£500 to spend, only using Richer Sounds, 5.1 system needed pls

[Zak33]

Lo dudes.
Using a PS3 source for films and gaming...... with £500 to spend, needing about £30 for cables (small room what would you buy to provide a decoder amp and speakers?

All speakers needed, all powered, so 4 satellites, centre and bass box, and a good amp. Speaker can be from the amp or self powered.

If it's seperates, the satellites will need stands in the price.

tricky but good fun.

An all in one Onkyo system? or seperates from Yamaha or a big lovely messy combo?

you choose :-)

thanks people :-)

[blueball]

Cambridge Audio Amp - excellent value for money

[Zak33]

/\ how on earth is that an answer dear chap? ;-)

What speakers ?

which amp?

[dave87]

Onkyo TXNR509 - £239.95 http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ky-txnr509-blk
or
Denon AVR-1912 - £269.95 http://www.richersounds.com/product/...no-avr1912-blk

plus

Tannoy SFX 5.1 - £199.95 http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ann-sfx5.1-blk
or
Boston Soundware XS SE - £239.95 http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ndware-xs-se-b



Denon + Tannoy leaves you £30 for cables, or more if haggling is to be had.
Denon + Boston is £10 over budget....but this is Zak....it won't remain over budget

Onkyo & either Tannoy or Boston = good vfm, but I'd go for the Denon personally.

[blueball]

/\ how on earth is that an answer dear chap? ;-)

What speakers ?

which amp?

I only talk about what I know. I know CA are excellent (I have one) but as for the rest I'll leave it to others. You see; you have just been saved from wading through bull****

[Hicks12]

In a rush to get the system? Id advise waiting if you can, on the basis that the new generation amps/av receivers are due shortly, i recall Onkyo is releasing theirs this month or next month and it means you should be able to grab a bargain, i suspect a 509 will sell for £160 when EOL as the 508 (or 558?) was only £150 last year when the 09 series launched.

Id avoid all in ones really as speakers last yonks its wise to just buy the best you can afford and expand when you can.

Best thing i can suggest is to go into richersounds with a short list of speakers and demo them. Are Floor standers out of the question? And can i ask why specifically richersounds as the dealer?love RS but sometimes they arent the cheapest(rarely!).

Just a couple here which are generally rated as solid speakers:
Acoustic energy evo neo 3 v2( floorstanders) ~ £300
Acoustic energy evo neo one v2(bookshelf speakers) ~£180 - £200
Wharfedale diamond 10.3 (floorstanders) £229 @ RS currently
Wharfedale diamond 10.1 (bookshelf speakers) ~£150

AE(acoustic energy) are a solid brand however thinking about it i think they are out of your price range! (Main reason i didnt fill my 5.0 system with them!), however if you find them cheap its extremely worth your time considering.

Wharfedale are probably the best all rounding manufacturer, they just made some of the best price vs performance speakers, basically the diamond ranges will be good enough, they are worth considering and please dont be put off by their name, it bares no resemblance to Argos Wharfedale brand as wharfedale just let them use their name! The speakers are quality .

Tannoy speakers are my next recommendation, i personally have the following:
Tannoy V4 (floorstanders)
Tannoy vc (centre)
Tannoy V1 (large rears, they do small thinner version, VR model but it was £5 cheaper to get the larger v1s so thought id add a bit more base for saving a 5er and i wasnt requiring a wall fit as i have stands)

My impressions? Blown away, listening to starwars on bluray (original trilogy) is mindblowing.... so much detail and never is anything overpowering, bass seems to be well controller too. I intend to get a sub in a year or so though for the games but im in not rush as its solid all round at the minute, music is excellent. Pure quality and i spent £430 for the whole 5.0 setup! Comes with free 5 year warranty by tannoy (all their passive speakers have 5 years, require registering).

