Home cinema system

[buzzsaw]

Following on from the DVD player topic, I'm looking for a home cinema system to attach to my recently acquired Sky+ box which has an optical output for Dolby Digital. Any suggestions under £200?

[telecat]

Yes save up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[buzzsaw]

telecat said:

Yes save up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now,now...I'm not looking for the ultimate system, and have seen several units under £200 advertised on the interweb. Useful advice please!

[s a m]

Probably way over budget – but…

You have to pop into a Bose demo shop and experience their home cinema system (lifestyle 35). Until you have heard it you won’t know quite how good it is, but its truly amazing sound quality. Sets you back a nasty £3k though.

On the other end of the scale, I made the mistake of buying a quite cheap unit for about £150, its not bad, but the sound is a little treble’y and hasn’t got much body to it (probably lack of bass).

However it is tons better than the standard TV, and doesn’t sound bad at all.

My advice would be go for a good brand, avoid the systems with loads of fancy looking speakers with low price tags – from my expirence the speakers are usually all fairly low power and quality, so you are probably better off with a simpler looking Sony unit than a all singing all dancing “TechnoBrandHere” unit for the same money.

[Incorrigible]

buzzsaw said:

telecat said: Yes save up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now,now...I'm not looking for the ultimate system, and have seen several units under £200 advertised on the interweb. Useful advice please!

What hi-fi do you currently have

For example, If you 've got a decent set of speakers, buy a decentish surround amp and a cheap set of rears

[bilko2]

I had a quick google and found this:
www.reviewcentre.com/fi259-price-2.html
But then it struck me, do you need an integrated dvd player or will you just be wanting a cinema speaker system ie dolby surround etc?

[telecat]

Thats the problem the systems usually include the player. However how about this

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=IM-2223249-GB&c=uk&category_id=6178&cs=ukdhs1&image_flag=False&l=en&s=dhs&show_summary=False&page=productlisting.aspx

Bit over budget. There is also a cheap and cheerful one on the site fro about £80.

[buzzsaw]

bilko2 said:

I had a quick google and found this: www.reviewcentre.com/fi259-price-2.html But then it struck me, do you need an integrated dvd player or will you just be wanting a cinema speaker system ie dolby surround etc?

I already have a DVD player but wouldn't mind another one which can play DivX files (which the current one doesn't). So ideally package including DVD player with DivX.

[justayellowbadge]

Yamaha

Job done!

[Zod]

s a m said:

Probably way over budget – but… You have to pop into a Bose demo shop and experience their home cinema system (lifestyle 35). Until you have heard it you won’t know quite how good it is, but its truly amazing sound quality. Sets you back a nasty £3k though. On the other end of the scale, I made the mistake of buying a quite cheap unit for about £150, its not bad, but the sound is a little treble’y and hasn’t got much body to it (probably lack of bass). However it is tons better than the standard TV, and doesn’t sound bad at all. My advice would be go for a good brand, avoid the systems with loads of fancy looking speakers with low price tags – from my expirence the speakers are usually all fairly low power and quality, so you are probably better off with a simpler looking Sony unit than a all singing all dancing “TechnoBrandHere” unit for the same money.

I know this will sound like hi-fi snobbery, but BOSE is form over substance (just check out any hi-fi forum). For £3k, you can get a much better system from real hifi manufacturers (but we are way ove r the OP's budget now already).

[miniandy]

I have to say that I bought BOSE speakers and a seperate amp, instead of the full system. The speakers produce a fantastic sound, and are spot on for my flat where space is limited. I can always upgrade the amp when needed, but it's a decent spec NAD and I'm more than happy with it at the moment. cheers

[davidy]

re: Bose Zod hit the nail on the head

Buzzsaw, another option is to buy an AV amp from a couple of years ago from eBay or similar, should cost £100 or so and provided its got Dolby Digital processing it should meet your requirements and a cheapo speaker package.

Be warned though it can be adictive, 12 months ago I added a Yamaha AV Processor/Amp to my hi-fi system with some £25 Celestion rear speakers and now I'm on my 3rd system (all bought s/h thankfully) but the current one would have cost the original owners over 10K !!!!

davidy

[Chim450]

Richer sounds do decent cheap kit. I would recommend getting an AV amp in the £150-£200 price range, get some speakers (with a powered sub woofer for bone jarring base ). I have recently changed my AV amp to a pioneer unit which has loads of optical and video inputs and outputs and does very good surround. I would recommend getting an AMP which has a pro logic II capability as you get pretty decent surround effects from non dolby digital sources.