Which surround sound system - HELP please!!!

Wilks

Wilks

Wilks

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Which system should I go for folks. I have a 40" Samsung LCD, Sky+ HD, and a Playstation 3 to plug in. I'm looking for whichever system would provide me the best sound quality out of the following:

ONKYO HT-S3305B 3D-Ready 5.1Ch AV Receiver with Speakers

and

LG HB905PA 5.1 Blu-ray Hybrid Home Cinema

Please help!

John
 
Indeed they are mate. The LG has the higher wattage (1100w as opposed to 500w) of the 2 systems and tallboy speakers, as well as a seperate bluray player, and an iPod dock.

The Onkyo however offers better future upgradeability at a cheaper price.

I'm really stuck on this one!
 
The wattage is a complete red herring. Don't put any faith about the quality of a system based on the wattage claims.

If the speakers are producing 1100 Watts of sound then the amp must be drawing at least that figure from the mains socket, right? After all, a Watt is a unit of power - so it doesn't make a difference if its sound power, heat, or light - a Watt is a Watt.

We also know that there's no such thing as 100% efficiency. So in producing 1100 "Watts" of sound power then our amp will use some power in doing that. Let's say its got a good Class-D amp, so the efficiency is 90%. That means 1100W at the speakers equals about 1220W at the socket.

So, how much is the peak energy consumption of this LG surround kit according to the manual? ...1200W, 1300W??? Nope, it's 150W. ;)

If the amp loses 10% power in converting electrical energy to sound then you get 135W for all six speakers (the sub is passive, so takes power from the amp too). Each speaker is getting roughly 22W...lol

The Onkyo is your better bet, not because of power...(the same rule applies to the Onkyo) but because it is a proper AV amp with a decent selection of inputs and proper surround decoding. :D
 
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Personally I'd avoid 'all-in-one' kits if you can get separates for the same price. The Onkyo kit is quite good because they've taken on of their standalone amps and partnered it with their speaker kit which is actually pretty good for the price. The only thing that lets it down is you couldn't upgrade to 7.1 later if you wanted to as it doesn't have the speaker connections and it has a passive subwoofer. I believe you could add an active one later if you wish though. Sure the Amp is one from the lower end of the market but it does all the lossless audio standards for your blu-ray, will have Optical and coaxial inputs for any other devices you may want to connect and has 3 HDMI inputs and Component inputs as well. For pure future functionality options, it has to be the Onkyo setup.
 
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So the Onkyo all the way then. :)

I thought that this would be the case, but kind of hoped that both systems would get a big thumbs up so that I could get the tallboy speakers!

What's a passive subwoofer? I'm guessing that this would be the weakpoint of this system?
 
Thanks.

Does that mean that the sound will be pants - or is this not necessarily the case?
 
Not necessarily. A passive sub will still give the rumble but sudden and fast bass efefcts such as explosions won't quite be the same on a passive amp as on an active one. The cone and driver won't be able to move the same amount of air to give a good rumble on passive compared to active. You might think they'd sound similar but hearing them back to back will be a revelation. If your budget can rise a bit you can get a proper setup such as this, the set I have and add an amp such as this but you'll also need to cost cabling as well.
 
Wilks said:
Thanks.

Does that mean that the sound will be pants - or is this not necessarily the case?
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Not at all. I have the aforementioned Onkyo system and it's fantastic, plenty of bass without being overwhelming too, and overall a far, far better bit of kit than the Samsung system I had before it.
 
Hi, I had the onkyo system you mentioned and for the money it was a good performer. The amp was well built and had some great features that you wouldn't really expect for that price point. I cant really see you getting much better at that price for new. perhaps if you went second hand. Definitely don't get the LG system as it probably wont be as good as a dedicated amp. Also with the sub being passive, I wouldn't worry. At this price point its a good performer and kicks out enough bass.

I bought a bk xls-200 sub which is active and was still able to hook it up with that amp and it sounded great. Overall a decent system, but one that's good for a budget setup, you'd probably have to spend a fair bit more to get better.
 
Many thanks for the input. The Onkyo is so cheap, that I think I'll go with that for now. Once the kids grow uo and move out, I shall go for a full on 'proper' system!
 
TheVoice said:
Not at all. I have the aforementioned Onkyo system and it's fantastic, plenty of bass without being overwhelming too, and overall a far, far better bit of kit than the Samsung system I had before it.
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Glad to hear it. I've been after a surround sound system for a long time but never had enough spare money to do it justice.

I've found this system dead cheap though and think I will take the plunge.

How easy is it to set-up with TV, SKY+, PS3?
 
Feed the amp with an optical lead from the Sky+ and keep the Scart connection to the TV. That way you can watch TV without the amp being on, but turn it on if you want the 5.1. PS3 via HDMI to the amp and amp to the TV via HDMI also.
 
I've got that Onkyo system. Set-up wise man, it's a breeze. Just plug devices into HDMI sockets, hook one up to your TV and that is literally that. Loads of different settings to play with, you'll love it!
 
auraindigo said:
I've got that Onkyo system. Set-up wise man, it's a breeze. Just plug devices into HDMI sockets, hook one up to your TV and that is literally that. Loads of different settings to play with, you'll love it!
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Indeed, you can even set it up so it shows things like 'PS3' and 'Xbox' on the display depending on which input you're using. :)
 
So do I have this right:

1 x HDMI cable from the PS3 to the amp.
1 x optical lead from the SKY+ HD to the amp.
1 x HDMI cable from the Wii to the amp.
1 x HDMI cable from the amp to the tv.

Is this correct?

Where's the best place to get good quality otical and HDMI 1.4 cables - does anyone know? I can't imagine that they will come with the product.
 
I've got my PS3 via HDMI to the TV and Optical to the amp.

Actually not at the moment because i've moved the PS3 to the PC desk for GT5! :D

Ohh and i'm very impressed with the Onkyo system for the price :)
 
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