Page 1 of Advice on basic Speaker Package?

Have finally bought a DVD Player (Panasonic S-75 DVD) and am now looking for a basic speaker set to hook up to this.
The Panasonic has on-board decoder/5.1 output, so am looking for an inexpensive (< £100) speaker package that I can plug directly into this.

Have had a little browse around (latest thread here was http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=211&Thread=230609) and have come up with the below (most of which seem to be < £80):

This first lot seem to be the most basic and will only take the 5.1 from the player
Acoustic Solutions DS133
Acoustic Solutions DS222
Eltax Logic 5

Then we have these which will take the DVD output and also an additional channel so could hook up TV as well
Acoustic Solutions DS533
Acoustic Solutions DS333
Acoustic Solutions DX333
Eltax Logic 6
Videologic Digitheatre LC Speaker pack (does this include remote or does it need the decoder for this?)
Videologic ZXR750
Grundig GCS3000

Have also seen that Tchibo (German coffee and gadget shop - www.tchibo.co.uk) have a Surround Sound System which seems to have multiple inputs (2 x coax 5.1 + 2x cinch) for under £80 - has anyone used these?
(general quality of their goods normally seems ok so was wondering....)

Finally Dixons have a Packard Bell 5.1 Home Cinema Kit (includes a seperate AV receiver) for just under £100.

So folks, any comments / suggestions / recommendations on the above or others?

This item was edited on Sunday, 16th November 2003, 16:53

Anyone got any thoughts on these packages?

Are you just planning to hook your dvd straight into the speaker system, or are you running it through a separate amp first?

Am planning on just hooking up direct at the moment, hence looking for the basic speaker system.
Player can o/p 5.1, optical & coax so fairly flexible that end.

Hi there,

All the packages you mention should do the job for you. I`ve not used any of them personally so I can`t give you any specific recommendations beyond these:

1 - I would lean towards a system that allows you to connect up using the digital co-axial output (you may need to buy a co-axial cable to do this though).

2 - Eltax make (usually) pretty decent hifi speakers.

3 - I personally have a bit of an aversion to both Packard Bell and Dixons, so I`d avoid that one. I think it`s aimed more as a pc upgrade anyway. That`s really just personal preference - take it or leave it!

I hope this helps!!

thanks - I have the same aversion to Dixons, so no problem there !!

buying a 5.1 speakers will i be able to connect them directly to my dvd player i have a bush 2023 it does not have a doilby digital decoder so do i need a decoder and amplifer to connect it up. i also have a ronin p80h it has a decoder in the dvd player so will i just need to connect them up to it or will i need an amplifier also ,not very gaget minded so any help would be appreciated

As the Bush does not have a decoder then, yes you will need a seperate decoder/amplifier to connect this up.
For the Ronin - I believe this has 5.1 decoded o/p as well as coax/optical outs, so any of the speaker sets I listed in the original post could be hooked up directly to this.
(The Ronin will provide the decoded output, while all the speaker sets have built in amps)

As to which of the speaker sets, I`m still thinking about that myself.....

thanks Cal_Ed

I just bought the Tchibo DB Surround Sound System and hooked it up to my Ronin DVD player. It seems to work alright but I found the two rear rear speakers are not working despite having being connected to the DVD player. Now when I checked the Audio setup menu on my dvd player, I realised that I could set the EQ for the 2x Front speakers/Subwoofer and Centre Speaker but the 2x Rear speakers are disabled and I can`t seem to be able to select it. Anyone with a solution to this?

I used the Region hack code for it before and it worked.

****Happy New Year All!!!****** :)


Abe_link