Page 1 of Any advice on home cinema systems

Hi,

I don`t want to buy a new DVD player, but I want to attach home cinema to my existing one. Where is the best place to go? Would Richer Sounds be a good place to start.

I want a system that can decode DTS and DD5.1. But I`m living in a shared house, so it doesn`t have to the loudest thing ever. A guy at work has offered me the Marantz sr4200 av receiver for £150. Looks to have some good deals but may be too loud, but he can lend it me forst anyway and see what I think. You can`t seem to buy the simpler systems that you see attached to DVD players in Curry`s by themselves.

thanks for looking

Hi

Other people here will no doubt recommend other products but the system I`ve been using with my Toshiba DVD for the past 3 Years is the Yamaha VS10 (now discontinued) & I have been VERY happy with it. I live in a terraced house with a small living room and its fine. The `night mode` is perfect for recucing the boom effect.
Here is a link to the new model www.yamaha-audio.co.uk/avpackage/htibs/av%20package%2025/ I have seen this in Currys for £199.00 but its not on their website.

This item was edited on Friday, 9th January 2004, 10:47

Any of the cheaper Sony systems are great.
I used to have the HTK215,which is discontinued but still available.
The Sony HTBE-1 `babe` system is also good.
There`s actually an HTK-215 for sale on e-bay,and the current bid is only £82,new !
Here is the link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3070033262&category=1499

People are wary of e-bay,but I`ve bought and sold quite a few items without problem.Most users are perfectly honest and reliable.

Like me...I`ll second that..I use Ebay a lot

yamaha HTR 5640 RDS
£218


yamaha nsp 106
£115

both available from unbeatable.co.uk

QED qnex OT
£30


that`s a complete setup including an optical cable. It`s the set up I have and it rocks! can be as quiet as a mouse or roar like a lion. the choice is yours. As a bonus , it does it all , including DTS ES and Dolby EX as well as Dolby pro logic 2 and DTS neo 6. the speaker package is a 6.1 system and is the perfect partner for the amp. 5 satelite speakers, (2 front 3 rear) 1 centre and a powered Sub woofer. It is a lovely set up and for under £400 it a bargain!

My DVD Collection

This item was edited on Friday, 9th January 2004, 19:36

Thanks for that. Might consider getting those speakers with the Marantz system that my mate is selling. Don`t think the Marantz does 6.1 so will have a spare rear speaker.

That sounds good...shall I get rid of my Yamaha VS10...hmmmmm..maybe.

Okay, if I get these Yamaha 106/100 speakers. I`ll be using this AV receiver with them:

Quote:
The Marantz SR4200 is a notable combination of high performance and affordability.

It offers 70 watts of power for five channels (at 8 ohms) with discrete amplifiers for each. It has Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II processing, and an impressive 96kHz/24bit converter for accurate playback performance. Like other Marantz receivers, the SR4200 has a setting that will playback the two channels from a stereo source throughout all the speakers for a full, enveloping sound.

There are four digital inputs, two digital outputs, four composite video inputs, three outputs, and two sets of S-video inputs and outputs. The AM/FM tuner can store up to 50 stations in its preset memory.

The Yamaha speakers are 6 ohms, I presume this will work okay, even though Marantz is 8 ohms? Says the Marantz offers 70W of power for 5 channels, if I get the Yamaha speakers will I be wasting its power or will they do it justice? According to unbeatable power output of Yamaha speakers is 100.

thanks

Rich

I *think* it will work, just at a lower power rating.

Most fools think they are only ignorant

hi there, anyone advise me on a cheap home cinema setup? I already have a dvd player and a cheap widescreen tv, but the sound is a bit naff so i`d like a decoder and speaker setup.

The yamaha av 25 setup looks cool (£230 at unbeatable www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_13494.html) but is a bit more expensive than i really wanted to pay.
This is the HTR-5630RDS reciever and nsp-100 speakers, how do these compare to the
HTR-5640RDS reciever and nsp-106 speakers?

Or there is the Sony HTDDW750S Home Theatre Package (£199 at unbeatable www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_10226.html which looks ok.

The one that appeals the most is the Sony HTK250 Home Theatre Kit (£150 at empire direct, £250 at unbeatable) www.empiredirect.co.uk/productdetails/index.asp?modelcode=SON-HTK250 which has the following specs:

5 x 40W + 50W subwoofer
Dolby digital/DTS/Dolby Pro Logic 2 decoding
Cinema/Virtual 3D/music DSP modes
2 optical digital inputs and one coaxial
2 Analogue inputs
Horizontal or vertical standing

the 3 digital inputs appeals as i have a pc, dvd, gamecube, tv to connect up. Are the speakers powerful enough (average terraced house living room, maybe 10ft by 10ft)?

I can`t seem to find a single review or comment or manual for it anywhere on the web though.
-------
I suppose other options might be one of the acoustic solutions kits from argos, or the tannoy fx5.1 (bit expansive) or a videologic digitheatre (non dts, ex-display for £105 from currys)...

This item was edited on Thursday, 3rd June 2004, 16:40