5.1 surround sound - £300 ish

ahar

ahar

ahar

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My 16 year old JBL surround sound system has finally died so I'm looking for a replacement. Mainly used for PS4 games and the occasional film, with a budget of between £2-300. Input currently comes via optical from a sky box (the multi room Sky Q one) and a PS4 via an optical switcher. Maybe planning to add an echo dot at some point and connect it for music so 3.5mm connector may be usefull.

Anyone have a similar system and can make a recommendation? Maybe something like this...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/edifier-c6xd-5.1-surround-speaker-system-sp-04t-er.html

Having perused this forum looking through threads for inspiration, I just know that someone is going to come in and say that I won't get good sound quality for that and I should spend the money on 2 better speakers. I'm not going to do that because:

- my hearing is okay but not great. I can't tell the difference between good and mediocre quality. Some people claim they have 'golden ears'. I have lead ears.
- I can tell the difference between bad and mediocre - hence this thread
- mostly its used for PS4 games like Call of Duty, so given my lead ears sound quality is not as important to me as hearing bullets whizzing around behind me.
- when we do watch films with it, I can't tell the difference in quality, my wife and son doesn't care and my daughter's hearing is bad enough that she uses hearing aids so any sound quality benefit is pointless.
 
Can you push your budget just a little bit? This should work for your needs: Onkyo HT-S3800. I have seen it online for around £330-350, so just a little bit over budget, but should be good enough for you.
 
Ooh, that looks nice. Cheaper places are out of stock at the moment but could be better after Christmas
 
Our venerable Logitech Z5500's have been performing great for our audio needs for years. Goodness knows what I would replace them with if I needed to.
Optical in with DD and DTS support have been good enough for us.
You can pick up the Z906 version for just under £200.

Missing any HDMI input, that has caused some inconvenience for me with my Kodi box, but for the sound quality and price is really impressive.
 
Vimes said:
Our venerable Logitech Z5500's have been performing great for our audio needs for years. Goodness knows what I would replace them with if I needed to.
Optical in with DD and DTS support have been good enough for us.
You can pick up the Z906 version for just under £200.

Missing any HDMI input, that has caused some inconvenience for me with my Kodi box, but for the sound quality and price is really impressive.
Click to expand...

Go and listen to decent gear, you'll be suprised how bad the 5500's are.
 
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-cinema-packages/yamaha-yht1840.html

Ignore the people who say you cannot get decent 5.1 for this money as they talk rubbish, you cannot get all the bells and whistles that can come with a 5.1 setup for £300 but you can definitely get something very nice - this is experience talking after having 5.1 setups that costs £150, £300 and now £750.

The Yamaha that I linked to above will provide a very nice experience for most normal people.
 
hornetstinger said:
Go and listen to decent gear, you'll be suprised how bad the 5500's are.
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no doubt that you are right but we have held off doing that since we
bought these Logitech's many years ago until we are ready to make that change.
For us our change from those speakers will be the first part, the next being to replace our Plasma TV.


pepp77 said:
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-cinema-packages/yamaha-yht1840.html

Ignore the people who say you cannot get decent 5.1 for this money as they talk rubbish, you cannot get all the bells and whistles that can come with a 5.1 setup for £300 but you can definitely get something very nice - this is experience talking after having 5.1 setups that costs £150, £300 and now £750.

The Yamaha that I linked to above will provide a very nice experience for most normal people.
Click to expand...

Due to my ignorance of these types of setups, largely done on purpose until we are ready to change, what sort of cost would it start at to look for a 5.1 setup to replace our Logitech 5.1's but with "full" HDMI 2 pass-through for the standards that a more modern 4k TV is expected to support. Again I might be too ignorant of this to make sense but I'm thinking of the HDR stds etc that I imagine some of the more basic amps would not support....?
 
The one I linked has 4 HDMI inputs that are all HDCP 2.2 (latest standard) so you would be good to go as the HDR part of 4K is about the player and the display - the AVR amp shouldn't have any affect if the HDMI ports are compatible.
 
Vimes said:
I have absolutely no doubt that you are right but we have held off doing that since we
bought these Logitech's many years ago until we are ready to make that change.
For us our change from those speakers will be the first part, the next being to replace our Plasma TV.




Due to my ignorance of these types of setups, largely done on purpose until we are ready to change, what sort of cost would it start at to look for a 5.1 setup to replace our Logitech 5.1's but with "full" HDMI 2 pass-through for the standards that a more modern 4k TV is expected to support. Again I might be too ignorant of this to make sense but I'm thinking of the HDR stds etc that I imagine some of the more basic amps would not support....?
Click to expand...

Typically AVR's are £150-£350, or more upto £2500.
Speaker systems 5.1 I would say £800/£1000, or more. Something like Q Acoustics 2000 series
 
Would consider second hand, but the yamaha and Logitech ones you linked look good as well, thanks chaps. Will see what's around in the January sales.

@hornetstinger - thanks for the recommendation, but as I mentioned in my initial post my hearing isn't the best so anything other than mediocre quality is wasted on me.
 
Thanks to you both for your help.

As the OP posted I too seem to have ears made of lead, probably why the quality of the Logitech ones still seem excellent.
In the distant past I had a Denon amp and KEF speakers but still the Logitech system sounded great..!!

It can be hit and miss tho with some TV's to pass through an optical 5.1 signal, from an HDMI input source.

The Logitech Z906 at £199 are a great buy.
 
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