av reciever & speaker setup for £300?

[dan__wright]

Hi,

ive been lurking for ages and done lots of reading but cant find a system i need that meets my requirements.

budget is ideally £200 but i know its not really realistic, can stretch to £300

Inputs:
Sky HD
PS3
Wii (not so important but comp in is a +)
spare hdmi just incase

ive looked at the sony DAV range but people say they (and most compact systems?) dont really cut it when it comes to music so i started looking at separates systems.

everyone on here raves about the Sony HT-DDWG800 as great budget system but the brown wood grain doesn't do it for me!

i much prefer the looks of the Sony HT-DDWG700 but minus a hdmi port it leaves me with no expansion options

ive been looking at the sony av receivers
STRDH500, STRDG520 & STRDG720

then

TANNOY FX5.1 - £150

but they either cost too much or only have 2 hdmi in's.

ive seen the ONKYO HTS5205 which looks pretty good but its £400

any suggestions? i guess i would be better off going 2nd hand to get a better system for less?

the only other thing is the tv has 2 hdmi ins so i could connect the av receiver to one and the sky box to the other as sky will need an optical connection anyway so i could assign that to a different input so still end up with 3 hdmi?

let me know what you think.
Thanks

[willj12]

I have just bought a pair of Whafedale Diamond 9.1's and a Cambridge Audio Azur 540r, top notch sound for only £275!
Great for music, films, TV, it's a great all rounder.

[Rich9600]

Originally Posted by willj12

I have just bought a pair of Whafedale Diamond 9.1's and a Cambridge Audio Azur 540r, top notch sound for only £275!
Great for music, films, TV, it's a great all rounder.

Make sure you keep it cool. I melted a few CA 540R's a couple of years ago.

Dan, for your budget you will struggle to get surround to your requirements in one go. Particularly a set up that will do music justice. You could do well by getting an AV receiver and a pair of decent front speakers. Just add the rest later, as funds allow. I did it this way and now I'm on my 4th AV-R and a few speakers down the line.

If music is of greater importance to you than AV work you may be better off with a stereo amp and a HDMI switching unit. You'll always get much better stereo music for your money from a stereo amp.