Please reccomend me a Surround Sound System?

[TrueWraith]

hi all,

just after getting a new sound system for my main lounge and wondered whats a good system for up to 200£ and my massive hi fi system is dying of old age lol

i have a:

xbox
xbox360+hd drive :)
wii
sky (normal)
hd TV

also im a little out of touch as last hifi i bought was my 7 year old technics which as been awesome with huge speakers, does these systems with small speakers pump out some nice movie sounds or should i look for something bigger.

hope that wasn't to noob of a question lol


anyway massive thanks for help or advice


sorry if in wrong section if it is!

[TrueWraith]

found this sony one for around £200 what u guys think Pls ? (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=8)

[waldopepper]

Don't think your link has worked!

I bought this Sony surround (http://www.kaleidoscope.co.uk/web/main/ProductDisplay.asp?An=0&N=0&Au=P_MasterItem&Nu=P_MasterItem&A=84H831_&cm_mmc=SEM-_-Froogle-_-Electricals/TVs%20And%20DVDs/DVD%20Home%20Theatre-_-84H831&catreqmedia=W0765&ordermedia=T0065&name=10PERCENT&orderoffercode=PP2P&entry=1)6 months ago and despite being a budget model (it was only £130 then) it's got superb sound (huge bass) and upscales DVDs great. It does now however look like its being discontinued and it hard to shop around to find. It's also gone up in price a lot!
One drawback is that there's only 1 digital audio (optical) input and this is a big feature to be lacking if you want to get surround sound input from more than one device.

I have Virgin+ TV, Xbox and this DVD player all plugged in my TV with HDMI, and an audio (stereo) cable running back from my TV into the DVD/surround kit. An additional optical cable from the Xbox into the DVD player sends the surround to it.

This way, movies from DVDs and Xbox games are in surround sound but not Virgin TV programmes (there aren't many anyway).

You might want to think firstly about how your setup should work - how many devices you'll be plugging in and how many you're OK with stereo from and what ones need surround.

Good luck!

[TrueWraith]

ok soz about the link and thanks for all the info and i will check some reviews

#
thanks mate

[rwniel]

Most surround system packages seem to have limited numbers of rca phono audio connections (for use with the Wii and standard Sky box, for example). I would have a look at those systems based on standalone av amps/receivers. There are packages such as the Sony HT-DDWG700, for example although due to the weakness in sterling against the yen these are now over £200 unfortunately. The HT-DDWG800 model is a better a buy however, given it's better selection of inputs and greater future-proofing but it's closer to £300.

Robert

[TrueWraith]

massive thanks for that info rwniel i think i should wait and save for the HT-DDWG800 you spoke of :)

[rwniel]

There's a long thread over at AVForums, so you can read up on the pros and cons - speakers are a bit uglier looking than say the Sony HTSS/SF1300 (which is another popular choice). But their larger size does make for a better sounding system overall and because it's based on a standalone av receiver the connectivity is a bit better. The HTSS/SF1300 has a slim main unit over the more regular sized standalone av receiver - the tallboy style floorstanding speakers on the HTSF1300 do make them easier to site in some installations.

Robert