Budget 5.1 system ~£500

[jon-]

This MUST be a pearoast, but I've gone back until before Christmas and not found a recent thread.

I'm looking at getting a 5.1 system for film and audio. Ideally I'm looking to spend around £500, which I know isn't much for sound these days, but also that you get a lot more for your money than you did 10 years ago.

It's replacing a traditional 2 way Cambridge Audio amp with the generic Mission 703 floor standing speakers, so it doesn't have too much to live up to (though the 703's aren't actually too bad for the price.)

Thanks in advance. I really don't want a soundbar.

[BRMMA]

something like this would be good if you want an all in one system
http://www.richersounds.com/product/home-cinema-sy...

or if you want seperates you'd probably be able to get a Yamaha 377 or even a 477 with Tannoty HTS201 speakers for the same sort of money

[jon-]

BRMMA said:

something like this would be good if you want an all in one system
http://www.richersounds.com/product/home-cinema-sy...

or if you want seperates you'd probably be able to get a Yamaha 377 or even a 477 with Tannoty HTS201 speakers for the same sort of money

Oh god, both of those suggestions look almost perfect.

Now I have to pick

[BRMMA]

jon- said:

Oh god, both of those suggestions look almost perfect.

Now I have to pick

I reckon you'd get better sound (especially for music, if that's relevant) from the Yamaha/Tannoy combo but obviously the Sony has a decent built in blueray player

[900T-R]

jon- said:

It's replacing a traditional 2 way Cambridge Audio amp with the generic Mission 703 floor standing speakers, so it doesn't have too much to live up to (though the 703's aren't actually too bad for the price.)

Au contraire - At £500 for a brandy new 5.1 set up that's going to be one heck of a struggle. £500 for a 2-channel amp and speakers - easy peasy...

'Sound quality', 'five (or more) channel' and 'budget' really don't mix well.

[jon-]

BRMMA said:

jon- said:

Oh god, both of those suggestions look almost perfect.

Now I have to pick

I reckon you'd get better sound (especially for music, if that's relevant) from the Yamaha/Tannoy combo but obviously the Sony has a decent built in blueray player

I agree, and I have my PS3 as a half decent blueray, however the wireless rear amp of the Sony really is tempting.

900T-R said:

jon- said:

It's replacing a traditional 2 way Cambridge Audio amp with the generic Mission 703 floor standing speakers, so it doesn't have too much to live up to (though the 703's aren't actually too bad for the price.)

Au contraire - At £500 for a brandy new 5.1 set up that's going to be one heck of a struggle. £500 for a 2-channel amp and speakers - easy peasy...

'Sound quality', 'five (or more) channel' and 'budget' really don't mix well.

Again, I agree 100%, however this will be mainly for film, not high quality music so it doesn't need to be incredible fidelity, just loud and able to project a sense of space. Plus the Mission 703s are getting on now and are fine, so if I can match the quality of those it won't be a loss.

If I get 75% spending £500 compared to 95% spending £15,000 I'll be happy, and I think that's possible today.

[jon-]

As I'm redoing the skirting, which means I can hide speaker wire behind them, the Sony is currently losing

[Silver Smudger]

What about keeping the Missions, buying a 5.1 amp now and adding centre, surround and sub as-and-when? A kit could be pieced together with decent second hand speakers this way, stretching your budget further and if the Missions really don't cut it they can be replaced later down the line.

[jon-]

A good idea, but the missions are fairly large speakers, plus I think I damaged one last night with some bad distortion while the amp was cranked

[Type R Tom]

Have you considered second hand on eBay? I've picked up some absolute bargains over the years, you just need patients. “Local pick up only” can be a good source of a bargain. To get you started:

I had these and they are excellent:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-x-Kef-Surround-Sound-S...

Coupled to (I had the 609 but there are none on ebay at the moment):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Onkyo-TX-SR608-7-2-Chann...

That lot will destroy the Sony!

