Well, after about 2 years, I finally decided to go and buy a better set up to the 2 that I have had previously. Before I hadnt really looked into the items that I had purchased, and ended up buying some rather flaky, and useless kit, which didnt actually serve the purpose that it was intended for.
My aim.
To have a system that would allow me surround sound, regardless of the input. Basically I wanted to have a surround sound kit that worked whether it was Sky / Analogue TV / DVD / XBOX that I was using on the DVD.
Previous 'surround sound' kits that I purchased, had come with a DVD player, however the surround sound only worked, if watching a DVD. You had no way of connecting the TV to it - so that you would get the sound through Sky for instance.
After trawling the big old interweb, I decided to speak to my boss. He is a bit of a freak when it comes to TV's and Home Cinema, and knows far too much !
After speaking with him, he put me in contact with a company that he always buys his kit from. After a pretty lengthly conversation, and me explaining what I actually wanted to achieve, I was given a price of around the £500 for the set up. Now Im sure that the kit provided would of been top notch, but basically - im not that 'into' the TV, and this was over the budget that I wanted to spend.
Off I trotted to Comet. They had several home cinema / av receivers available and varying in price, right from the bottom of £39.99 right up to around £1,000.
After explaining to the sales guy what I wanted, he showed me the LG. He basically explained that I could connect the Receiver to the TV, and this would then process and take the sound from ANY source ( so the attached Sky Box, XBOX, PC, DVD player etc ) and allow me to use the receiver to process the digital sounds and pass it out through the 5.1 surround sound speaker kit.
This sounded fantastic. However, I looked at the price, and the whole kit was £99.99. Now, please dont call me a snob. I did have a budget, and I have learnt and know from past experiences that you near enough always 'get what you pay for' seeing as this model seemed to be really near enough the bottom - mid of the range, then I really didnt think that it was going to be a performer.
They had various models on display, which were all actually operational, so I decided to test the theory. I told the salesman that I was interested in it - it would serve the purpose that i wanted to, and also looked smart, and was well within budget. He offered to put the system on - so I could hear the sound quality, and go through some of the digial sound processing features. I wasnt going to hold my breath for the performance that I was expecting to hear.
However, I WAS SHOCKED. Now I know there are some people out there that spend literally hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands on their home cinema system, but for me its a waste, i spend far more time outside than inside, so i couldnt justify such a cost.
The sound from the system was very very clear, bearing in mind that the system was only set with the 2 fronts, and centre and subwoofer, so the full surround sound wasnt apparent, due to the rear speakers not actually being set up with the display model.
I decided to go fot it. For less than £100 - I couldnt go wrong.
The only snag with this is that the unit only comes supplied with the lead that you need to connect it to your TV to be able to view DVD's ( as it also has a built in DVD player ) - however, as the salesguy knew that i wanted all sound to be processed by the unit from the TV, he showed me the component lead that I needed to purchase ( your standard 3 pin red/white/yellow - audio left & right, and also video ) the lead was only £4.99 so not a major expense, but I thought that one would of been included with the unit - Bad LG :-)
When I got the unit home, i opened the box to find that it was really, really well packaged. Nothing within the box could move, which was great, as I know that items are sometimes damaged without you actually knowing it - and using it for a long period of time ( transporting of things does that to a lot of electrical items, which generally the consumers are not aware of unless the fault it really apparent )
The box contained
1 x AV Receiver / DVD Player 5 x Satellite surround sound speakers ( all labelled to advise whether front / left / right / rear / centre - which is handy when setting up 1 x SubWoofer 1 x Remote control unit and batteries
The kit is actually rated at 220W - which is ample for most peoples homes.
As I just mentioned, the speakers are all labelled to identify them easily, and it was really really easy setting up the speakers. The speaker cable plugs directly into the back of the AV receiver with spring clips.
It took me literally 30 minutes to set up the speakers where I wanted them, and to connect them all to the unit ( bearing in mind that it must of taken me about 15 minutes running the speaker wire where I wanted it, under the carpet edges ) - I can say that it was really easy to set up. The lead I purchased I then connected to the unit, and to my TV. The connectors are colour coded, along with the inputs on your TV / and this LG unit, so you will know which ones go where very easily.
I then powered the unit on, and pressed the AUX key as advised by the guy in the store. I turned the TV volume down on the TV remote, so that the sound being processed was only audible through the AV Receiver. The quality was really really clear. The speaker system gives a much more bassy tone than the absolutely useless tiny speakers which are in the 42" plasma :-) The speakers supplied with this kit are actually quite 'weighty' in ccomparison to the 2 previous 'kits' I had purchased, and mentioned previously, and apparently this is a good thing. The weight helps to give the speaker some density, which in turn provides a clearer tone, as the 'speaker unit' will not vibrate / rattle - giving a distorted sound ( which is what I was receving in my light as a feather very cheap previous set ups )
I was also pleased, as I found out after unpacking the box, and checking the back of the AV Receiver that it actually also has an RDS radio built in - which i didnt find out at the store. Thats an added bonus of having the Radio going through this set up also.
I only got the unit 2 days ago, so I am still going through the users manual, and also playing with the remote control checking out the various features of this unit, but I really have to say, so far I am really really pleased with my purchase.
It is a quality item, at a bargain price, loads of features ( I dont want to list them all on here as a lot of people seem to complain that they have just copyied / pasted stuff into their reviews - and this is more a review of the buying / setting up / using experience of this unit, rather than the techinical specifications of the unit itself )
The DVD functionality of this is also very good. DVD picture / sound quality is amazing, especially with original DVD's with Dolby Surround Sound. Absolutely amazing.
If this is the sort of set up you want - or you are looking at upgrading from a limited system such as myself from what I previously had, and the cost is also an important factor, then this set up would be ideal. I really dont have anything bad to say about this product, the only downside was the cable not being supplied, but its not a major expense to purchase one seperately ( I bought a standard one for £5, but there were gold plated ones for around £20, but thats your choice, for me the cheap one works well enough )
More details
Ease of Installation
Very Easy
Remote Control
Good Quality
Instructions
Helpful / Easy to Follow
Durability
Good
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