wanted 5.1/6.1/7.1 surround sound system

[mike_07]

im still looking but what do you think of this? forgetting budget a min

http://www.richersounds.com/showpro...-STRK880&SID=8c625ed23cc6a7fca2a5ec747399e58e


if you think its any good what speakers do you think would be best? any links?


thanks again for all the help im getting:Cheers:

 

[sideysid]

Hi Mike,

First off if £200 is your budget, forget 6.1/7.1 etc and just concentrate on 5.1. Theres only a few DTS ES discs that take advantage of 6.1 on DVD, and even with the next gen audio formats are e.g. Dolby TrueHD etc are still 5.1 channels, even though on a cheaper system, you wouldn't be able to notice the benefit anyway.

That amp you picked from Richer Sounds is ok for the money, but the HDMI will be a switcher only, so you'll still need a an optical/coax connection for your devices for audio (and thats no good for the bandwith of the HD audio formats), or you the analogue multichannel inputs.

I'd say the system first posted would be ideal for you budget, and would give you something your happy with. I wouldn't consider buying seperates with your budget, unless you can get some super deals second hand...

 

[mike_07]

ok im starting to learn a bit and ive come up with im not going to get what i want in my budget so 1) i can go for a lower spec or 2) increase budget, for now im going to increase my budget to £300 ish will that make much difference? any ideas now ive got a bigger budget?

thanks

 

[Dazmeister]

I don't think spending £300 will make much difference if still looking at a all in one system. I would suggest the same as sideysid but look to upgrade some of the speakers if you can afford (that's if you're not happy with the sound. And as previously stated, don't get too hung up on 6.1/7.1 as you will not notice the difference, even with my setup. You would need a decent sized room for it to work properly and as mentioned, there is not a lot of content out there. 5.1 is more than adequate for home cinema.

I know we mentioned this before but do you have any speakers you could use at the moment? (fronts, rears).

On a side note, i have a Yamaha processor (DSP-E580) which runs just the centre speaker, two rears and the sub. It's designed to hook up to an existing stereo amp, allowing you to either use it as a full home cinema system or switch of the processor and use the stereo amp for music. If you had a half decent amp, you could use this and buy some speakers with the cash you saved. I wouldn't want much for the processor. Just another idea to throw at you.
Only thing i would say is you would then have two boxes (amp/processor) instead of a neat all in one system. But the Yamaha's are good at surround sound processing.

 

[Dazmeister]

Having done some research i think for your budget the Sony HT-DDW790 is a good buy and think you will be very happy with it.

If you had had enough cash then you would have been better off going for one of the hdmi audio amps to enjoy HD lossless audio from the ps3 for example (cant remember what you said you were connecting up to this?). But they are expensive, starting around £300 (Sony STRDG910) then you would need speakers (pick up some good second hand one) so looking around £600 for a decent system.

It's all about budget at the end of the day. Forget about the Yamaha box i mentioned, it doesn't have hdmi so no good to you.

 

[mike_07]

say i went for the Sony STRDG910 what speakers would you recommend for it?

at the min and in the next few months i would like to connect

my pc via hdmi and optical
V+ box via hdmi (when i get one)
playstaion 2
if at some point i can fix my comby then i will connect that too via componet video


thanks again for all of your help