[jon-]

Not a bad shout!

The pot thickens

[RedWhiteMonkey]

As said earlier, have a look at Richer Sounds. They have three seperate bundles using the Yamaha RX-V377, which wins What Hifi's best buy for an AV receiver up to £350.

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

Speakers can make a difference so I would go listen to them in store. If you can push your budget I recently bought a Sony STR-DN1050 and its awesome. You could use your existing speakers as fronts, so would only have to buy a centre speaker, two surround speakers and a sub (optional).

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Personally I would avoid Onkyo. I had one of their units totally fail on me after just 4 months and the customer support was terrible. It took them 6 weeks to response to my support request and they never answer their telephone helpline. Thankfully, I spoke to Amazon and there refunded the full cost and covered the postage without any questions.

[BRMMA]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

As said earlier, have a look at Richer Sounds. They have three seperate bundles using the Yamaha RX-V377, which wins What Hifi's best buy for an AV receiver up to £350.

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/...

Speakers can make a difference so I would go listen to them in store. If you can push your budget I recently bought a Sony STR-DN1050 and its awesome. You could use your existing speakers as fronts, so would only have to buy a centre speaker, two surround speakers and a sub (optional).

I recently wanted a new AV amp and it came down to the Sony DN1050 or the Yamaha 677, both pretty even but i found the Yamaha slightly better for music and with it also being cheaper i went for that, both really good though and you can't go wrong with either. Paired the amp up with some Q7000i's and i'm shocked at how good it sounds, completely dispelled my belief you needed floorstanders/bookshelves for decent sound

[Silver Smudger]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

Personally I would avoid Onkyo. I had one of their units totally fail on me after just 4 months and the customer support was terrible. It took them 6 weeks to response to my support request and they never answer their telephone helpline. Thankfully, I spoke to Amazon and there refunded the full cost and covered the postage without any questions.

Can't speak for their customer service, but I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 that is nearly 7 years old and used daily - No issues at all.

[jon-]

BRMMA said:

I recently wanted a new AV amp and it came down to the Sony DN1050 or the Yamaha 677, both pretty even but i found the Yamaha slightly better for music and with it also being cheaper i went for that, both really good though and you can't go wrong with either. Paired the amp up with some Q7000i's and i'm shocked at how good it sounds, completely dispelled my belief you needed floorstanders/bookshelves for decent sound

The 677 has wifi and airplay via spotify.

Win.

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Silver Smudger said:

RedWhiteMonkey said:

Personally I would avoid Onkyo. I had one of their units totally fail on me after just 4 months and the customer support was terrible. It took them 6 weeks to response to my support request and they never answer their telephone helpline. Thankfully, I spoke to Amazon and there refunded the full cost and covered the postage without any questions.

Can't speak for their customer service, but I have an Onkyo TX-SR605 that is nearly 7 years old and used daily - No issues at all.

Obviously I can only speak about my own experience but my Onkyo TX-NR636 lasted less than 4 months before it failed. As I said, customer service is practically non-existent. I know you mostly read horror stores when you start researching on the internet but I subsequently read lots about HDMI board failures on Onkyos and there is even an acknowledgement of that on their own website.

[TX1]

Have one of those Yamaha RXV377 that are mentioned in the above richersounds links.
A pretty good amp for the money and has the HDMI Arc capability.
Speakers I have with it are old Paradigm atoms and a BK XLS200 sub which I got not long ago.
Think those second hand Kef's paired with that amp and a half decent sub will give you decent return for your ££.

[AC43]

How about a Yamaha 673 for £135? (must be a bit battered at that price)

http://www.richersounds.com/search/673

I hooked one of these up with some Tannoys and I really like the end result for not much cash.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packag...

[PAULJ5555]

http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packag...

These have good reviews, they were £400 when first out but can be had for £280 online, I dont see the point of spending £400 today.

I'm just about to buy them so i'm watching this thread, I would be happy to spend £400 if convinced.