Best surround set-up for £500?

[Shimmie]

I'm investing in my first ever AV set-up, and need to choose speakers.

Unfortunately, living in Dublin, oppotunities to test-drive good AV gear are few and far between - if ever there was an underserved market, this is it.

So I'm hoping you guys can give me a steer. Having read the reviews in the likes of What Hi-Fi, I'm tempted by the Q Acoustics 1010 5.1 set-up.

I live in an apartment, so sound quality is more important to me than loudness. Its also very important to me that the speakers will perform well for standard audio CD playback as well as for movies / TV. Does this suggest looking for particularly good front speakers?

With a modest budget of about £500, would you try go for a full 5.1 set-up (such as the Q Acoustics mentioned above), or would you perhaps look at a 5 speaker set-up initially, without a sub, and save up for a decent sub at a later time? This might allow me to get slightly better centre/front/rear speakers initially for my budget?

Greatly appreciate any advice - like I said, am completely new to this, so trying to make the best decisions I can with the most advice/input.

Thanks,

Simon

 

[sk8]

q accoustics are a good bet - check out the creative audio website. They rate them very highly and compare them to the Kef 2005s

 

[Shimmie]

Thanks for that. Any chance you've a URL for that?

Anyone else have any suggestions, before I go with the Q Acoustics?

 

[sk8]

http://www.creative-audio.co.uk/hotsystems_Q1000.htm

 

[Shimmie]

Anyone any thoughts on this config?

Front: Either Tannoy Fusion 3, Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 or Q Acoustics 1030 floorstanding speakers

Centre: Either Tannoy Fusion C, Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo Centre or Q Acoustics 1000C centre speaker

Rear: Either Tannoy Fusion R, Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo Compact Speakers, Quad L-ITE Compact Speakers or Q Acoustics 1010 rear speakers

Sub: Wait for the moment and save for a nice sub to go with the speaker set-up

Are there persuasive reasons to use speakers from a single manufacturer for all your speakers, or is it safe to mix-and-match speakers from different manufacturers?

 

[marcstang]

Anyone any thoughts on this config?

Are there persuasive reasons to use speakers from a single manufacturer for all your speakers, or is it safe to mix-and-match speakers from different manufacturers?

I'd keep the fronts and the centre by the same manufacturer as they'll more likely be matched for sound. You could go for an alternate sub and rear set-up.