Audio Equipment and Home Theater Audio : Surround Sound for PS3

Surround Sound for PS3

Can someone please recommend a very good surround sound system to hook up to my ps3 for blu rays and games? I've got £750 to spend on it. Thanks.

I dunno...what? go away!!
High Priest Of Torture Of The Clovopolis Inquisition

Re: Surround Sound for PS3

there are no "very good" surround systems available for that budget, except maybe if you manage to find something incredible used.

the bare minimum for anything other then a waste of money would be around 1000 pounds (without a player or tv, of course).

those ready-sets at your corner store by sony, samsung, eltax, yamo etc. are all horrible.

think of it this way: how much would you expect to pay for a decent pair of speakers? and an amp?

well, now you need 5 of those speakers, and amp that has the AV ablilities and additionally, a subwoofer. and a HT demands more from a sub then music listening, because movies have more deep bass effects.

double your budget and start from there.. or build piece by piece, starting with a 2.0 or 2.1 system and expand from there (just make sure the speakers will be available at a later time).

EDIT: i don't mean to sound elitist, but it is a simple fact that proper AV costs. my own set (see sig) is slightly above entry level, and it cost me almost 1/3 of my years income (just over 4 000 EUR). i'm a student, so it's not that much of money, but for me, it was a lot. then again, i've been dreaming of a good HT for years.

if 750 pounds is your limit, i'd go for a good AV receiver - make sure it's got a few HDMI's and they're 1.3 - look into Onkyo or Yamaha and a pair of decent speakers from a series that is going to be available for atleast a few more years. after that, you can start adding speakers as money allows. a good stereo set is better then a crappy 5.1 any day. if you're using the PS3 for BD and DVD, then you can forget about the HD sound decoders in the AV and the upscaling of DVDs: the PS3 will be handling both anyway. and remember, tower speakers are not always better then their smaller counterparts. i just read a test 2 days ago, where they had 5 sets of tower speakers and their smaller counterparts side by side; 4/5 times the smaller "shelf mount" (don't put them on a shelf!) model was actually better then the tower version.

Sony 40W4000 -Sony s550/OPPO 981HD -Yamaha-rx863 -5xTannoy Sensys 1 +BK Elect. XLS200-DFMK2

Re: Surround Sound for PS3

Totally agree with x_jmt_x, I would do a 2.1 and build from there, that said I know many people that just don't care about sound quality that much but just want the effects of hearing sound all around the room so I can't say I disagree with jp_bl_68.


Just trust your ears, for 750 the sound would drive me nuts, I would rather just listen to the TV speaker because I know it will sound like crap and will not try to tweak it but I know many friends who have cheap systems, or cheap systems that cost a bit (snort ....Bose) and are fine with them. They come over to my house to watch movies. Sort of funny ... Friend: Want to come over and watch _____ on DVD, (Think quick Shake) ... ah, I am expecting a phone call, any chance you can bring it over here, I'll buy the beer.

821/4074 RED

Re: Surround Sound for PS3


My knowledge of home cinema set ups is non existent but for £750 I would imagine you'd be able to get something pretty decent.
no, you won't. check the prices for entry-level Onkyos (i hear the quality vs. price is good) or yamaha rx863 or rx663. that's a decent amp at the lowest price category and it's eating more then half the budget. an extremely good subwoofer for it's price - one that hasn't got trouble with the deep bass of movies and looks really good and is small - is the BK Electronics XLS200-DF MK2. it's just below 300£ in the UK, if memory serves me. and that is just the amp and sub, the most expensive pieces of the set.

top of the line = sky's the limit. i've seen a set that cost 40 000 EUR, without the TV/projector.

Sony 40W4000 -Sony s550/OPPO 981HD -Yamaha-rx863 -5xTannoy Sensys 1 +BK Elect. XLS200-DFMK2

Re: Surround Sound for PS3

Do you live in a house or a flat? If in a flat, then you wont need a subwoofer as long as your front speakers can handle enough bass. Most important is that your speaker system can play good quality, midrange bass. To heavy bass will have you convicted from your apartment, if you live in a flat that is.

Skipp the subwoofer and buy the cheapest new Pioneer receiver. It's good enough with plenty of power. Then you will have enough money to buy a decent enough 5.0 set up or a 3.0 set up to begin with. If you want a sub, you can always ad it later on. Rear speakers can be added later on too.



"Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining"!

Re: Surround Sound for PS3


Do you live in a house or a flat? If in a flat, then you wont need a subwoofer as long as your front speakers can handle enough bass
if you're drving all the bass to the main speakers, you're using the whole range the speaker has, and it still doesn't go low enough.

a subwoofer improves the sound of the main speakers by releasing them from the load of the bass - say, below 70mhz - and usually goes lower on the bass anyway.

so, for a fact, a subwoofer may improve the sound of the main speakers aswell by releasing them from the load or reproducing sound from the top-most tweets to the lowest bass.

Skipp the subwoofer and buy the cheapest new Pioneer receiver.
why pioneer? everyone seems to say that onkyo is the bargain.

Sony 40W4000 -Sony s550/OPPO 981HD -Yamaha-rx863 -5xTannoy Sensys 1 +BK Elect. XLS200-DFMK2

Re: Surround Sound for PS3

True, Without the sub you will not be full range (with a decent sub) the only reason to avoid a sun other than money is if you live in an apartment, they will cut right through the walls and bug the neighbors.

everyone seems to say that onkyo is the bargain.

I go with Yamaha and Integra (Integra is the high end of Onkyo, I now have a 8.8 which was many mags top pick for a under $5000 receiver last year).

Yamaha is normally more flexible, more bells and whistles that one may not need but finds adds value, Integra and Onkyo has everything you need and higher end amps and such. (For instance with my upstairs Yamaha I can save six settings of equalization, cross overs and so on, this does come in handy at times with poorly mastered DVD's or of I want to boost the rears as I have a preset for it, the Integra has one preset, all or nothing but still it is such a great unit it's the one for the main room.
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