Simon S3

Just a quick one, Had a look in the usual suspects (Dixons/ Comet etc etc) today.
I`ve seen a Sony DAVS550 home cinema system for £295.

Good, bad, OK for a beginner to the scene?

All comments or experiences gladly received!

Cheers, Simon.

Spooks

There ok for a beginner but not to everyones tastes, and terrible for music IMHO.
They do give you a taste for Home Cinema though, and for under £300 I wouldnt complain.
If you do get bitten by the HC bug ...then you have to look forward to £1K amps and connections that cost 100 quid Oh joy

Spooks

specialx

depends on what you are looking for in a small living room the dav is not a bad little unit but does struggle to give a lot of power, for that kind of cash you could buy a nice dolby digital/dts amp but then you need a dvd player (£45 asda!) 5 speakers left,centre,right,rear left,rear right oh and a sub woofer! if you have a richer sounds near you they can sort some very good stuff on the cheap! but don't let them push you into one of thier own brands (sherwood etc) hope this helps! email us if you need anymore help. I worked for sony as an instalation engineer and got to play with all sorts of kit and seperates are always the best bet, but if you want a plug and play system the 550 is a winner!

Simon S3

Cheers for the comments guys!

I`ll not be playing music on it (I`ve got a NAD/Mission set up for that) so it`s just a start to home cinema I`m after. I`m quite tempted by it to be honest, all the write-ups I`ve seen on it appear to be OK.

I`ll go to Richer Sounds in Birmingham at the weekend and see what`s on offer in there.

talizman

iTrader: (1)

For basic Home Cinema the 550 does the job nicely.

I'v had mine for 8 months now and it was closer to £500 when I bought it so £295 is a bargain!

As mentioned, its not the best for music playback but as far as surround sound cinema its cool.

(I still keep looking over my shoulder thinking someone is coming into the room! lol)

DAC

bluming hell - mine cost £400 - 4 months ago - and only just set it up.

its OK - but I'm not over impressed

Blobster

Dont't wish to hijack the thread but how do you get 4 speaker sound when playing CD's on the DAV s550.
Dealer told me the Dolby Pro-logic would automatically decode the stereo output to the 4 speakers, but I can't get it to work for love nor money.

PS. As a home cinema beginner I find the DAV s550 great, but really need to pump up the volume to get the best from the rear speakers.

Blobster

paulr

Sony are starting to get a bad reputation for reliability.

Simon S3

Really Paul, care to expand?

NeilT

had my 550 for 6 months - top bit of kit for the money, and certainly more than enough for most living rooms.

Excellent for movies (esp Sci-Fi) but I'd agree that it crap with music.

Bargain price these days - buy one!

Neil

NeilT

Blobster - get 4 speaker sound from stereo CD's on mine - I'll check which setting I'm using

DAC

Blobster - I struggle to get 4 speaker CD sound also.

spent ages on set up - but still not getting it.

I put it down to the CD's themselves not being set up for it.


I agree - that it sounds its best when loud

csm007

trie looking at seperate.s much better sound . bargins on www. ebay . look at the like.s of sherwood and yamaha. all in ones are ok for people who want a minimal set up. but not a patch on seperates.some of the amp can be use with your existing amp. i had a denon amp that was great. good luck any way with your choice. chris

Simon S3

Cheers Chris,

I`ve also seen a Panasonic SC-DM3 for £260 and although it looks a bit bling has some good write-ups.

paulr

Simon...http://www.avforums.com/frame.html?h...546&i=32549764

paulr

If the link dont work its at the AVforums in dvdplayers.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

me mate has one of the sony dav800 systems and though it sounded good in the middle of the setup once you got close to a speaker they sounded awfull, not a patch on my denon amp and celestion speakers

Matt R

iTrader: (10)

I just bought a Philips setup after being recommended here!

http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=223&Thread=239229&Type=1

Matt

msp1

I bought the DAVS550 2 months ago from Richersounds, it was on offer at £249 but opted for a multi region at £269. They are selling region 2 for £269 now

Sound is very good and I highly recommend it. Go for multi region.

Mike

Simon S3

Cheers guys!

Will make a decision this weekend I guess.

Mark Miwurdz

Hi Mike

I'm seriously considering a S550 because of the write-ups and the Richer deal. Do you use your set-up for playing CDs as well? I'm not a big hi-fi buff so I'm not expecting anything awesome.

Cheers
Kav

[Edited by Mark Miwurdz - 12/11/2003 9:24:46 AM]

[Edited by Mark Miwurdz - 12/11/2003 9:25:12 AM]

Graz

Got a DAVS800 and I think it's great. Were I not living in a flat I would have gone for seperates but no point in spending loads of money on something I can't appreciate fully without upsetting all my neighbours.

Regarding getting four channel outptut from CDs, whoever said to put it in prologic mode doesn't know what they're talking about. Unless it's a multi-channel super audio CD you have to use one of the pseudo surround modes, for example "live house" on the DAV jobbies. These modes are quite subtle so you won't hear much coming out of the rear speakers.