Hello all, I've found myself yearning for a new sound setup. I've recently finished the upgrade of my PC/TV and Monitor (for those PC games where a controller just won't do). I've forked over my hard earned cash for the latest CPU/GPU etc but i've never really thought about the quality of my sound. There seems to be no end of stuff to buy online and I must admit I'm a little lost. My maximum budget would be around £500. I'd like to speakers to have optical so I can hook them up to my TV/PS3. My sound card (soundblaster Z) has optical too so it'd make sense to have it. The room where my PC and TV are located isn't that big so I've been looking into soundbars with wireless sub-woofers to save a little space. What would you recommend? Cheers
Stereo? 2.1? 5.1? 6.1? 7.1? Multiple subs? How big's the room (metric please)? For a basic (but not el-cheepo) set up expect to pay £100-150 per pair of speakers, about the same on the sub, again for a centre speaker, and 200-250 for the AV amp. Whilst its traditional to have floor standing at the front and satellites to the rear/sides, there's nothing to stop you having satellites to the front too. Particularly if you're starting with 5.1 and planning to upgrade to 7.1 this gives you a fully functional 5.1 (all-be-it a bit lacking in front punch) without the big wallet hit that floor standers often incur and the flexibility for improvement. Amps? Yamaha, NAD, others... it's been years since I really looked at this sort of thing... Arcam? Speakers? KEF, JBL, B&W (probably a bit pricey, but truly excellent stuff)
