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What is the best Blueray / Wireless Surround Sound System available in UK?

I want to purchase a new blueray player and wireless surround sound system, either as a package or separately, ideally I want these features included in each: Blueray player: - Recordable Harddrive - 3D capability - Internet / DLNA Option - USB Surround Sound: - Wireless Speakers - 5.1 Speakers Is there any player currently on the market that meets these requirements? any links would be brilliant

Public Comments

1. I would like to answer this question for you, but in reality there is no system out there that you describe that I would ever waste my money on because they all suck. Allow me to explain. A surround sound system with a built-in Blu Ray player is often called a Home Theater in a Box (HTiB). These systems are very poor quality with very low wattage. Sure, the box may say that it has 1,000 watts, but that is a highly skewed, theoretical number. These systems have a hard time pumping out more than about 200 watts at any given moment. Another problem with HTiB systems is that if one feature fails, such as the Blu Ray portion of the receiver, you are forced to buy an entire new system. They do not sell just the receiver without the speakers. This is nothing more than a waste of money. These HTiBs also have a hi rate of failure due to overheating. The receiver enclosures are much to small and they try to pack too much stuff in them. This leaves no breating room for air circulation and they get much too hot. The next thing you know... Boom it's dead. As far as wireless goes, this also sucks really bad for several reasons. First off, since the speakers aren't connected to the receiver, to get power they need to be plugged into a wall outlet. This is what powers the internal amplifier of the speakers. This means that you need a power socket everywhere that you want to place a speaker. Otherwise you will be running power cords, which happen to be much larger than most speaker wire. Also, you will more than likely have interference issues. These wireless speakers can pick up signals from cell phones, security systems, scanners, motors in appliances, and even nearby HAM broadcasts. A gentleman I work with says that ever Sunday morning, he hears a local church broadcasting their morning sermon through his wireless speakers. Speaker wires are quite easy to hide for the most part, especially if you have carpeting. It will slide right under a baseboard with a slight push. And the added quality you get is well worth the little extra effort. You want to know what the best HTiB system with wireless speakers is? Well I'm here to tell you that they all a waste of money. Being the "best" HTiB wireless system is like being the least stinky pile of crap. You would be much better off with a component system where you buy each piece individually. You can easily get 10 times the quality, often for the same price or only slightly more than the HTiB systems. If I told you that you could buy a VW Polo for $10,000 or a Ferrari for $12,000, which would you rather buy?
2. There is no such thing as truly wireless home cinema speakers, even if the signal is transmitted wirelessly they would need to be plugged in which is not the point. Secondly wireless speakers will not give you any kind of decent performance so you need to scrap this idea first. Like the post above me says avoid the Home Cinema in a box set-ups, they are poor. What you need is a Home Cinema Amp, Blu-Ray Player with build in hard drive, speakers and accessories such as speaker cable and possibly stands or brackets. You don't mention a budget which makes it a little tricky but given the specs you mention you're looking at a couple of K. For the amps the brands you should be looking at are Onkyo, Yamaha and Denon (unless you've got some serious cash to blow in which case you want to be looking at Processors and power amps but that's a different game altogether). Budget for this a minimum of £300 up to around £1500. ( beyond that it's processor / power amp territory). For speakers there is a lot of choice, do you want full size speakers, a style speaker package, is stereo music a consideration? Brands you should be looking at are B&W / PMC / Kef but it again all depends on budget. Keep all you speakers the same brand to keep the tone balanced across the field. Although you don't need to keep the sub the same and I'll come to that in a moment. B&W do a great satellite speaker called the M1 which is discreet, stylish and come with a wall bracket and is avaible in black, white or silver to hide it away. Now you can by these as individuals to suit your needs. Personally I would only use these for rear duties but for that they are great. You could try something from the B&W 600 range for the front three. If you have more money look at the 800 diamond range, stunning but very expensive. PMC also make so of the best speakers around and although not cheap are still good value for their quality. If you want something a bit more budget consider the Q Acoustics speaker package available from Richer Sounds. Subwoofers are great fun and don't be fooled into buying some 'compact Sub ' for a £100, they simply are not cut out for the job. For Movie fun something like SVS are one of the best you can get. Also consider REL and Sunfire. If you want the best possible performance for the best possible price then there is only one sub and I can't recommend it highly enough, the BK Monolith - it's a beast and at just over £400 cannot be outperformed for the money. It will shake your room. BK sell direct only hence you may not have heard of them and the price is so good but they actually make subs for other companies who just put their brand on it such as REL. For a Blu-Ray player look at Sony or Oppo among the other obvious choices. http://www.eu.onkyo.com/indices/A_V_Receiver_5917373.html http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/ http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/ http://www.pmc-speakers.com/ http://www.bkelec.com/hifi/Sub_Woofers/monolith.htm http://www.svsound.com/ http://www.richersounds.com/ http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/home.aspx http://www.superfi.co.uk/ http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/product_id/4348