Custom built Surround sound under £500

cudeater313

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I have recently decided to purchase a surround system for a small bedroom, for gaming,pc dvd rips,pc blu ray rips and alot of music etc...
I originally intended to purchase a Onkyo HT-S5405B HTIB (linked below)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HT-S5405B-C...ZNDE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1325648936&sr=8-3

But i have heard that building my own would yield more bang for my buck unfortunatly apart from knowing what components i need, i have no idea where to begin choosing them and keep within my price range. I would like to buy brand new equipment par the amp/receiver

If theres anymore information i should make available please ket me know and thank you.
 
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I just bought a system within that same budget.

For speakers I picked the Canton 125 mx (£400 speakers highly review discounted as being discontinued). But you could opt for Boston acoustic xs or the tannoy hts 101

Amps are a plenty I opted for the onkyo 509 but the 309 is a cheaper option should you like. The yamaha and the denon are also good but amps are harder to pick.

Apart from that I believe building slowly is the best option so buying maybe 2 fronts and an amp and building up the rest as budget allows.

Im too greedy to wait o wanted 5.1 now plus I'm too cheap to spend more lol.

Good luck mate. I was saved from buying that very same system by PSM1 your in good hands here
 
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Thanks im thinking about buying a 5.1 set + seperate amplifier as you suggest but i would eventually want to improve the front speakers with a nice set of bookshelf speakers for my plethora of music, but im assuming thats not the wisest move, im also concerned about the centre speaker being the most important for film

Any suggestions? Cheers
 
Since you are going to listen to a lot of music you really want to look to get a higher end AV receiver and some proper speakers. I would ignore the cheaper sub/sat speaker systems you have mentioned as these are not going to be good with music. Assuming you have a close to £400 budget I would look to get something like the Denon 1912 with a pair of bookshelf speakers (Monitor Audio BX1/2 would be a good place to start). Then buy the other speakers as funds allow.
Other options would also be the Warfedale Diamond 9.1 and SW150 from Superfi for £250 and then a pair of 9.0s from Richer Sounds for £40 as rears. You could then get a centre a bit later.
If on a limited budget now then building the system over time will be a lot better and give a much better sounding system.
 
PSM1 said:
Since you are going to listen to a lot of music you really want to look to get a higher end AV receiver and some proper speakers. I would ignore the cheaper sub/sat speaker systems you have mentioned as these are not going to be good with music. Assuming you have a close to £400 budget I would look to get something like the Denon 1912 with a pair of bookshelf speakers (Monitor Audio BX1/2 would be a good place to start). Then buy the other speakers as funds allow.
Other options would also be the Warfedale Diamond 9.1 and SW150 from Superfi for £250 and then a pair of 9.0s from Richer Sounds for £40 as rears. You could then get a centre a bit later.
If on a limited budget now then building the system over time will be a lot better and give a much better sounding system.

Before i go researching into an over time as budget allows setup (my budget isnt so much a what i have to spend but more of a how much im willing to spend and i refuse to go over 500 unless i feel its worth it) can you give me an example of the extra quality i could expect with your suggestion PSM1.

Also if i were to want to upgrade individual components in say a years time most likely the front speakers how quickly do the price of used speakers go down over time? theoretically if i could make most of the money i originally spent on them back it would be a total game changer. lmao

thanks again.
 
Since you are going to listen to a lot of music you really want to look to get a higher end AV receiver and some proper speakers. I would ignore the cheaper sub/sat speaker systems you have mentioned as these are not going to be good with music. Assuming you have a close to £400 budget I would look to get something like the Denon 1912 with a pair of bookshelf speakers (Monitor Audio BX1/2 would be a good place to start). Then buy the other speakers as funds allow.
Other options would also be the Warfedale Diamond 9.1 and SW150 from Superfi for £250 and then a pair of 9.0s from Richer Sounds for £40 as rears. You could then get a centre a bit later.
If on a limited budget now then building the system over time will be a lot better and give a much better sounding system.

This is good advice^^^. You would do far better to buy a decent receiver and a set of front speakers until the budget allows you to get the rest, have a look in the classifieds here and ebay and you may find some bargains.

