Home Cinema - what to buy?!

GingerWarrior

We've currently got a Sony Bravia TV (KDL-40S5500), which unfortunately doesn't sound great when watching movies. Normally have to get the volume up to 50+ but then it starts to reverberate and sound rubbish.

Looking to get a home cinema kit to make the experience better, but one which we can plug an iPod/MP3 player into to double up the usage.

Can anyone guide me in the right direction as to where to look? The budget is £300.

wba31

GingerWarrior wrote: »

We've currently got a Sony Bravia TV (KDL-40S5500), which unfortunately doesn't sound great when watching movies. Normally have to get the volume up to 50+ but then it starts to reverberate and sound rubbish.

Looking to get a home cinema kit to make the experience better, but one which we can plug an iPod/MP3 player into to double up the usage.

Can anyone guide me in the right direction as to where to look? The budget is £300.

This is something I would recommend http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/onkyo/ls3100/onky-ls3100-blk

Get an optical cable to connect the TV to the unit and anything you put through your TV will come through the speakers. I'm not sure if it has any way of plugging in an mp3 player, but I'd recommend speaking to someone like richer sounds who can advise you toward a better solution if this isnt one.
One unit i can recommend avoiding is the orbitsound soundbar! I bought one 2 years ago and it is a great sounding unit, but has infrared problems, and the remote is now starting to get loose connections and not work properly... it's only £300 at John Lewis/Amazon, but you'd be better off looking for a 2:1 speaker system in my opinion

googler

Much will depend on what audio outputs the Sony has - whether it only has an Optical, digital out, or if it also has analogue outputs.

If it has analogue outputs, then a straightforward stereo HiFi with an iPod dock and Line In would suffice.

You don't necessarily NEED surround sound or 5.1 to make it sound good.

Speakers £150 - http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/mission/m33i/miss-m33i-blk

Amplifier (for line connection, not optical) - http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/cambridge-audio/topaz-am5/camb-topaz-am5-blk

£15 gets a line-level iPod dock which will use one input

InsideInsurance

Wouldnt go for the M33i speakers personally but certainly in principle I agree with Googler.

If you want better sound then either you need to (a) increase your budget significantly for a 5.1 setup or (b) get a good sound from a stereo system. The manual for your TV does suggest it has analogue outputs so you shouldnt have any problems.

Of cause, some people will come along and say they have a £50 5.1 system that is fantastic but I would strongly suggest you listen to these sorts of things first as I suspect you will find they are worse than your existing sound but you'll now be surrounded by it

almillar

What kit do you have? Sky box, PS3, Blu Ray player, or is it just your TV? Do you have any spare speakers from old stereo systems?
I'll spend £100 on an AV amplifier - you can plug loads of stuff into it, then it into the TV, and it will route all the pictures and sound for you. Check what connections you want now, and what you might want in the future, and you might want to spend more.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avr1513/deno-avr1513
Which leaves speakers. Either buy a package like this for £200:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-packages/tannoy/sfx5.1/tann-sfx5.1-blk
Or if you have spare speakers, use them for the rear two. Buy £100 stereo speakers, and a £100 subwoofer. Go without a centre speaker instead of buying a rubbish one, good stereo speakers will sound better (and not use up the space!).

andrewjf

Get yourself a decent stereo amplifier, a couple of speakers and you will have an infinitely better audio experience than you currently have, and it won't cost you that much.

If your household is anything like mine, once you've got your fancy 5 point surround sound system with subwoofer, the Wife will constantly complain it's too loud anyway

GingerWarrior

Thank you for all your guidance. It's been very helpful.

We've got Sky HD and BluRay at the moment, plus a Wii.

Think by the looks of things a trip to Richer Sounds is in order.

I'll have a check to see what inputs the TV has before heading down during my lunch break.

Thanks

googler

GingerWarrior wrote: »

I'll have a check to see what inputs the TV has before heading down during my lunch break.

Thanks

No, check the TV's audio OUTPUTS first....

GingerWarrior

googler wrote: »

No, check the TV's audio OUTPUTS first....

Sorry - that's what I meant - my bad!

almillar

Sky HD and Blu Ray player - there are different connection options but here's my suggestion.
Connect Sky HD with HDMI cable to TV. Also connect it with optical cable into AV Amp.
Connect Blu Ray player with HDMI into amp. Connect amp to TV with HDMI.
To watch the Blu Ray, you'll need the amp switched on. For Sky, the HDMI carries the sound to the TV, so you can use that, OR the amp, with the optical cable. Very versitile setup.
Wii - connect to SCART in TV (hope you have that already, and red and white plugs into either TV or amp, depending on where you want the sound (you can get an extension cable for this if needed).
You CAN get rid of the optical cable for the Sky if you buy an amp that has HDMI pass-through, but it may cost more, for the sake of 1 cable.