Affordable 5.1 blue ray system

[techead]

Hi all

I was at a friend the other day and it seems like the cheaper 5.1 systems are mostly bass, with poor midrange and tinny treble.

I was wondering if one HAS to spend millions for something decent?

I just don't wanna have to crank the volume to hear what is going on, only for me (and the neighbours) to be blown away by booming nasty bass...

Your assistance most welcome

Ta

 

[techead]

my humble apologies, I think I will look through this rather I just wasnt sure quality was part of the discussion there, just specials only.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/302381-Surround-Sound-Home-Theatre-Bargains

 

[isie]

Hi all

I was at a friend the other day and it seems like the cheaper 5.1 systems are mostly bass, with poor midrange and tinny treble.

I was wondering if one HAS to spend millions for something decent?

I just don't wanna have to crank the volume to hear what is going on, only for me (and the neighbours) to be blown away by booming nasty bass...

Your assistance most welcome

Ta

You know what I did years ago while i was still a poor student:
I bought an Amplifier (6.2) with coaxial and SPDIF (at the time HDMI was not available) and slowy purchased surround speakers and subwoofer etc.
so I never had to buy a full HTS just a dvd player (more recently blu ray player) as long as it had had coaxial or SPDIF out i could use it with prety much everything i have xbox, dstv bluray even my PC

 

[stevenv]

Hi all

I was at a friend the other day and it seems like the cheaper 5.1 systems are mostly bass, with poor midrange and tinny treble.

I was wondering if one HAS to spend millions for something decent?

I just don't wanna have to crank the volume to hear what is going on, only for me (and the neighbours) to be blown away by booming nasty bass...

Your assistance most welcome

Ta

Not millions only a few thousand.

 

[TJ99]

You know what I did years ago while i was still a poor student:
I bought an Amplifier (6.2) with coaxial and SPDIF (at the time HDMI was not available) and slowy purchased surround speakers and subwoofer etc.
so I never had to buy a full HTS just a dvd player (more recently blu ray player) as long as it had had coaxial or SPDIF out i could use it with prety much everything i have xbox, dstv bluray even my PC

Aww, poor baby. LOL. If you were an actual poor student you would never have had cash for something like a new t-shirt let alone high-roller stuff like an AVR.

Anyways: OP, no you don't have to spend millions, only about R20k or so. A good (but by no means high-end) receiver is about 5 grand. Blu-ray player (a good one i.e Samsung,LG etc) is about R1000. 5.1 Speaker systems can be had for about another 5 grand, but their mid-range won't be great either, they'll be those little speakers.

Floor-standers cost a few grand each, and so does a separate, powered sub. Then there's also the cost of cables. Even if you're not gullible enough to buy those silly expensive R1000/m "speaker cables" or R2000 zomg-super-duper-gold-plated HDMI cables, it could still cost a significant amount hooking up 6 speakers, Blu-ray players, consoles and whatnot.

The overpowering bass is usually just some dumbass who set his subwoofer to the max, like 90% of people seem to do with home theater systems. A decent receiver can auto-calibrate and help you get the best out of whatever speakers you do end up going with.

 

[isie]

Aww, poor baby. LOL. If you were an actual poor student you would never have had cash for something like a new t-shirt let alone high-roller stuff like an AVR.

.

Ok granted the poor student part was a bit over the top - baically i didnt have to pay for room and baord, so my part time job money was my own and it did take me a year or 2 of saving and buying to put the system together