speaker systems for home entertainment

[User]

 

[Lardyboy]

Yes, it's called an amplifier!

 

[Lardyboy]

Right Mr. P. what outputs has your tv and V+ got?

To get "surround sound" you need a digital connection, or 5 + sub output.

 

[Lardyboy]

You'll need an AV Amp.

To get each to give you "surround sound" you'd use each boxes optical output going into the AV amp. Preferably a digital coax connection as this will give you a better sound.

To get HD pictures a HDMI connection is needed on your tv via V+, though I'm assuming you already know this?

 

[marinyork]

V+ only does BBC HD and HD movies on demand in 5.1

 

[Mr Pig]

Yip, you want a surround sound amp and a bunch of speakers to go with it. How much it will do and how good it will sound depends on how much money and effort you want to put in.

How much stuff do you want to play through it? Your computer too?

Do you want decent sound, few cinema systems come close to a real Hi-Fi, or are you not that fussed?

Are you happy enough with big speakers around the room or are tiny cubes all you (she ;0) could put up with?

Is the room through the wall from neighbours who'd be pissed off by grumbling bass?

Did you have a figure in mind, sky's the limit, what can I get for £100?

If your DVD player plays through the speakers in the TV you should be able to drop a CD into it and it'll play that too, have you tried that?

 

[rich p]

Every so often I stumble into threads where they speak a language unknown to me. It's life Jim but not as we know it

 

[Mr Pig]

You might be lucky. Some TV's have outputs for external speakers and you can just plug a couple into it. If that's all you want to do then don't bother with centre speakers, subs and all that crap. What most people fail to realise is that by far the biggest part of the improvement of going to a surround sound system is the move from the tiny speakers in the TV to decent sized ones. Most flat TV's simply don't have the room for anything else, plus they assume most people will use a surround amp, plus it's an opportunity for them to save money. Funny to think that the speakers fitted to TV's twenty years ago are better than what you get today...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Buy a cheap used 'stereo' amp, any Rotel should do, and a pair of decent bookshelf speakers, anything from a major speaker company. Should get change from £100 and that will sound vastly better than the sound from the TV or any surround sound system you could get for the same money. Quality over quantity and you won't miss the channels you've never had.

You just need to check that you can get stereo out of all of the boxes, you should be able to. If you can get them to go through the TV and out one socket/pair all the better. If you buy a Rotel receiver that'll give you FM radio, which sounds much better than digital radio. How does that all apeal?

 

[domtyler]

I looked into switching from stereo to surround sound when I recently upgraded all my kit, the problem is I would have needed to have shelled out about five grand to get anything like the sound quality I already had in my Primare amp and large floor standing B&W speakers so decided to stick with what I had.

I ditched the CD player though and now stream all my music through the PS3.

 

[Mr Pig]

I would have needed to have shelled out about five grand to get anything like the sound quality I already had...

Few people think of that. Take a typical surround amp, costing say two-hundred pounds. In that amp you'll have at least six amplifiers so that's £33 per amp as opposed to £100 per amp in a stereo one. A gross oversimplification obviously but it's actually a lot worse than that. Cinema amps are packed full of sockets, switching circuits, displays and digital processors that all cost money and do nothing for the sound quality.

The flexibility of home cinema is great but even basic sound quality cost a fortune!

 

[Globalti]

We saw a demo of a brilliant Bose system at the Motor Show. It does your TV sound and it holds all your CDs then plays them in a whole lot of different ways - by learning your favourites or your preferred type of music, your mood, your wife's mood, special occasions, etc. Just clever use of available technology but brilliant and stunning sound as you'd expect froom Bose.

 

[Lardyboy]

We saw a demo of a brilliant Bose system at the Motor Show. It does your TV sound and it holds all your CDs then plays them in a whole lot of different ways - by learning your favourites or your preferred type of music, your mood, your wife's mood, special occasions, etc. Just clever use of available technology but brilliant and stunning sound as you'd expect froom Bose.

Typical Bose! Demo at a Motor Show, not a Hifi show where there's something to compare it to. Yet to hear any Bose sound as good as anything that costs the same.

 

[Mr Pig]

Yet to hear any Bose sound as good as anything that costs the same.

I'll second that. They are inconspicuous though, which matters more than sound to some people. Just like the style of B&O turns some people on. Totally fair enough, what ever makes you smile.

 

[Night Train]

The thing putting me off at the moment is the need for another remote just to adjust the volume.

Easy, throw away the remote and use the knob on the front of the box.

 

[Mr Pig]

The thing putting me off at the moment is the need for another remote just to adjust the volume.

It is a pain. We have four remotes: TV, DVD, surround amp and digi-box/PVR. I've thought about buying an all-for-one remote but the nice ones are too expensive.

I used to laugh at people who sat with a big row of remotes on the arm of their chair too ;0)