Sony STR-DH820 with Boston xs 5.1 se Advice

[BillyDaKid]

I have a budget of £600 and thinking of this setup

Receiver: Sony STR-DH820 £230
Speakers: Boston Acoustics soundware XS 5.1 SE £300

When it comes to system matching i am not sure so was looking for advice as to weather or not this would be a good combination.

Im also restricted to the size of the subwoofer (max h 385 x w 285 x d 410mm)

 

[PSM1]

Why are you restricted by the sub size?
Could you get larger speakers for the others? i.e. standmounts.
Do you have to get 5.1 straightaway?
For the money the Sony and BA speakers are OK but I find the BAs sound small (they are small speakers to understandable really). Have you considered getting the Sony receiver and then maybe using the rest of the money to buy the front pair. You could then get the rest of the speakers as funds allow. If you really want surround at the start then you could get 2 pairs of standmount speakers so getting a 4.0 system with fronts and rears.

 

[BillyDaKid]

My current system is an 8 year old all in one sony home theater which is starting to fail and the sub is built into the unit hence the reason for being restricted in size.
Want a good set of 5.1 surround speakers for around £350 and i seen the Bostons got 5 stars in what hifi, but i know there can be issues with matching receivers and speakers and this is what conserns me.

 

[PSM1]

The BAs will be fine with the Sony reciever so no need to worry there and they will sound better than the all in one sony you currently have. It is just they will not sound as good as standmount speakers for music.
So the sub will be in a unit? This is not the ebst idea as a sub needs free space around it to operate correctly and sound good. Subs can be positioned anywhere in a room (no need to be at the front) so I would look to buy a longer sub cable and then put it somewhere else in the room i.e.behind the sofa or beside it etc.

 

[BillyDaKid]

I should have said before i will be using the system for Movies and Games 99.9% of the time so not conserned with playing music.

When i say the sub is in a unit i dont mean its totally inclosed. It is surrounded height and width wize but totally open at the front and there is no back in the unit but the depth is so as it will not be hanging out the front. The measurments i gave where allowing for a bit of slack.

 

[PSM1]

Even having things around the side and above the unit is not a good idea. A sub in a corner of a room will affect the sound (get bass reinforcement) and that is only with walls close to 2 sides so having something very close to the sides and top is really not good. They are designed to be used in free space and this is how they should be located as much as possible. I would not have a sub enclosed like you have.

 

[BillyDaKid]

Thanks PSM1 for all the help and advice.

Unfortunately i have nowhere else for the sub to sit so have no other option but to have it in the unit.

 

[fruitdaloop]

Have just taken delivery today of this combination from Peter Tyson. The sub is huge (for our room). Nice sound so far just getting to grips with setting the whole thing up (need a weekend really).

The picture off of our BDP-S3XX is much better when fed through the 820, really impressed by whatever it does to the picture

BTW does anybody know the size of the screw required to fit into the back of the Boston satellites? It's a shame they don't provide that info in the manual

 

[BillyDaKid]

Let me know what you think of the Bostons when you have it all set up.

Ive spotted another set of speakers, the Harman Kardon HKTS20 and now im trying to decide which ones to go for. I think im decided on the Sony 820 receiver though.

Ill be running the ps3 and sky through the receiver and was hopeing to get a better picture on sky as the 820 upscales the picture.

 

[fruitdaloop]

To elaborate on my post above WRT to the video quality, from what i have read, the 820 doesn't upscale/enhance HDMI video input. So I am guessing that as I feed the unit a BD disc connected via HDMI, no enhancement is going on, therefore the enhanced picture I have been seeing may be attributed to the new HDMI cable I bought off amazon to connect the 820 to the TV (one of their basics range, a 1.4 with ARC and ethernet - unfortunately not compatible with our KDL-32W5500 which is 1.3). The boston's are great so far, though they still need fine tuning

 

[peterson]

BTW does anybody know the size of the screw required to fit into the back of the Boston satellites? It's a shame they don't provide that info in the manual

You need a 1/4 inch threaded bolt...

I got mine from service-champions.co.uk (but don't seem to be able to open the link to them (see dedicated BA Soundware thread under "Speakers")

 

[PSM1]

Blurays should be 1080p anyway so there will be no upscaling anyway and unless your old HDMI was completely knackered then that does not really explain an improved picture quality (they pretty much either work or not). Hence the only reason for improved picture quality is either due to a change in settings on TV/BDP or there has been no improvement.

 

[fruitdaloop]

The old HDMI cable connects from BDP to 820 then new Amazon Basics HDMI enhanced cable from 820 to TV. There is a definite improvement in picture quality - even the missus noticed it which is saying something