect everything to it and the sound is superb.

theteal

It's as simple as it sounds OP, I got this when I first got my xbox ~5 years ago, I don't remember it being too expensive. Optical cables cost about €2 on amazon. I love seeing people's reactions when we sit down for a game and they hear footsteps and grenades coming from behind :cool: - although I've heard that the sound in BO2 is pretty pish.

Also, that system having bluetooth is the pretty sweet when it comes to having a shindig in the house.

Tea 1000

Without question the only way to go is a seperates set-up. Buy yourself an AV Receiver that fits your budget, they start cheap enough: http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avr1513/deno-avr1513
And then you can even get a set of speakers for another £100 and the combination will be a league ahead of any all-in-one system that you'll find for up to nearly twice the price. You'll always have options then. Particularly if you want the best sound from Blu-Ray or next gen consoles in a year or so, you'll want Dolby True-HD and DTS-HD, which you'll only get with a good receiver and HDMI interlinks.
In 5 years time if you're bored with your set up, just upgrade your speakers for a new lease of life! No more throwing away perfectly good all-in-one's because something isn't compatible!