[mattyarmy]

Hi,

I'm looking for a decent home cinema setup with amp and speakers.

Don't really want one with a bluray built in as I've got a PS3 and most which have bluray don't have enough HDMI inputs for me to connect all of my kit.

I'm planning on connecting PS3 and Sky HD with HDMI and also I've got a PC with all of my music on which will initially be connected with phono cables until I can upgrade it to optical.

Budget is up to £300 and I'm wondering if I could get one that can be networked (I want to be able to control it via my iPhone) for my money?

Thanks

[dante01]

Your best bet is currently the Yamaha RXV671, but these are becoming very scarce now and you'll need to get a move on in order to secure one. You should be made aware that a SKY box cannot output Dolby Digital via HDMI so you'll need to make an additional S/PDIF connection from your SKY box to an amp in order to access Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded content.

[sutton8]

Considering the apps, I was very impressed with the Pioneer app when demonstrated to me the other day. Knocks spots off the efforts from Yamaha, Denon and Onkyo. They do a 2012 networked receiver, VSX527, at around 330 which eats the budget and leaves nothing for speakers.

Youll be struggling to find a new networked receiver and 5.1 setup for 300. Perhaps try the classifieds.

I recently paid 30 for a 5450 graphic card which allowed me to connect a PC to a receiver via HDMI. You may be be able to get away with 20 if you want. That would free an optical port for Sky and there is probably only one on the Pionner, from memory, plus one coaxial.

[PSM1]

Is the £300 for receiver and speakers or just the receiver?
As above £300 will not get you speakers as well as a network enabled receiver. However if the budget is just for the receiver then the Yamaha 671 mentioned earlier will be a good option and if you can still find one the Denon 1912 would also be worth a look since it has Airplay.
If you want a full system for your budget then the Yamaha 196 would be worth a look but this does not have the network abilities but at £200 it is well within budget. The Yamaha 371 with a budget 5.1 speaker set would also be a good option and get you close to the max budget of £300. Again it is not network enabled.

[mattyarmy]

Thanks everyone. Was hoping to get speakers within the total price but knew that was a long shot!

Didn't know that sky didn't send 5.1 through the hdmi so that makes me think getting the iPhone control would be even better as I presume I'd have to manually switch the sound source to optical when watching?

[sutton8]

Originally Posted by mattyarmy

Didn't know that sky didn't send 5.1 through the hdmi so that makes me think getting the iPhone control would be even better as I presume I'd have to manually switch the sound source to optical when watching?

No. You can assign the optical input to the HDMI that Sky is connected to. One off job.

But there are still plenty of good reasons to get a networked amp, not least of which is external control by phone or tablet etc...

[PSM1]

I would personally just get a Logitech harmony remote. This will allow you to control all your equipment with one remote with one button switch on and between all sources. Very easy to set up and use and going to be far easier than a phone app. Since you have a PS3 you can use this to stream music etc anyway.

[mattyarmy]

Thanks again everyone! I did originally plan to use the ps3 to stream but on the wall where my CDs and DVDs and so on are I've got an all in one pc that's wall mounted so that will be cabled to the audio solution I end up with and the music can either be played from there or by using the remote app on the iPhone. I've read now of other ideas but I've already set all of that up now do a bit reluctant to change it...