Brun

.....but it looks like a minefield out there with all the various inputs and outputs blah, blah, blah. Basically, i just want a sub £200 setup (sales have started) which will give me some 5.1 sound from my sky box / plasma and have some decent bass ability to shake the room when watching an epic
Any suggestions for a surround virgin

W.R.X.

Buy one with the absolute maximum inputs and outputs - it's pretty much a good way to judge what the makers think is important.

Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

This is slightly over your budget but its well worth the extra £60 as it comes with a dvd recorder, Crampton and Moore have a great reputation on ebay.

Panasonic SC-RT70 Multiformat DVD Home Cinema System on eBay, also, Home Cinema Systems, DVD Home Cinema, Consumer Electronics (end time 02-Jan-08 00:01:42 GMT)

StickyMicky

i got a samsung one for xmas, 5.1/prologic 2 or dts/digital depending on what you need


iirc it was about £150 and came with the "tall boy" front speakers

Amazon.co.uk: Samsung HT-AS1T Home Theatre Kit: Electronics & Photo

sounds fine to me, i looked quite a bit to find one that did not come with a dvd player as i dont like clutter in the living room and i`m happy to just have the xbox 360 under the TV

Brun

I think i want one with some tallboy type speakers. Don't think i'm bothered about a DVD player as the one i have is upto the task, although that Panna in the link above seems to tick most of the boxes. It doesn't have a HDMI connector from what i can tell though and i understand that, that is the thing to have these days?

logiclee

I would have a look at somewhere like Richer Sounds and spec up an amp, 5 speakers and an active sub. This then gives you an upgrade path for when you switch to the High definition formats and want to experience Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Maybe a little more expensive to start with but will save you money later on.

Cheers
Lee

salsa-king

listen to LogicLee, his set up is like having a SHOWCASE cinema in his front room!!!


and yep, spend a bit more you won't regret it at all.
my Yamaha sub along was about £200, but does boom boom shake shake shake the room, when turn up, Jo's told me to turn it to min as we have flat and the neighbours under us heard all of King Kongs foot steps the other Christmas!! LoL

StickyMicky

no idea about the hdmi connector, i just used the optical cable from the 360 to the amp, and left it alone after that.

logiclee

Two reaons to have HDMi on the amp.

First if it has multiple inputs you can use it as a switchbox for multiple sources if you have a few HDMi components and only one or two HDMI sockets on the TV.

Secondly HDMI is currently the best way to get the new lossless sound formats from HD material. The amp will also need to be able to decode multichannel LPCM or better still Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio but we are getting well beyond the thread starters price point.
Optical or coaxial connections can't carry the bandwith of the lossless formats the only alternative is to buy a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player with on board Dolby TrueHD decoder and use the 5.1 analogue outputs. This is providing your amp has 5.1 analogue inputs and means you will not get full 7.1 when it arrives.

Cheers
Lee

Brun

Yikes - now it gets confusing
I should be moving in with my lass soon so the setup will go not much further than this. LG 42" Plasma (no green pixels ), PS3 when she buys me one, and SKY+. Until the price of running HD sources comes down, i won't be going down that road, so basically i just want the bullets on Saving Private Ryan flying all round my room and King Kong making the room shake as mentioned above.
Off to look at the richer sounds website

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Were in the same situation and will be looking for surround sound in the new year. Would like to connect... hdmi tv, ps3, 360 (non hdmi, using componenr) and possibly sky+ in the future.

Fuzz

With a budget of under £200

Fuzz

I've always used these lot.

Home Page - Audio T

logiclee

No, I said in the post it would be exceeding the thread starters budget but I was answering StickyMicky's question as to why you need HDMI connections on amplifiers.

Cheers
Lee

Fuzz

Ahhh, skim reading while half cut, never good.

logiclee

I'll give you the half cut as it's boxing day evening?

Cheers
Lee

StickyMicky

i`m confused as to why you still need hdmi

when 7.1 comes out will 5.1 not work?

OP wanted 5.1 ?

christ, i wont be fitting another 2 speakers in my living room thats for sure

logiclee

5.1 is fine, the main difference is the sound quality. Dolby Digital is compressed a bit like having a highly compressed mp3 for each channel. Dolby TrueHD 5.1 or 7.1 matches the studio audio soundtrack bit for bit, each channel is totally lossless. Depends on your system really, a low end sub-sat sytem may not show up a huge difference but higher end kit shows a big improvement in clarity and scale. An optical connection can't provide enough bandwith for 5.1 channels of lossless audio so you need HDMI connection to the amp or go down the onboard decoder and analogue connection route.

Depends if you want the high defintion sound to go with the high definition picture.

Cheers
Lee

Brun

Any opinions on this here setup?

Fuzz

Review here Brun LG HT902TB speaker DVD system Review - Pocket-lint.co.uk - gadget news and reviews

Fuzz

Stick the part number in google, add the word "review" plenty more, but I'm in the middle of a game

Brun

Right i've had a look around at plenty of reviews of systems in this price range, and the LG does seem to read quite well, so i guess i will be going for that one
This is actually a Christmas pressie from my lass which we have waited to buy in the sales for when we move in together - unfortunately, until we do move in together, i won't get to sample the delights of surround sound as the present home of my plasma measures in at 10x10