Home Cinema Help req'd

As you can see I am a newbie here & despite reading many of the threads & purchasing various magazines, visiting shops both locally & in London where I work, I remain confused.

I have a 32" Toshiba ZD09 & Toshiba SD210E DVD + Sky & a Video (Aiwa 6 head Nicam - nothing special). I am keen on buying a speaker/subwoofer set up but my maximum budget is only £500 as 2 children prevent me from spending any more. My room is rectangular with the room being approx 20ft long by 10ft wide. The make up of the room means the TV etc is located in the middle of the length (i,e about 10ft in) with the seating directly opposite about 7 ft away.

My question is what sort of set up should I go for - I realise my budget isn't enormous but I believe I can still obtain a reasonable set up which will enhance my viewing/listening pleasure. I was advised to get the Yamaha HTIB45 package (I think it cleared the box from their shelves) but having looked into it further I'm not sure if this is a good idea. Does anyone have any advice they can impart to a thoroughly confused person who wishes to get started with Home Cinema.

Cheers & thanks in advance

Ian

[Andywilliams]

Ian could you be more specific about speaker size does it matter to you how big they are.
The yamaha receivers are a very good start in home cinema i did own the yam htr-45 and it sounds great for a budget receiver and speaker package.If your not keen on the speakers(the weaker of the package)you could buy the receiver on its own for around£199 and if you could stretch your budget slightly and get the mission m70speaker package(4xm70 1x m71i centre 1xmission ms8 active sub)for £341 from empire direct, this would be a good sounding first av system imo.
Gonzo.

[hornydragon]

Try hyperfi as they have cheaper deals on mission as do RS. The Yamaha is great starting place. for a sub/ sat package (small discrete speaker and large sub) try mission FS1/2 a Second hand receiver will save you money. And get you more bang per buck!!!!

Hi Gonzo - no I'm not too bothered about speaker size although they cant be too inrusive purely from a space point of view.

I like the suggestion regarding the mission speakers from you & hornydragon as again these were ones i had considered but ended up getting a 'tad' lost over which to choose after a while!

Cheers guys

[hornydragon]

Good luck matey try and get a demo should be easy in london Try Tottenham Court Road but dont buy the first system you hear best bet is ring them up and ask to listen to an amp receiver set up at £400, £600 and £1000. The reason i say to go so high is that £1000 in one dealer is £800 if you shop around and if that blows you away then save a bit more or buy in stages i.e. amp and front speakers then add the others, and a sub later.

[Andywilliams]

Hi Hornydragon
He will do that anyway upgraditis is a terrible disease that weve all got he wont be able to stop himself.

Cheers for the advice - I will do that. I must admit I hadn't thought about buying in stages so I may well consider doing this.

[hornydragon]

A good amp and 2 nice fronts is better than cheap and nasty 5.1 a sub is nice but not essential unless fronts are small. bargains can be had so do lots of research and ask lots of questions!

[hamtaro]

try and hunt down the mission cinema 6, i think you could get that for 200, spend about 100 on cables etc, and 200 will get you a digital amp either at richer sounds or classifieds[i got the denon 1802 from richer for 250, it doesn,t have ex, but does have dts pro logic 2 and dolby digital, i was on a small budget so i thought this amp was ok]

Hamtaro - when you say £100 or so on cables what sort do you mean? - I know I keep asking questions but you guys know what you're talking about.

I have been considering a Component Link between my TV & DVD but haven't as yet because I wasnt sure if it would make a massive difference. Any views?

Once again thanks for all our help.

[Ian J]

Originally posted by Ianjo
I have been considering a Component Link between my TV & DVD but haven't as yet because I wasnt sure if it would make a massive difference. Any views?

It might make a slight difference over a scart connected via RGB but the big advantage is that it would free up one of the RGB scart sockets on the back of the TV for something else as you can never have too many.

Both Sky Digiboxes and Tivo output in RGB and would perform better with their own dedicated scart socket on the TV

If you are confused by home cinema then take a look at my site here which breaks down what you need to look for when buying a piece of equipment. It won't tell you what equipment you should buy (folks here can help with that and as others have said go and demo first) but it should aid you in the decision process.

Hope it helps

Thanks Ian - I will have a read of this over the course of today - its just what someone like me needs!

This is why I wrote the site in the first place as so many people do not understand digital products and for the newbie there is nowhere to really go that tells them all the information.

[hamtaro]

ianjo, when i mean cable i mean speaker cable , you will need 5 lenths all the same[ well i do]av cables[svideo etc, or scart] and a lead for a subwoofer. ive only just got into 5.1, and used pro logic right upto 2002.there are plenty more forum members more knowledge able on this subject than me.