Home Cinema help

ironman1

Hello, have been looking for a cheap system for a while just toget a better sound out of my tele really.

Are they easy to set up and do they work with Sky boxes? (I know this probably differs with each system) but I was looking at this one to go with my LG-

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.208-1234.aspx

It is a bit cheaper at other places but something like this would probably suit me, not a very big place really.

The only thing is where the hell would you put each speaker?!

Thanks for any advice

VoucherMan

ironman1 wrote: »

Are they easy to set up

If you find connecting various wires & placing/hiding cables the yes (some people find it easy, others don't.

ironman1 wrote: »

do they work with Sky boxes?

Yes - going by some of the reviews on Amazon (it's £55 cheaper there as well!)

keith1950

Personally I think you are better off building up a system using a separate amp/receiver, a set of home cinema speakers and eventually a seperate subwoofer.

The main issue to look out for when buying 'all in one' kits is how many inputs they have. What you may buy now to serve your current needs may not be expandable when you need to add more kit.

They are different connection options depending on your current equipment but some 'all in ones' only have one input so 'be carefull choosing'.

A decent amp costing around £125-£150 will last you many years and have more inputs than you will ever need.
You can start off with a cheaper speaker kit and upgrade the speakers when money permits.

trets77

Agree with what he said ^^^^

Your home cinema amp should be like a audio and visual hub. room for many devices to be input and hopefully video switching as well.

what OP has posted from Tesco is not home cinema .it's a cheap way of having 6 speakers dotted around your room .

my current amp cost £1400 new in 2007 , I purchased it for less than £300 this year . older amps without HDMI sound ect can be had for bargain prices on ebay .

Dave101t

i know im probably in the minority but i have one of these.

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3479314/Logic3-TX101-SoundStage-5-1-Surround-Sound-Cinema-Speaker-System-Soundbar/ProductReviews.html?cpage=2

easy to pick up and place wherever, great surround than makes you think you have seperate speakers!

keith1950

Hi, If you going for a home cinema set up then seperates are the way to go however if you just want to improve the sound quality of you tv then just feed the audio out of the tv into any old hifi system and you will notice the difference and you wont have to worry about where to put all the speakers.

ironman1

I ordered this set from Amazon. Didn't want anything to flash as the room isn't massive. It got good reviews so hopefully I made the right choice

keith1950

Hi, I hope it suits your needs, it isn't really anything to do with size of room or the volume, cheap ones usually sound just as loud but the amplifers start 'clipping' which means the sound distorts sooner .

The real issue is being able to use with extra equipment in the future and the lack of useable inputs to feed extra equipment in.

I dare say that the LG suits your present needs and as such is a good buy at the price, My comments were more about saving you money in the long term.

bluedove

Personally I think you are better off building up a system using a separate amp/receiver, a set of home cinema speakers and eventually a seperate subwoofer.

The main issue to look out for when buying 'all in one' kits is how many inputs they have. What you may buy now to serve your current needs may not be expandable when you need to add more kit.

They are different connection options depending on your current equipment but some 'all in ones' only have one input so 'be carefull choosing'.

A decent amp costing around £125-£150 will last you many years and have more inputs than you will ever need.
You can start off with a cheaper speaker kit and upgrade the speakers when money permits.

I'm looking for a home theater or amp/receiver system with optical input see my post here
I want to be able to connect my HDTV, PS3, DVD and Sky to a surround system, all my equipments have optical output.
Are you able to throw more light on how to do this please? i have a budget of £150.

Ta

trets77

bluedove wrote: »

I'm looking for a home theater or amp/receiver system with optical input see my post here
I want to be able to connect my HDTV, PS3, DVD and Sky to a surround system, all my equipments have optical output.
Are you able to throw more light on how to do this please? i have a budget of £150.

Ta

Four optical inputs on one amp may be a tad trickier. Does none of your equipment have a Coaxial output as well. i also notice you include HDTV.You probably won't need to output from that, just your main sources ( SKY , PS3 ect)

A stand alone separates amp will need you to add your surround speakers and a Sub . you could get by with just 2 stereo speakers if you didn't want 5.1 . you will also need to add speaker wire and the optical interconnects to connect everything up and some speaker wire banana plugs would also be a good idea .

Newer Amps tend to have a auto calibration for volume and delay settings. If they don't then a cheap sound pressure meter and a tape measure is the way to go.

I will see what i can find in the £150 price range on Ebay later for you

keith1950

Hi, have a look here, www.richersounds.co.uk under the av receiver heading, if you find something suitable then google it to find alternative retailers such as highwayhifi, prcdirect or amazon.

For example, the Yamaha RXV367 is available through Amazon for £119.99. I don't know if it meets all your requirements, however you would be getting much better sound quality than a £170 'all in one' and would have many more inputs to play with.

You might not find a cheaper amp with 4 optical inputs but with a combination of hdmi, optical and coaxial most configurations can be catered for.