Compact 5.1 system for around £400?

Raider

Raider

Raider

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Leamington Spa / Oxford
Right, now that i've got my TV & DVD sorted, I need to get my sound sorted out.

My initial plan was to use my Hi-fi amp and floorstanders for decent 2-channel for the time being. But since I'm using this setup in my room, I was wondering if there was any decent 5.1 systems for around £400 ish? I'm hoping that since it's a small room it should be possible to get something decent for the money!

Ta!
:)
 
IceBus said:
IMO you can't do much better than the Denon DHT500SD :) I have this system myself and really love it. Have a look at www.homeicnemachoice.com/reviews for some details :)
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Not unless you get a proper surround sound system using seperates of course :p. Which feaisably you could do on that budget by buying more speakers to compliment your existing floorstanders and a secondhand AV amp :)

MB
 
That Denon setup includes a dvd player though.. not quite what I was looking for.

I would prefer going down the router of spending around £200 on an AV-Receiver (maybe 2nd hand), then spend around £200-£250 on a compact 5.1 package.

Any more ideas?
 
Raider said:
That Denon setup includes a dvd player though.. not quite what I was looking for.

I would prefer going down the router of spending around £200 on an AV-Receiver (maybe 2nd hand), then spend around £200-£250 on a compact 5.1 package.

Any more ideas?
Click to expand...

Canton CD101, check out the power buy on AVForums.com

MB
 
Can I be different and suggest you go with the stereo amp and speakers. Won't have flabby bass and rear effects, but will walk all over it for music and present better information from the front channels.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Can I be different and suggest you go with the stereo amp and speakers. Won't have flabby bass and rear effects, but will walk all over it for music and present better information from the front channels.
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Agreed in some ways, but even if your stereo sound is great films
just dont seem the same with out 5.1, IMO.

Don't get me wrong when listening to music i dont like that over 5.1
at all, but for films stereo just doesnt appeal to me!

So long and short of it I would choose 2 systems everytime, one for
music (stereo) and one for Films / Tv (multi channel)

As for which system, there was a cracking deal not so long
ago for a Denon amp with Kef Eggs + free cables, but it was £520
slightly over budget but top notch stuff!

Andy
 
Well the system would also be for Xbox 360, so I would definately benefit from 5.1 for that.

Those Kef do look quite nifty. I see you can get stands for them. How much do they cost? Would be handy for the rears!
 
-=BAF=-AXE said:
Agreed in some ways, but even if your stereo sound is great films
just dont seem the same with out 5.1, IMO.

Don't get me wrong when listening to music i dont like that over 5.1
at all, but for films stereo just doesnt appeal to me!

So long and short of it I would choose 2 systems everytime, one for
music (stereo) and one for Films / Tv (multi channel)
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Andy,

I understand what you mean, used to have 2 seperate systems, one AV, one stereo.

One question for yourself. Imagine that you have 2 systems, costing for example £750 each. Within that, lets say the stereo speakers cost £250, and the 5.1 speakers cost a similar amount. How much better do you think that a straight stereo costing £1500 will be for both music and films?
It's fairly obvious for music that it will be better, and I'd like to suggest that "diminishing returns" don't set in until MUCH higher than most people believe. For films, clearly you will lose rear effects, but most film soundtrack is from the front channels, which will be MASSIVELY better. For one thing, the stereo speaker pair cost £500 (1/3rd of the available budget, and enough for something more than decent), whilst the £250 spent on 5.1 speakers will result in something fairly compromised.
Clearly we could up the budget, but the basic principle still holds.
If you ever want it proving and are in London, give me a shout and I'll happily give you a dem.
 
Raider said:
Well the system would also be for Xbox 360, so I would definately benefit from 5.1 for that.

Those Kef do look quite nifty. I see you can get stands for them. How much do they cost? Would be handy for the rears!
Click to expand...

I belive the stands are in short supply and are just simple silver poles so I'd reckon you'd be better off with just universal stands for the rears. The eggs have a flat base with a bolt hole so I reckon it shouldn't be hard to get a stand for them.
 
Mr_Sukebe : I agree with what you are saying too!

I understand the difference between sheer volume / channels and SQ.
I have listened to both set ups, my old man has his set specifically for
stereo. Nice pair of B+Ws and Musical Fidelity Pre, Power and Cd with
no expense spared on the cabling either. It sounds fantastic for music,
everytime i listen to it i notice something else in the music. Now although
its crystal clear with nice "tight" sound I still prefer the "surround" feel of
5/6/7.1.

It took us weeks of Demo'ing and tring different combos of amps and speakers
even before we got them for a home demo, so we had some very high end stuff to compare it with.

I think its just down to personal preference, im not a "surround fan-boy" by
any means as I will choose stereo everytime - for Music, but for films i will
stick and say i prefer a surround system!

Andy :)
 
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