5.1 for £300

rG-tom

rG-tom

rG-tom

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Joined
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Hey guys,

Was wondering if there are any stand out choices in the £300 5.1 in a box solutions or seperates all in for 300 quid (unlikely on the 2nd one!).

My gf's parents are after something for this kind of budget as an upgrade from a panasonic 5.1 set up which is rather rubbish.....I personally think 2nd hand is going to be the better option but if any of you guys know of anything that stands out that is worth looking at? Size doesn't matter, doesn't need to be compact and would actually probably be better with floorstanders etc for this application

Cheers

Tom.
 
I would heartyily reccomend the Yamaha 5.1 speakers (£80) and Yamaha RXV 365 AV amp (~£160) in Richer sounds as a starter setup. I bought the old model about 2 years ago and its bloody brilliant for the money, and a perfect starter setup to build from. Powers full size speakers too, with a second channel, so not terrible as a hifi amp also.

If the budget would stretch maybe get the Onkyo TXSR507 amp which can do DTS HD (£220) with the £80 yamaha speakers for £300, or maybe a bit more for better matched speakers.

Cant rate the Yammy stuff highly enough though for the money (if only it did the HD Audio!)
 
Any particular reason Firestar_3x? I've got that amp and does what I require.
OK i would have liked HD audio but at the time that was the best I could afford. It's great for a 1st serperats start up I feel.
 
I got a Sony amp and Tannoy EX51 speakers for I think just a shade over £300 from Richer Sounds a few years ago so it's definitely doable, I'm still using the setup and it still sounds great imo for the money. I have a small room so I don't need it any louder and to my untrained ear it sounds great still.

There must be equivalents to that deal about now, it was quite highly recommended by a lot of people for a cheap setup when I got mine.
 
milkinc13 said:
Any particular reason Firestar_3x? I've got that amp and does what I require.
OK i would have liked HD audio but at the time that was the best I could afford. It's great for a 1st serperats start up I feel.
Click to expand...

No Audio over HDMI and no Master HD decoding is a huge issue for current setups and future upgrades, if it had those two features i would have one, i'd go for the 507 from Richer Sounds, this was my choice wasn't in stock so i got a free upgrade to the 577, picked it up this weekend and initial impressions seem good.
 
i get the feeling my posts in this thread are invisible? :confused:

Firestar, how does the Onkyo TXSR507 rate - as thinking of upgrading to that from the Yamaha as mine is the old one which doesnt even have HDMI, let alone HD Audio.
 
Personally i really like the 507, the looks take some getting used to, but lets face it 80% of AV gear looks odd, like you say its got the full complement of HDM inputs which allow the audio to be taken and processed in HD, its a 5.1 amp but that’s all the OP needs, no onscreen (tv) menus is a drawback of the 507 - 577 which is my only real comment at the moment, I’ve also read on a US site that it can't patch the Component input to the HDMI output, but I’m not sure if that’s true.

Sound quality wise, I’ve got mine hooked upto a pair of Wharfedale Vardus V400 floor standers, I’ve yet to buy a proper center speaker or rears, but I’ve had a mess with some Sony Home cinema speakers hooked up and i'm quite happy with the quality for both Music (Floor Standers only) and Blu Rays in HD Master sound great in 7.1.

I've not spent a fortune on my setup but once done it should sound good for the money, once you start adding more gear (X-box and Sky) the audio through HDMI becomes more important, otherwise I’m onto Optical leads (which kinda defeats the point of a single cable (HDMI)) for both Video & Sound, plus with the amps optical port limitation (only got two) i would either need a splitter or plug both these devices into the TV first then use the TV's optical out to the Amp, which i really didn't want to do since the sound quality on Samsung TV's suck and I’ve got no idea what the processing it like on my set.

Current
Onkyo 577 £225
Wharfedale Vardus V400 £199
Samsung 40" 1080p LCD
Samsung BD-P1500 Bluray
X-box 360 Elite
Sky HD

To Buy
WHARFEDALE VARDUS VRC1 CENTRE SPEAKER £69
Not sure on rears + others yet
 
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