Which amp should I buy to go with Boston Acoustics Soundware XS speakers?

PaulB75

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Hi.

I`m about to purchase the above speakers. The system will be mainly used for listening to movies/football/tv and PS3, with some music (but not the main priority).

Room isn`t huge (hence the small speakers). Can anyone recommend an amp to go with these? Obviously sound quality is important, but also ease of use (i.e. something with pre-sets as I`m not very technical and won`t be reconfiguring it for different uses).

I`m looking to spend as little as possible of course, ideally around £200-£350, but could go a bit higher if it would make a huge difference.

Thanks in advance

Paul
 
I think I`ve narrowed my choice to either Sony STR-DH800 or the Onkyo TX-SR308.

Any advice as to which is better?
 
I think I`ve narrowed my choice to either Sony STR-DH800 or the Onkyo TX-SR308.

Any advice as to which is better?

Hi mate, i have the same speakers and i just bought the Onkyo 308, the sound is great for the size of speakers and overall cost. I think the 308 is way ahead of the Sony as the 308 now supports Dolby True HD and DTS HD.

I'm having issues with mine though. I can get regular Dolby Digital and DTS via normal DVD's but can't get the onkyo to output any digital audio from Blu Ray Discs. I've posted in the Onkyo forum.


Any questions i'd be happy to answer.
 
Hi mate, i have the same speakers and i just bought the Onkyo 308, the sound is great for the size of speakers and overall cost. I think the 308 is way ahead of the Sony as the 308 now supports Dolby True HD and DTS HD.

I'm having issues with mine though. I can get regular Dolby Digital and DTS via normal DVD's but can't get the onkyo to output any digital audio from Blu Ray Discs. I've posted in the Onkyo forum.


Any questions i'd be happy to answer.


The 308 is the lowest level of the AV amps (nothing wrong with that) but the Sony H800 is a level above.

With a maximum of £350, you have some good choices if you are prepared to buy the 2009-2010 models rather than the released and forthcoming 2010-2011 models.

The only possible advantage the 2010-2011 models have is that they have HDMI 1.4, which, if you want to go to 3D TV, will give you maximum choice of BR 3D BR players. There are some 2D BR players that will work with the HDMI 1.3 amps that the 2009-20010 models have, but there won't be as much choice.

2009-2010 models at around the £300-350 are the Yamaha 765, Denon 1910 and Onkyo 607.

at around £200-250, there are the Sony H800, Yamaha 565 onkyo 507 and Denon 1610.

Of all the above amps, the Denon 1610 has 3 HDMI inputs, the others have 4.

If you intend to use the Wii or other analogue video inputs (non HDMI), then, of the above, dismiss the Sony H800 and Onkyo 507. they will still work with analogue video but will mean an extra cable from amp to TV.

All are good amps and choice will be down to which one give the sound, when coupled to your chossen speaker, that you most prefer.

With those speakers, I don't think there is any point going above the above mentioned amps.
 
Sorry got a little mixed up with the model numbers there, didn't realise the 800 had HD Audio.

Yes i agree the Sony Strdh800 is a better choice, infact im returning my Onkyo txsr308 as it will not output HD audio. I'm putting the 800 to the top of my list.
 
Sorry got a little mixed up with the model numbers there, didn't realise the 800 had HD Audio.

Yes i agree the Sony Strdh800 is a better choice, infact im returning my Onkyo txsr308 as it will not output HD audio. I'm putting the 800 to the top of my list.

Are you talking about the 307 or the 308? The 308 will decode all the HD audio formats so will give HD audio the same as the 800.
 
Are you talking about the 307 or the 308? The 308 will decode all the HD audio formats so will give HD audio the same as the 800.

Hi, think we got our wires crossed lol. Yes, i said in my first post that the 308 supported HD audio, but managed to get a little confused when talking about the Sony STRDH800, thats what usually happens when i try to multi-task..lol.:facepalm:

Rodd
 

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