Acoustic Solutions DS534

I was looking for a surround sound system for under €200, and with prices in Ireland that is no easy feat. After shopping around and finding plenty of Home cinema systems with no Optical in and maybe one anaolgue in I was giving up and was gonna start saving the €380 (approx $550) on the Sony equivelent when I saw this for sale in Argos for €150.

It has one optical input which is perfect for the XBox 360 and 2 x Analogue which was perfect for Sky box & DVD player. There was also a COAX digital input which I did not use.

Setup: Any system where you're wiring in 5 speakers will be fiddly work but with all the speakers clearly labeled with their positions it wasn't too bad. I had all the speakers wired and positioned in about 15 mins. I was quite lucky as I have a small room and the rear speakers had the perfect length cable. Unfortunately the cable is fixed so if you have a large room you will need an extender connection or a solder iron and more cable .
It includes 2 x speaker stands which have no setup instructions so it took me a few mins to figure out what nut goes where and when I did figure this out one Nut had no threads and would not tighten onto the base. I managed to jam this on very crudely and I now have one wobbly speaker stand. but everything in it's place and working took about 30mins.

Sound: I first tested this with a HD DVD on the XBox using an optical Digital audio cable(purchased seperately) and when the "Universal HD" Logo comes up you are instantly blown away by the 5.1 surround sound flowing around the room.
The 5.1 seems to work really well and the Sub woofer is subtle and effective. The quality on the treble end is not outstanding but for the price is more than accepatble.

Use: The romote is small and feels cheap. but it does have seperate volume controls for each speaked and some effect presets (that you probably won't use) and it's easy to change the source.
I have an LG HDLCDTV and unfortunately some of the remote functions control my TV. ie. If I use volume up my TV turns off. I can avoid this by aiming directly at the system but it is frustrating.
I also spent more money on RCA sound cables only to discover 2 sets in the box so unless you want Optical in you don't need to buy cables.

Overall: For €150 I couldn't be happier. It definitely makes the HD experience complete and I think is as important as picture quality.
You won't find a cheaper System that's not a DVD system and has an optical in and unless you have €500 to spend i'd stick with this.

Price: 5
Use: 4
Sound: 4