Cheap home cinema system... ideas?

[Norbury90]

Hey guys,

I'm looking for a 5.1 system to hook up to my telly. It will be used mostly for video games and DVDs (both Blu-Ray and ordinary). It is going to be a birthday present for me in July, but I will be trying to make sure I can get the best for the money.

Max budget is probably £180, I know that won't get me much and I accept that, but it will still be a step up from my poxy 2.1 computer speakers i'm currently putting up with!

I don't really know what I should be looking for to signify that a particular system is 'good' - all I have been told is that the more watts it has, the better it is (I know thats probably a load of tosh)

Also, what difference would a HDMI connection on a home cinema system make? I have a spare HDMI port on my TV which could be put to use.

[headcase]

The main thing you need to look out for is that it has an optical or coaxial input so you can enjoy your Bluerays in 5.1, and a standard (red/white) phono input so you can send your tv sound to the surround system. Unless the system you buy has a built in blueray player then a HDMI output isnt going to give you any improvement, basically they just send your DVD picture out of a HDMI port instead of the scart, it gives you no noticable picture improvment at all!
Ignore the quoted power ouput figures, they are all techno babble :P listen to a few and make up your own mind

[Norbury90]

Thanks for the advice, very useful!

[rusal]

i think people will struggle to give yoy advice at that budget norbury. you might need to keep saving.

[Norbury90]

rusal said:

i think people will struggle to give yoy advice at that budget norbury. you might need to keep saving.

I'm saving for an MX-5. I'm aware that I am looking at the budget end of things, and thats fine by me.