1 Box Cinema system or....

StonedPenguin

StonedPenguin

StonedPenguin

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Hi there, I'm after some opinions on what to do/buy.

I recently bought a SAMSUNG UE40D7000 (Love it!), Now I need some better speakers/surround. I have 2 options;

1. Take my Yamaha A-S500 amp & Mission MX3 floorstanders from PC and connect it to the TV via 1 of those Optical-Phono converter thingys.
Then purchase some smaller speakers and amp for PC (~£150 amp and MX1's I was thinking)

2. Buy ONKYO HTS5405 and leave PC as it is.

I dont watch any films on PC, Just gaming and listening to music sometimes.

All opinions welcome, The budget for the surround is about 300-350 if I go that route.

Thanks! :)
 
I would'nt bother going down the one box home cinema route.They're all poor quality and a seperate amp/reciever and speakers is a far better option.
 
I've read good stuff about the onkyo all in one packages, been looking into them for my brother who wants to keep it small and simple .... and cheap :D .... if your not into cranking the volume off the scale i think you'll be very happy .....
 
mad4jags said:
I would'nt bother going down the one box home cinema route.They're all poor quality and a seperate amp/reciever and speakers is a far better option.
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Thats a bit of a sweeping statement. The Onkyo HTX-22HDX is a cracking little alternative to a seperate amp and speakers. Although its not quite as high on the quality front as a seperate amp and speakers you can get the system with the 3 extra speakers for around the £300 mark these days, it uses an awful lot less space, and the quality it does put out is fantastic for the money.

I think I'm probably fairly qualified to say this as well, as I happen to have the Onkyo kit hooked up to the TV downstairs, and I have a seperate Pioneer VSX-819 amp with a set of Kef KHT-1005.2s hooked up to my PC upstairs. Of course my seperates are better, but then they did cost almost twice the amount of the Onkyo, and although they are better I wouldnt say I get twice the quality from them.

To the OP, heres a link to the review of the HTX kit. There certainly worth considering as an alternative to the set you posted if you dont need all the features of a full amp and want to save some space and a little bit of money.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/onkyo-htx-22hdx-5-1-surround-sound-system_Surround-Sound-System_review
 
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The Onkyo home theatre kits are awesome, I've had mine for about a year and a half now and it's superb. They're in a completely different league to the normal home cinema packages from Samsung, LG etc that you find in the highstreet electrical stores.
 
TheVoice said:
The Onkyo home theatre kits are awesome, I've had mine for about a year and a half now and it's superb. They're in a completely different league to the normal home cinema packages from Samsung, LG etc that you find in the highstreet electrical stores.
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maybe but compared to an onkyo AVR and bigger speakers i bet they cannot compete

if i was starting again on a budget i would go the route of 2nd hand. you can pickup some bargains
 
This is my input after doing some research lately.

Firstly, decide what you want the system to do

If the system is for movies/games then surround is the way to go.

If the system is for stereo/music then dedicated amp and speakers is the way to go.

I have always been an stereo buff ever since I did work experience in a specialist hifi shop - it made me open my eyes to the difference in sound one set of speakers made from another...

I've decided that I simply can't listen to music at the volume I want to any more without upsetting neighbours, or getting visits from the volume police.

So....I went down the route of cinema sound for the first time ever last week, did my research and ended up with the Onkyo HTX22HDX 2.1 jobby - at first I was quite impressed but then knew I had made a mistake by not getting the centre/rear speaker add-on package.

A phone call to richer sounds later I found myself boxing the HTX22HDX up and taking it back for an upgrade to the Onkyo 5405 5.1 system.

The centre speaker makes so much difference, night and day!! I went for the 5405 due to its future - subwoofer out meaning I can upgrade the sub easily once i'm not ****ing the neighbours off enough.

What do I think of the 5405? Nice, good little package for £350 - glad I didnt go down the Samsung/LG/Sony route.

Obviously you get what you pay for, spending more money on a receiver and getting your own choice of speakers will be utterly butterly but you could end up spending nearer to £500-£800 for good step up from the Onkyo 5405.

The one downside to the Onky 5405 are the front left/right speakers - not massively detailed in sound but then they arn't bad for a small discreet speaker neither.

I had a slight problem with my Onkyo 5405 in that the sub would auto-standby when watching/listening to something with no bass.....lack of low frequency signal so the sub thought it was time to sleep......this was easily fixed by increasing the sub output to +2db and turning the actual sub knob down slightly. No bid deal I guess.

Oh before I forget the smaller Onkyo HTX22 was crappy on the lip-sync too, I think due to only having 100ms limits on the lip-sync options.

The 5405 has more than 100ms to choose from but I've not even needed to do anything this time due to no lip-sync issues.

HTH.
 
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