Is it possible to get a good amp and speakers for £300?

[chris watton]

I am thinking of changing our old Sony home cinema amp and speakers (no HDMI on this and all our new stuff is black, and the Sony componants are silver..)

I see a lot of HT kits, but they normally include BR players. Does this mean that the sound only works with the bundled BR player? If so, I need a decent amp and speakers with optical and HDMI inputs for our HTPC, PS3 and SKY HD box. It would also be nice to have free standing rear speakers, to avoid having to drill the wall for rear speaker brackets.

Is there a best 'all rounder' for this?

ETA - is this decent? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0039XQL44/ref=...

paired up with these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004EAGXBM/ref=...

Is that combo worth the £900, do you think?

Edited by chris watton on Tuesday 12th July 15:03

[FlossyThePig]

One person's decent amp/speaker can be another's pile of c**p.

You have set an initial budget so go and listen to things in that price range. If you are happy with the sound buy it, if not you you will either need to increase the budget or change your requirements.

[chris watton]

OK, have just ordered this from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0039XQL44/ref=...

And I may buy these to go with it.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004EAGXBM/ref=...

ETA - have ordered it all, hope they'll be as good as I hope.....

Edited by chris watton on Tuesday 12th July 15:49

[_dobbo_]

A good amp and speakers for £300, and you spend £900? Are you Gordon Brown?

[chris watton]

_dobbo_ said:

A good amp and speakers for £300, and you spend £900? Are you Gordon Brown?

I figured that if I want them to last me for years, and have decent sound, you have to pay for it - it's for music (including vinyl), BR/DVD and gaming.

I just hope it's a good investment....

[TonyRPH]

Buying on looks alone is never a good way to do it.

I bet those speakers sound crap.

I personally would have bought these as they are well reviewed by many different sources.

[oola]

I would recommend one of these systems. Kef have always done well in performance terms for their speaker packages and represent good value. Even the smaller KHT1005.2 is really quite impressive in a living room environment.

http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/speake...

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.c...

http://homeavdirect.co.uk/kef-kht2005-3-5-1-speake...

[chris watton]

All of those speaker systems in the links look great. Unfortunately, I have bought the ones that I linked to, so hope they don't sound crap. With hindsight, I do wish I had bought smaller speakers, as they look huge by comparison, however, I am setting it all up later and hopefully giving them a try with a couple of films later (waiting for more speaker cable, and a 10 metre sub cable to turn up today). The Pioneer amp seems quite impressive, though. I like the fact that you can plug in all of your HDMI equipment into the amp and only have one lead going to the TV.

[stargazer30]

OP, the AV amp you order is not a bad start. The speakers I think were a waste. I have not heard of the make and £500 for a sat and a sub? I really hope you just like movies as music will sound poor.

For that money you could have picked up a set of 2x floor stander q acoustics, matching center and bookshelf rears that would have been good for both music and movies (assuming you have the space).

Also for future ref AV forums is the place to ask about stuff like this :-) Best of luck anyway

[chris watton]

stargazer30 said:

OP, the AV amp you order is not a bad start. The speakers I think were a waste. I have not heard of the make and £500 for a sat and a sub? I really hope you just like movies as music will sound poor.

For that money you could have picked up a set of 2x floor stander q acoustics, matching center and bookshelf rears that would have been good for both music and movies (assuming you have the space).

Also for future ref AV forums is the place to ask about stuff like this :-) Best of luck anyway

yep, feel a little stupid now, jumped in with both feet before doing any proper research. I bought the speakers (without the sub) for £350, and bought a better sub from Richer Sounds.

[Big Worm 1]

http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/speake...

[6th Gear]

http://www.whathifi.com/

Plenty of reviews here. Good reference point.

[fwaggie]

chris watton said:

yep, feel a little stupid now, jumped in with both feet before doing any proper research. I bought the speakers (without the sub) for £350, and bought a better sub from Richer Sounds.

Don't forget all stuff ordered mail order has a 7 day "no quibble" return for a refund policy by law.

So if they don't sound brilliant, send 'em back.


I think it's always worth supporting your local hifi shop, as we all listen to music with our ears and the internet hasn't yet got to the stage where I can upload my ears to Amazon for a listen

[bronze kneecap]

[quote=fwaggie]
Don't forget all stuff ordered mail order has a 7 day "no quibble" return for a refund policy by law.

So if they don't sound brilliant, send 'em back.


i will be selling my kef 3005se set up soon, so if you do send them back feel free to contact me..