My setup is really overkill mind, its my bedroom(still live with parents, at uni ) not huge but i wanted to get something good as i know it will outlast majority of things, my dad has his hifi/cd/radio/tape that is over 30 years old, working great today! And the speakers are still going strong. The only audio equipment to die in 30 years is a tape player and one AVR which was sony . The plan for me is to carry these over to when i move out after university,

I know that £430 is still expensive but obviously if you ignore the v4 (i dont know if you can/want them ) then it can fit in budget. I got the v1 for £95 or £99, the centre was £95, so thats only £300 for the 5.0, then say you grab a 509 in a month or two for ~£170 that leaves you with £30 for the cables. Oh you need stands, maybe the VR then should be similar price and can be wall mounted (both v1 and vr can but the vr is lighter and half the thickness/depth), or grab some pixel t50/80 stands from RS ~£50, think i paid £30 for mine and they arent bad at all for the money .

Cambridge audio is also a good brand, it is part owned by RS (well they own the distribution but 51% of the company or something). Generally competes well with the competition. Certainly have a look at the CA s20 and s30s (bookshelves) or the s70(floorstanders). I have a pair of mint CA s30s just sitting here if you fancied them (after hearing them instore OFC!).

Audio is a personal taste and id urge you to listen to anything before buying, be patient and watch out for bargains. If you can shop elsewhere then it will help too, superfi is a good company and HomeAvdirect are brilliant, bought my tannoys from them (bested RS by over £100 at the time!)



edit: Ok i really havent read your post properly, sorry about that! So its a small room(and i guess will stay that way?), for games and movies then yes an all in one would be a good option, if it was your main theatre room id advise not to though . Onkyo generally have good stuff on offer or pioneer.

[kalniel]

I think this is *the* question a lot of people ask (perhaps not the only RS thing).. and the usual answer is "good luck!"...

Will have a quick nosy and get back to you..

[g8ina]

Dave's Tannoy + Denon would get my vote if you have to go RS....

My system here is almost entirely ebay bought and is absolutely fine. Bit of a mish mash, but it does gel together really nicely. Lowe had some comments in another thread which may be pertinent as to same make of speakers Vs mixed.

Marantz is also a brand to look out for, the NR1402 is £249 at RS and it has HDMI. I have the SR5200 and apart from not having HDMI, it's very good. Does everything I want of it.

[kalniel]

I like the Denon + tannoy sfx combo.

A 'messy' setup could be:

Reciever: Onkoyo 309 £150
Fronts: Mission MX1 £120
Rears: Wharfedale 9.0 £40
Sub: Tannoy SFX £120
Centre: CA minx min10 £50

Leaves £20 for cables.. lack of speaker stands maybe a problem.

I'm not too keen on the reports for the 309, better to get an older 508 or denon/sony DH520 on offer if possible.

[Zak33]

cheers guys

it's not for me.. it's for a "buy it NOW!" moment for someone who needs help and I don't have the bandwidth this week to research it.. hence me being cheeky and asking you lot, cos you KNOW STUFF :-)

thanks lovely people

[b0redom]

+1 for the Denon - I've an earlier incarnation (1910), and it's an absolute steal at that price!

I've got a similar speaker setup to this:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ts9/harm-hkts9

Which sounds great.

That leave a bunch of cash for a Harmony One which will make the system usable by non-nerds, and some D-line cable to hide the wires for the rear speakers.

[Giraffe]

Onkyo AV Receiver with speakers?
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...5/onky-hts5405
Might need better cable for the speakers if you're fussy - this would do for such a system:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/philex-spe...hite-50m/80928

Long thread here:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-am...rs-thread.html

[Mutley]

Onkyo AV Receiver with speakers?
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...5/onky-hts5405
Might need better cable for the speakers if you're fussy - this would do for such a system:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/philex-spe...hite-50m/80928

Long thread here:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-am...rs-thread.html

Seconded.

I have the 5405. Very pleased with it. Has everything you need in the box.

[Dareos]

Love my 608 Onkyo, cost 300 just 5 months or so ago from RS, not sure if they will have any left, but its a cracking piece of kit. I would imagine the 509 would be of similar quality (1 bass output if i recall correctly, possibly only capable of 5.1 surround rather than 7.2 but has some interesting networking features that the 608 sadly lacks)

Speakers I would leave to the experts but.... the Q2000 that I have are not available from RS

Perhaps an option of 2.1 with future upgrades being available to keep within budget but get great kit?