Hey,
Ive been visiting my brother recently and was dead impressed with his new home cinema setup.
He is running an Onkyo SR606 with a set of 7.1 Mordaunt Short speakers and a 50" panasonic HDTV. Now his setup pretty much requires an AV receiver as he runs a Sky+HD box, Blu-ray player, 2 PC's and a stereo sound system through the amp.
Basically, back home I am running a bedroom setup with a 32" Toshiba Regza 720p TV, an Xbox360 and my PC, with sound being provided by a set of Logitech X-540 speakers. Now the downside, is the only way I could get all of my sound routed through the speakers without messing around changing cables all the time, was to route Xbox sound through the TV with component, and the PC sound through the TV with a single 3.5mm line in port, and then another single 3.5mm cable from the headphone socket of the TV into the input on the sub. With matrix mode on, all 5 speakers play sound in logitechs virtual surround mode.
This wasnt too bad I guess for my first surround sound experience, but now Ive really looked in to it, I realise this is a truly awful way of doing things.
So I have a few options:
1) I can stick with what I already have, and connect the speakers properly to my PC, so I at least get the true surround that is possible by using all 3 of the 3.5mm cables in to my sound card, but this leaves me with TV audio for Xbox games/dvd's, and watching TV itself.
2) Upgrade to Logitech Z-5500 for around £250, which will provide full DTS decoding and input for all of my gear, greatly improve on my current sound state, but will not be as good as a proper HT setup.
3) Upgrade to a full HT setup, AV Receiver (either an Onkyo TXSR308, Sony STRDN800/1000 etc etc), and 5.1 speaker setup, something like the Jamo 5.1 set, or the Tannoy SFX5.1 etc. (Too much choice for these).
Option 3 would cost, I guess a minimum of £400 for a setup that is worth purchasing over the logitechs, and most probably around £500 for something that is really worth it.
So my situation is this, Im a student living back at home for my second degree, and this system is purely for my bedroom, which is a pretty standard size for a bedroom. I do have a well paying part time job and a bit of cash spare, but obviously the cheaper the better (at the end of the day I am still a student
) without sacrificing on sound quality (I want this to last as long as possible, including when I move out in to my own place.)
So I dont know whether to just upgrade the speakers, and maybe spend the excess money on upgrading the soundcard in my PC from onboard to an Asus Xonar, and graphics from a 4870 to a 5770 etc etc.
Or splash the cash on a full HT system, knowing its complete overkill for a bedroom, but can be used in a bigger room when I move out.
Only problem is I dont know when Im moving out, could be in just over a year, or could be in 3 years, depending on my placements etc.
Anyways I think ive written everything that Ive been thinking about, but Ill post more if I think about it later.
Anyways Ive been looking at this system : Richer Sounds - The UK's Hi-Fi, Home Cinema & Flat Panel TV Specialists!
The £500 one, although I dont really need the bluray player as my PC has a blu-ray drive.
Thanks for reading, all advice is much appreciated.
Ive been visiting my brother recently and was dead impressed with his new home cinema setup.
He is running an Onkyo SR606 with a set of 7.1 Mordaunt Short speakers and a 50" panasonic HDTV. Now his setup pretty much requires an AV receiver as he runs a Sky+HD box, Blu-ray player, 2 PC's and a stereo sound system through the amp.
Basically, back home I am running a bedroom setup with a 32" Toshiba Regza 720p TV, an Xbox360 and my PC, with sound being provided by a set of Logitech X-540 speakers. Now the downside, is the only way I could get all of my sound routed through the speakers without messing around changing cables all the time, was to route Xbox sound through the TV with component, and the PC sound through the TV with a single 3.5mm line in port, and then another single 3.5mm cable from the headphone socket of the TV into the input on the sub. With matrix mode on, all 5 speakers play sound in logitechs virtual surround mode.
This wasnt too bad I guess for my first surround sound experience, but now Ive really looked in to it, I realise this is a truly awful way of doing things.
So I have a few options:
1) I can stick with what I already have, and connect the speakers properly to my PC, so I at least get the true surround that is possible by using all 3 of the 3.5mm cables in to my sound card, but this leaves me with TV audio for Xbox games/dvd's, and watching TV itself.
2) Upgrade to Logitech Z-5500 for around £250, which will provide full DTS decoding and input for all of my gear, greatly improve on my current sound state, but will not be as good as a proper HT setup.
3) Upgrade to a full HT setup, AV Receiver (either an Onkyo TXSR308, Sony STRDN800/1000 etc etc), and 5.1 speaker setup, something like the Jamo 5.1 set, or the Tannoy SFX5.1 etc. (Too much choice for these).
Option 3 would cost, I guess a minimum of £400 for a setup that is worth purchasing over the logitechs, and most probably around £500 for something that is really worth it.
So my situation is this, Im a student living back at home for my second degree, and this system is purely for my bedroom, which is a pretty standard size for a bedroom. I do have a well paying part time job and a bit of cash spare, but obviously the cheaper the better (at the end of the day I am still a student
So I dont know whether to just upgrade the speakers, and maybe spend the excess money on upgrading the soundcard in my PC from onboard to an Asus Xonar, and graphics from a 4870 to a 5770 etc etc.
Or splash the cash on a full HT system, knowing its complete overkill for a bedroom, but can be used in a bigger room when I move out.
Only problem is I dont know when Im moving out, could be in just over a year, or could be in 3 years, depending on my placements etc.
Anyways I think ive written everything that Ive been thinking about, but Ill post more if I think about it later.
Anyways Ive been looking at this system : Richer Sounds - The UK's Hi-Fi, Home Cinema & Flat Panel TV Specialists!
The £500 one, although I dont really need the bluray player as my PC has a blu-ray drive.
Thanks for reading, all advice is much appreciated.