Page 1 of Total newbie on a budget

hllo people, i know you must get fed up of answering this question but any help would be much apreciated. I am looking for a system in the £400-£700 price range. What i would like to know is what sort of system will give me the best results? do i buy each part individualy dvd, speekers, reciver, amp etc... or what are the all in one systems like? could you people please recomend some systems for me.

many thanks
Rob

With a budget of 4-700.00p you should look at buying seperates.
Visit a reputable outlet, tell them what your requirements are, they should give you the advice you need, then shop round for the best prices.
Most dealers will have demo rooms where you can try various systems before you buy .

Check here for some of the best prices. www.richersounds.com

Seperates for sure. All in one systems seem convenient, but often have no SCART output, many are impossible to hack for multiregion (need a £50 mod), and the quality will not be quite the same. At the bottom end of your budget, however, I`d suggest a cheap multiregion capable one, such as the Dansai that Tescos are doing - I think at around £90, plus the Yamaha VS10 (amp and speaker bundle) - can be got for less than £300. Total cost - £375 or so. If you can find one, Sainsburys are selling some Mico DVD players that have been well reviewed, for around the same price.

A little further up the scale, you could do worse that the Yamaha HTiB45 - £340 from http://www.qed-uk.com/?i=GtI6Z092ril1&bg=225&bp=b45s&v=8. See http://www.yamaha-audio.co.uk/homecinema/htib/htib-45/index.asp for full details. This is a more recent package, and has Prologic2 for excellent near 5.1 decoding of stereo (tv films, videos, etc). The speakers that it comes with are OK (NSP220 set, RRP £199, available for around £170), but perhaps the weakest part of the system. However, I`d suggest they will more than do you for the moment, and to get much better, you`ll end up spending the whole of you budget and more.

So, for this option, £430 or so with the "basic" dvd player.
You could look at a better DVD player, perhaps - to get much better you`re looking at a Toshiba 220 or similar - make sure you buy multiregion, as they can`t be hacked. Richer Sounds have it multiregion for £144 - bargain! Although any DVD player will play CDs, the Tosh will do it well, so you could use the amp & DVD as your main hifi system. Forgot to mention that the HTiB amp is in fact a receiver - i.e. it has a radio built in too.

Next step up would be a similar amp (or perhaps the excellent Marantz 4200 - £280 or so), plus a speaker pack from the likes of Mission or Wharfedale - another £300. You would have no sub with this bundle, and this is where things start to go a bit loopy. Another £150 or so for a sub is really the minimum you should expect to spend - the Paradigm PS10 from Richer again - however there are rumours that Richer are stopping importing these well reviewed beasts. As you can see, £££ starts flying from the old wallet.

Personally speaking, I`d be tempted to go for the Tosh 220 with the HTiB45, and save the rest for DVDs, or stick it in a savings account and upgrade the speakers in a year`s time. Don`t get me wrong, I have a Mission speaker pack and it`s fabulous, but you`re getting to the top end of your budget, and I think oyu`ll be really pleased with the kit I mention above.

One last thing - spend a few ££ on a good scart lead - get a BTech ribbon SCART from http://www.beyondhifi.net - £15 or so, and a massive difference from the cheapo ones supplied with a player. While you`re there, get a coaxial lead to connect the DVD to the amp. I have a feeling that the HTiB contains speaker cable, so that`s all you`ll need.


One other last thing (!) - you don`t mention what TV you have - if you don`t have a widescreen, I`d definitely save the extra ££ and put it towards one at a later date.

Hope this helps!!