Anyone know about surround sound?

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Dramy33

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Amy
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I'm hoping to buy my partner a surround sound system (and blu ray) for christmas, but not sure what to go with. Have read good things about the Sony HT-SS370 Surround Sound Home Theater System, but wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

I've been told wifi is a bad option because of all the interference with my other wifi signals, but not sure this is the best advice.

Would love any thoughts

--Amy
 
To be honest i bought a panasonic home cinima with blue ray and it was the worst move I made.
I cannot plug anything else into it, i.e sky PS3 etc as its a stand alone unit, even though I got told i could plug anything into it and the surround will work.

If I was doing it again I would buy a stand alone surround sound amp with speakers and just buy a seperate blue ray.

spike
 
SpikeK6 said:
To be honest i bought a panasonic home cinima with blue ray and it was the worst move I made.
I cannot plug anything else into it, i.e sky PS3 etc as its a stand alone unit, even though I got told i could plug anything into it and the surround will work.

If I was doing it again I would buy a stand alone surround sound amp with speakers and just buy a seperate blue ray.

spike
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:plusone:

Not got any experience of Panasonic, but had an LG all-in-one... WAY better off buying separates, especially if one of the components needs repairing or upgrading at some point...
 
I've got an Onkyo system which is pretty decent, although I'm on my second as the first was doa......
 
I have an ageing Yamaha RX-V357 and it is the best thing I have ever bought (after a telly of course) to enhance the viewing pleasure, my speakers are so so but this machine brought them to life.

Past it now but it has an optical out for sound which is nice.

Get an AV receiver.
 
Seperates are the best way to go for surround sound. 1 amp. 5 speakers. 1 sub. Try to conceal the cables as best you can. Connect your bluray player via optical lead. Insert bluray disc, hit play and turn the big knob on the amp to the right, and enjoy the experience.
 
go to richer sounds will be the best thing you did. They are very knowledgeable and will help you loads. Will be a much better system then one ud buy in currys or the like
 
I went to Richer sounds and bought an Onkyo SR606.
I power 5 speakers and a sub-woofer through it.
Everything I use runs through it, Virgin TIVO, Panasonic Blu-ray player, record deck and Apple Airport Express to play my Itunes library from my laptop.
I've also run a Wii through it. It may not be as easy as an integrated unit to set up but the sound quality is infinitely better.
Watching a Blu-Ray video is as close to cinema at home as you will get at an affordable price.

As said any help you need in setting up will be willingly provided by the young staff at Richers.
 
Hi Amy,Richer Sounds do some pretty decent stuff as mentioned. Not sure what your budget is but imo if this is something that he has mentioned he would like then tread very carefully :D Being a bloke he will try hard to show his excitement and appreciation of such a gift ;) but deep down he could well be hurt in the lower abdominal area if it is not the system he might have gone for :lol::lol: Try and get him out and have a look around at some, play dumb and see if he gives you any idea as to what he would go for.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I've got an Onkyo system which is pretty decent, although I'm on my second as the first was doa......
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I have just this week installed an Onkyo system in my lounge, HT-S6405(B), would've loved the higher spec THX system but it's around double the price.

Every thing worked out the box and I'm very impressed with it, particularly with the wireless net connection (optional dongle req.) although I could've done with a second usb port.
 
Richer sounds price match in stock web items too so check places like forum hifi for offers. And always barter. I bought my 5 speakers and got em to knock £100 off. It's worth trying your luck.
 
Where expensive speakers are concerned I wouldn't buy anything you can't listen to first, although I too have had very good service from Richer Sounds on hifi gear.
 
