Starting over - all in one to replace seperates?

[electrify_dizz]

After years and years of waiting, I have finally taken the plunge, and bought a flat - horah!

The problem I have is that at the moment, I have quite a basic set up for AV, with a Marantz SR4300, some random Tosh DVD player, and a set of Eltax Libertys for the front, with a mission center speaker and an pir of smaller Eltax for the rear speakers.

As you can imagine - this takes up A LOT of space, both in terms of having seperate units and huge floor standing speakers. Space which sadly, the living room in my flat doesn't have

So, it's time to start over, and I am thinking an all in one set up would be the most efficient.

At the moment, I have a Samsung LE32R74BDX/XEU tv, so I don't need to do any replacing there. I want the unit I get to be able to work along side a media center PC, or a 360 with the MCE and be multi region! HD DVD isn't an issue for me - I'm waiting for Sony and HDDVD to fight it out for now, although upscaling would be nice - but may stretch the budget too much.

Does anyone have any experience with a set up, around £300 that could work well with a media center adapted PC?

[Andy98765]

Personally an all-in-one would be one BIG step backwards, why not invest in a small sub/sat system for your AV amp which will still outrun any all-in-one on the market, in quality, connectivity, hell just about anything. Remember it is the connectivity issue people have with all-in-ones.

These are tiny.
http://www.petertyson.co.uk/ebuttonz...premiere.shtml and include quality cable.

And later invest in a upscaling DVD player.
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/5447...vd-player.html

[electrify_dizz]

That's an interesting idea. I'd not thought about going down the satellite speaker route.

Hmmmmmmmmmm. I may need to have a think on that. The DVD player looks good as well, I'll just need to find someone who sell it multi regional.

[Andy98765]

These links may help

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3269
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3264
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/2729
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3375

A friend of mine got the Mordaunt Short set I suggested and they are VERY good, not only that the quality of the cable the service from the shop was excellent. You can find it cheaper but it is the included cable that more than makes up for any price difference.

[interbear]

I'm going down the all-in-one route for a few reasons - simplicity, budget, and to avoid too many wires. I want to replace my old DVD player with something better that upscales (for my new HD ready plasma) and I want to replace my old hifi with something better than delivers good CD audio quality and home cinema sound.

I've concluded that for my needs an all-in one 2.1 system is ideal, and as I'd like decent audio quality I'm likely to go for a Denon S301 or a Harman Kardon HS200. Each having both optical and coax audio inputs to support my Sky HD and something else later.

Are there any separate AV receiver/amplifiers out there that could accommodate my 2.1 requirements, most separates are promoted as 5.1 or more, I can't accommodate that in terms of speakers? I did look at the TEAC 300 which also has DAB but lacks optical inputs.

[electrify_dizz]

Originally Posted by Andy98765

These links may help

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3269
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3264
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/2729
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/3375

A friend of mine got the Mordaunt Short set I suggested and they are VERY good, not only that the quality of the cable the service from the shop was excellent. You can find it cheaper but it is the included cable that more than makes up for any price difference.

Excellent links. I will have a look at those in some more detail later on. The sammy has the obvious advantage of being able to work with my TV remote straight away, which makes it favorable!!!

Are there any other satellite speakers worth investigating to compare the Mordaunts to? I wouldn't mind finding a retailer to do some sound comparissons with.