These all in one systems do the job but its very much a 'jack of all trades, master of none' approach to surround sound and you're very limited interms of connections and adding other devices like games consoles, pc's etc etc.
 
Before i go researching into an over time as budget allows setup (my budget isnt so much a what i have to spend but more of a how much im willing to spend and i refuse to go over 500 unless i feel its worth it) can you give me an example of the extra quality i could expect with your suggestion PSM1.

Also if i were to want to upgrade individual components in say a years time most likely the front speakers how quickly do the price of used speakers go down over time? theoretically if i could make most of the money i originally spent on them back it would be a total game changer. lmao

thanks again.

Hard to describe the improved quality but it will be better clarity of sound, better separation of the sound into the individual components and with standmounts/floorstanders there should be more depth/body to the sound. The best way to see if it is worth the extra is go to your local specialist and listen to a few different options and price ranges and then decide for yourself if it is worth paying the extra. When I demoed speakers a while back the extra money I spent on my speakers was definately worth it to me.
Speaker tech moves alot slower than receivers hence a good speaker now will still be a good speaker in a few years times. So unless a new model is released to supercede the ones you buy then they will retain more of their value than a receiver will. Hence a well looked after speaker can often sell for a good % of its original selling price.
 
PSM1 said:
Since you are going to listen to a lot of music you really want to look to get a higher end AV receiver and some proper speakers. I would ignore the cheaper sub/sat speaker systems you have mentioned as these are not going to be good with music. Assuming you have a close to £400 budget I would look to get something like the Denon 1912 with a pair of bookshelf speakers (Monitor Audio BX1/2 would be a good place to start). Then buy the other speakers as funds allow.
Other options would also be the Warfedale Diamond 9.1 and SW150 from Superfi for £250 and then a pair of 9.0s from Richer Sounds for £40 as rears. You could then get a centre a bit later.
If on a limited budget now then building the system over time will be a lot better and give a much better sounding system.

Rear speakers and centre speaker need to be wall mounted any suitable suggestions? Also any suggestions for a sub?

Thanks.
 
The SW150 subs is one of the best for the money. To get anything better you would need to spend over £200 (something like the BK Electronics Gemini II) which would be a significant portion of your budget. The Wharfedale 9.0 could be wall mounted with suitable bracket and so could the smaller Diamond centre speaker so no issues there either.
 
These 9.0 would be better than the onkyo htib? Rears the price has me paranoid very cheap! Lmao
 
The Wharfedales used to cost a lot more and are currently cheap due to the release of the new Diamond 10 series. They are going to be a lot better than the speakers included in the Onkyo set.
 
The Wharfedales used to cost a lot more and are currently cheap due to the release of the new Diamond 10 series. They are going to be a lot better than the speakers included in the Onkyo set.

Fantastic! Is there any Centre Speaker you would reccomend as i think you mentioned in a previous thread the centre speaker is very important for home cinema?

My plan now is to go ahead and purchase the sub + Rears going to do a bit of research into the AV receiver and look for some Hot deals! and a bit of research into the Front speakers which I plan to eventually swap in the future.

Very Excited!
 
You could look on ebay or the classifieds here for a Diamond 9 centre or a Diamond 10 centre would probably be a close enough match.
The other option would be to get the Diamond 9.1 and SW150 package, put the 9.1s to the rear and then get the diamond 10 across the front 3.
 
You could look on ebay or the classifieds here for a Diamond 9 centre or a Diamond 10 centre would probably be a close enough match.
The other option would be to get the Diamond 9.1 and SW150 package, put the 9.1s to the rear and then get the diamond 10 across the front 3.

I think that's me set on speakers just worked out a good plan to get my 5.1 for under £500 but now, I just need to research into AV Receivers.

The Denon 1912 which you recommended is a bit out of my price range at roughly £300, IS there any other Receivers you would recommend that aren't as heavy on Price? maybe something that's discontinued but still up to the challenge!
 
The Denon 1912 can be bought for £270. The SOny 820 is a level below but £250. You could look at the Denon 1612 as an alternative. There is also the Yamaha 471 or 371 or Onkyo 509 or 309. I would recommend getting the highest level of receiver you can afford.
 

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