I have a sherwood 5.1 amp, and Q acoustics 1010 5.1 speakers and sub, I had a panasonic all in one dvd and amp, but it was rubbish in comparison, already had the amp, just bought the speakers :)
 
u8myufo said:
Being a bloke he will try hard to show his excitement and appreciation of such a gift ;) but deep down he could well be hurt in the lower abdominal area if it is not the system he might have gone for
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Wise, wise words.
 
go to richer sounds :D

i have a sony amp, just make sure for ease of use that you get one with enough hdmi ports for everything you need. mine has 4 so I can put my ps3, appleTV and humax box all in through it and have one to spare

It'll set you back a fair whack though. My amp was about £200, speakers £150 and the sub was £100. and you could spend a hell of a lot more, mine is a minimal setup
 
u8myufo said:
Hi Amy,Richer Sounds do some pretty decent stuff as mentioned. Not sure what your budget is but imo if this is something that he has mentioned he would like then tread very carefully :D Being a bloke he will try hard to show his excitement and appreciation of such a gift ;) but deep down he could well be hurt in the lower abdominal area if it is not the system he might have gone for :lol::lol: Try and get him out and have a look around at some, play dumb and see if he gives you any idea as to what he would go for.
Click to expand...

:agree:

I think this is wise advice. If he has shown any interest in this gift at all then he probably knows what he wants down to the last oxygen free cable. I would suggest forgoing the surprise element of a big box on Christmas Day and make it a joint exercise in going and out and choosing the right kit.
 
footman said:
I went to Richer sounds and bought an Onkyo SR606.
I power 5 speakers and a sub-woofer through it.
Everything I use runs through it, Virgin TIVO, Panasonic Blu-ray player, record deck and Apple Airport Express to play my Itunes library from my laptop.
I've also run a Wii through it. It may not be as easy as an integrated unit to set up but the sound quality is infinitely better.
Watching a Blu-Ray video is as close to cinema at home as you will get at an affordable price.

As said any help you need in setting up will be willingly provided by the young staff at Richers.
Click to expand...

I got the same amp from Richersounds and would echo all the comments made about buying separates from Richersounds, definitely very knowledgeable, lots of stock that you can listen too and very competatively priced :)
 
The thing is Amy it is a little like buying Photography kit. I myself have seperates and my Amp when new was about £1,100. It is as old as the Ark now but after spending about £150 a year ago on it to have all the PCB boards resoldered it is still going strong and sounding just as good, I started with a semi decent set of speakers and over time I upgraded them. You can buy decent used speakers that again would have cost a few hundred at one time. As mentioned it will be all down to budget, does he buy any magazines at all :shrug: What Hi/Fi http://www.whathifi.com/reviews/all-in-one-systems is a pretty good one and gives good reviews on these types of systems. Not sure if all Richer Sounds shops have listening rooms but if your local one does then it pays to go and have a trial listen to anything you intend to purchase, accoustic wise it will obviously not replicate the room and furnishings which will be in your home but it wont be far off of it.
 
Can you give him free-rein to spec/choose a system up to an agreed budget, and with appropriate WAF (*). Loses the suprise element, but gives him the enjoyment of researching and speccing it out himself and getting what he wants. And its then his fault if he doesn't like it.

Bit like engagement rings (imho) - letting the other half choose for the "surprise factor" runs the risk of a very disappointed reaction when they triumphantly produce it

* WAF = Wife Acceptance Factor. HiFi and such goods can't be too imposing, ugly and out of place in the living room. Apparently that is a no-no
 
Print him off some learned papers by Michael Gerzon and Peter Fellgett. That should keep him quiet over the festive period...
 
I've had four Home Cinema systems. The first two were Sony 5.1 systems and both ended up with a fault which kept switching the speakers off. I can't remember the make of the third system I bought, but I went for a 2.1 system because there was only one seat in the room where you got the proper effect. We much preferred the 2.1 surround effect, but I had to change it when I got the new TV because it had the wrong connections. I now have a Sony 2.1 system that I'm really happy with.
 
I have the Sony STR-KG800...love it , loads of HDMI connections, DTS decoder and more inputs you can shake a stick at...

9fy4-640.jpg


shop around though, I spent an age and forever looking around before i bought this....there is some garbage for sale that for sure. If I hadn't got the Sony for such a good price it would have been an Onkyo reciever and aftermarket speakers
 
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Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. I'm now officially intimidated and will most definitely take my partner to choose! Will relay all this info and advice though, and sound like richer sounds is the way forward.

Thanks again!

Amy
 
antihero said:
I have the Sony STR-KG800...love it , loads of HDMI connections, DTS decoder and more inputs you can shake a stick at...

