What would i need to better my tv sound

BigDools

BigDools

BigDools

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i know people are going to read this and think he does not have a clue but your right haha im new to the whole home cinema thing.

ive got a 32" samsung and i have to say the sound is terrible more so when im watching dvd/bluerays via my ps3 so i want to spend a small amount of money but not to sure how or were to start ,i have sky and ps3 hooked to my tv .im new to the whole home cinema side but im enjoying reading up on it, i would like to start small maybe an amp and 2 side speakers , what would people advice me to do and buy i might go 2nd hand but if i can get better sound on my tv for £200 ill be happy for now . i no £200 is not a lot of money but i only want to improve my tv sound so i can enjoy a movie without saying "what did he just say" right through the movie. maybe next year i will get a chance to buy bigger but for now i want a cheap fix .also what cables would i need.

thank you to all that help
 
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with that budget may be worth your while to get second hand bookshelve speakers and an amp (probably stereo for that price)

if you can stretch your budget a bit , you could get a Sony DG820 amp and some Tannoy F1 speakers (or wharfedale diamonds 9.1, mordaunt short 902i or Qacoustics 1010i) for about £300. go have a listen in-store to see what sound you prefer, but this should give you a starting point.

you could buy a sub, center and rears later when it is more appropriate time for you. and that should be a pretty nice home cinema set up.

as for cables,
- just get cheap HDMI 1.3 cable (no need to spend a fortune on HDMI cables, basically either they work or they don't) got mine for £6 at http://ukhdmi.com/hdmi-premium.php (not a competitor to OCUK ;))
- for speaker cable, get some basic copper cable - 2.5mm thick between £1 to £2 per meter. again no need to spend fortune on "branded" speaker cables

for more info, always a good idea to trawl Avforums.com for good advice + there are classifieds and you may find what you need

PS be aware that in April many prices are expected to increase by up to 30% :eek:, so may be worth it to act quickly ;)
 
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Sony STRDG820 Black (AV Receiver - With HDMI interface) £229.95
Tannoy F1 CUSTOM Apple (Per pair) £89.95

cheapest i can find these , do you no of any decent websites that can beat those prices ?

thank you for the reply very helpful
 
those prices sound about right. i doubt you will find much cheaper, maybe a couple of pounds. may get lucky and find them second hand if someone is looking for an upgrade. The new Sony amp is around the corner so maybe prices will go down a bit, although at £230 it really is great value for money -> nearest competitors (Denon 1909, Yamaha 763, Pioneer vx1018, Onkyo 606 also very good) are closer to £300 to £400 price range

anyway go audition before you buy, you may be able to try and negotiate or get ex-display - you never know till you try :)
 
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I'd suggest if you're on a very tight budget, and your tv has an out of some kind (optical/phono), go for a second hand DAC like a newer Beresford 7510, a second hand amp about £50 (should get you a reasonable 30-60w stereo amp) and a second hand set of bookshelves, which can be absolutely awesome for the cash!

The PS3 will connect via optical to the dac (the tv either direct to the amp, or to the dac if its optical), and then to the amp via phono cabling. Should sound much better than your tv speakers!

This is basically the next decent step up for you. If you get a good second hand set of amp, dac and speakers, you might find the sound quality is better than the av stuff you'd be looking at anywhere near the price, even if not surround!

You can get 30 metres of reasonable copper cabling for about £20 if you use the bay, nothing special but does the job, especially when you dont want to spend a mint. Some cheaper stuff from Richer Sounds will also do this, but expect to pay £1-2 per meter for reasonable quality cabling (NO BELLWIRE THANKYOU VERY MUCH!)
 
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this is me taking my first steps into home cinema so im not looking to spend a fortune , i no i will get the bug that everyone talks about and i will be spending crazy amounts of money like Mr Latte soon enough but not this year ,all i want is a noticeable improvement over my cack samsung tv speakers . im going to look on the bay and see what i can find but i need to be sure im buying stuff that is going to work , i will keep you posted on what im doing :D
 
You can get the Onkyo TXSR506 for less than £200.
Maybe not quite as good as the Sony, but still very good.
And WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.0 speakers at £80 is another speaker option.

or if you don't need HDMI (ie you're connecting video source direct to TV and use an optical for audio which is perfectly fine) the Cambridge Audio AZUR 540R MK1 is only a £100 and will give you a very good sound and you can then afford the Tannoys
 
sswats said:
You can get the Onkyo TXSR506 for less than £200.
Maybe not quite as good as the Sony, but still very good.
And WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.0 speakers at £80 is another speaker option.

or if you don't need HDMI (ie you're connecting video source direct to TV and use an optical for audio which is perfectly fine) the Cambridge Audio AZUR 540R MK1 is only a £100 and will give you a very good sound and you can then afford the Tannoys
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As a start i think your right . i currently have my ps3 connected to my tv via hdmi cable and my sky box connected via scart so what cables would i need and what would connect to what ? i only have 1 hdmi port on my tv ,i need to do some reading on this stuff asap as i want to learn about how im goin g to set this up
 
RaGeY said:
do you have any links to any decent optical cables ?

thanks
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buy cheapest. many moons ago I bought monster cable as per sales rep recommendation :o. a few years later bought cheap cable and 0 difference. lesson learned - no need to spend fortunes on cables.

only thing about optical cables is they tend to be fragile so don't bend them too much/tightly. other than that no other precautions.
 
this is an earlier model of the vsx1018, which is a good mid-range amp. however the vsx1015 isn't HD audio and doesn't have HDMI.

for a £100 it is interesting deal anyway since it was about £500 a couple years ago, and coupled to some nice bookshelves will be miles better than your current set up. You just wont get HD audio through it. At £150, I would rather fork the extra £ for the Sony amp to have it more future proof (am sure you could probably negotiate the Sony close to £200 if cash.)

NB from what I have read Pionner have made significant improvement with last generation receivers, so not sure of previous generations since i have a newer model. If you are looking at 2/3 year old AV receivers, you would do better with Yamaha RX-V657 or a Denon 2106 imo
 
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RaGeY said:
i no people are going to read this and think he does not have a clue but your right haha im new to the whole home cinema thing.

ive got a 32" samsung and i have to say the sound is terrible more so when im watching dvd/bluerays via my ps3 so i want to spend a small amount of money but not to sure how or were to start ,i have sky and ps3 hooked to my tv .im new to the whole home cinema side but im enjoying reading up on it, i would like to start small maybe an amp and 2 side speakers , what would people advice me to do and buy i might go 2nd hand but if i can get better sound on my tv for £200 ill be happy for now . i no £200 is not a lot of money but i only want to improve my tv sound so i can enjoy a movie without saying "what did he just say" right through the movie. maybe next year i will get a chance to buy bigger but for now i want a cheap fix .also what cables would i need.

thank you to all that help
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1) It's spelt 'know'.
2) Are you looking for just TV/DVD/PS3 audio? Or music/CD audio too?
 
lunarwolf said:
seems he is interested for TV watching, he doesn't mention music. Anyway at this price point you can't get good music and video - one must choose or pay lot more for av receivers with good music
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Well for that money I'd suggest looking at some of the Samsung all in one surround sound systems...? Get a lot for your money and the sound should be absolutely fine for general use...
 
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