What 5.1 system for £500

Associate
Joined
20 Nov 2011
Posts
1,190
A mate had asked me for advice on a 5.1 hone cinema system, not had a look at these ages.....

£500 to spend on the audio side and would like 5.1 with either wall mount or tall boy speakers, the centre speaker will need to be wall mounted though.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
For £500 I'd go stereo.
Or £500 budget get second hand speaker, and certainly not 5.1. You should be able to get a decent 4.0 or 5.0 speaker setup.

On your budget I would not recommend floorstanders.
 
Thanks guys, my concern was the size of the room, I just checked and the room is 6m x 6m with a 3m ceiling, I guess a lot of systems are going to get lost in that?

Maybe the budget needs to increase.....
 
True sound people will hurt me for this but you could look at a LG BH9540TW on the bay? Just got this system myself, love it. Got mine for £445 so under your budget.
 
i have heard awell that the Onkyo systems are really really good, if its true or not i dont know as i never tried them out myself.
 
It was for receiver and speakers but the more I look the more I think it's not enough, it's OK doing things on a budget but there is a minimum to get anything decent.

While you will always be able to get better with a bigger budget, having personally just replaced a faulty AV Receiver and some old and a couple of dead speakers for £600 I have a 7.1 set up that I am happy with:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-18213-denon-avrx1300w-home-cinema-receiver.aspx
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-18708-denon-sys-2020-51-speaker-system.aspx
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-16095-denon-scn4-speakers-pair.aspx

I bought the sys-2020 initially, as was planning on just keeping it to tide me over (and/or just keep the sub), but after some consideration bought 2 sets of the SCN4 speakers, to upgrade the Front left/Right and Centre (as they were the only thing noticeably lacking), and expanded to a 7.1 setup.

Budget was the main issue, but additionally I am space constrained, in that I have no room for Floorstanders, and Bookshelfs could only be a certain depth. In hindsight I should probably have gone for SCN9 speakers, as would be a little bit better for the front/centre, but as I said budget was also a factor.
 
I agree,
While you will always be able to get better with a bigger budget, having personally just replaced a faulty AV Receiver and some old and a couple of dead speakers for £600 I have a 7.1 set up that I am happy with:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-18213-denon-avrx1300w-home-cinema-receiver.aspx
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-18708-denon-sys-2020-51-speaker-system.aspx
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-16095-denon-scn4-speakers-pair.aspx

I bought the sys-2020 initially, as was planning on just keeping it to tide me over (and/or just keep the sub), but after some consideration bought 2 sets of the SCN4 speakers, to upgrade the Front left/Right and Centre (as they were the only thing noticeably lacking), and expanded to a 7.1 setup.

Budget was the main issue, but additionally I am space constrained, in that I have no room for Floorstanders, and Bookshelfs could only be a certain depth. In hindsight I should probably have gone for SCN9 speakers, as would be a little bit better for the front/centre, but as I said budget was also a factor.

That looks really good and about budget, thanks!
 
i'd start with this as a 2.0, then probably save for .1 as rooms quite large. Then later go full 5.1 with 2020s and the 2000ci centre or if you felt the 20s were lacking at the front get 2050s for fronts and use 20 for rears.

https://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx2300w/deno-avrx2300-blk
https://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/q-acoustics/2020i/qaco-2020i-gra

bonus with this is amp has 2 hmdi outs and that room sounds like its begging for a projector later in life.
 
Depends what your actually after from the setup.. mean this was 7-10yrs ago, but I had a proper setup for £300, I had a used and at the time an older model AV Receiver from Sony(5x80w and no hdmi), brand new 80w Samsung 5.1 speakers(2x tall boys, Center, 2x satts) and a 80w 10" I think mission sub, I purchased myself a PS3, sky and a nice 32" tv, so wanted my first home cinema to complete the setup and knew separates was always better than all in ones and never had any issues or regrets for the year or 2 before I sold them as I moved, sound quality for price was brilliant, both for games, movies, music.

I don't have any of that now or anything to replace, got used to tv speakers or pc speakers though I'd like a sound bar, but £500 is plenty for a really nice setup depending on what you are wanting from it.
 
setups range from £200-£20,000. as you can see £500 doesn't get you far into the speaker world especially not brand new. if he can spend another £300 it will open up some really great budget mid range gear.

http://petertyson.co.uk/index.php/yamaha-rx-v681-with-monitor-audio-mass-av.html

he simply would have to go for this.

he's never getting floorstanders, a decent amp and a decent sub with that kind of budget though. a half decent sub on it's own is £500ish, so is an amp. floorstanders you can double that.

you can half this by going second hand but again you need to have decent deals come up locally and be prepared to build your system over a period of time.
 
He can get floor standings, but again it depends what he wants from the system, you can spend a fortune and the quality not as great as cheaper alternatives or visa versa.

Used might be a better option for top quality, but when I used my example of my own from years ago, only my Receiver was used, but back then I was after something nice that I could afford, with better stuff since then 500 could go a long way, mean you can buy brand new receivers with hdmi etc with good power from top brand in richer sounds from £150, then it's just the case of what speakers are required
 
Back
Top Bottom