9fy4-640.jpg


shop around though, I spent an age and forever looking around before i bought this....there is some garbage for sale that for sure. If I hadn't got the Sony for such a good price it would have been an Onkyo reciever and aftermarket speakers
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i have the same one, the only thing negative is the size. It doesn't fit in my cabinet :shake:
 
Richer sounds have been know to push a certain brand so make sure you listen to the ones in your price range and don't let them sway you. Trust your ears.

I replaced my 9 year old Marantz SR5300 last year with a Denon AVR3311 its an amazing bit of kit. I now just need to get some money together to upgrade the speakers to do it even more justice.
 
neil_g said:
i think we need a "show us your home cinema" thread in the photos for pleasure section :thumbs:
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I'm not taking pictures of it, you'd see the mess that is my lounge then :lol:
 
onomatopoeia said:
I'm not taking pictures of it, you'd see the mess that is my lounge then :lol:
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:lol:

Have a look around AV Forums, it`s full of kit reviews, thought and offers etc. What ever you do, go and book a demo room, and have a good listen before you buy :thumbs:

I would always go with seperates if your budget will stretch.

I`m currently running a Denon 2311 and Kef KHT 3001`s which suits my needs for film and TV, as I have a seperate music system :D
 
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Paulie-W said:
:lol:

I`m currently running a Denon 2311 and Kef KHT 3001`s which suits my needs for film and TV, as I have a seperate music system :D
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That's the way I used to run things..... I had and "all in one" Sharp surround sound set up which to be fair was OK with films but not great on music.

My hifi set consisted of an Arcam Alpha 7 amp, Marantz CD player and Kef Q15 speakers........Well that was until I let my brother borrow my Kef Q15 speakers and when I went and collected them a few months later they were ****ed :'(:bang:

Think the were in reach of the kids, one of the tweeters was completely pushed in and some of the wire terminals were broken, I could have cried tbh but at the time he was struggling financially and whilst I know he would have offered to replace them, I knew there was no way he could afford to.

Me being the sort of person I am saw an opportunity to upgrade and try to combine hifi and surround sound.

I got an Onkyo 606 amp with a 5.1 Tannoy speaker kit but also some Kef Q1 bookshelf speakers.

The amp has a "direct" mode that bypasses all of the SS stuff so IMO it was the best of both Worlds and also lets me run a 7.1 set up :)
 
Russ77 said:
That's the way I used to run things..... I had and "all in one" Sharp surround sound set up which to be fair was OK with films but not great on music.

My hifi set consisted of an Arcam Alpha 7 amp, Marantz CD player and Kef Q15 speakers........Well that was until I let my brother borrow my Kef Q15 speakers and when I went and collected them a few months later they were ****ed :'(:bang:

Think the were in reach of the kids, one of the tweeters was completely pushed in and some of the wire terminals were broken, I could have cried tbh but at the time he was struggling financially and whilst I know he would have offered to replace them, I knew there was no way he could afford to.

Me being the sort of person I am saw an opportunity to upgrade and try to combine hifi and surround sound.

I got an Onkyo 606 amp with a 5.1 Tannoy speaker kit but also some Kef Q1 bookshelf speakers.

The amp has a "direct" mode that bypasses all of the SS stuff so IMO it was the best of both Worlds and also lets me run a 7.1 set up :)
Click to expand...

Glad you saw the upgrade route, before having a ballistic moment :lol: WTF is it with kids and tweeter domes anyway?

7.1 .... nice :thumbs:
Best i could do is a 6.1 due to the room set up. Next move though will be proj & screen I think :D
 
Paulie-W said:
Glad you saw the upgrade route, before having a ballistic moment :lol: WTF is it with kids and tweeter domes anyway?

7.1 .... nice :thumbs:
Best i could do is a 6.1 due to the room set up. Next move though will be proj & screen I think :D
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I did think about a projector but after I saw the cost of replacement bulbs I went off the idea :lol:

I do like the 7.1, freaks the living daylights out of SWMBO :lol: Music also sounds good being driven equally through all channels :clap:
 
Yeah proj` bulbs are akin to printer ink :lol: But at least they last a lot longer ;)
 
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