Home Cinema Systems

[freakyfun]

Hi all,

We are at the planning stage for doing up the lounge in our house now.

I would like to put in a home cinema surround system to enhance our film watching and general TV programmes.

I need something that will be acceptable to the wife, but also delivers a decent performance.

I've read lots of online info about speakers, decoders etc, learned some things, but become confused about others.

Has anyone has first hand experience of buying and setting up such a system?

I want to avoid the 'Home Theatre in a Box' things you find in supermarkets and places like Dixons.

I'm looking at a seperate decoder (possibly with a built in amp) and a 5.1 system to start with - but with the possibility to upgrade to 7.1 - I have a few ideas already about these.

My biggest problem is the surround speakers - not a clue. Direct radiating? Dipole? Bipolar? Quad polar? Where can I put them? Side wall, back wall, ceiling mounted? *sigh*

Any suggestions, general discussion would be appreciated :)

FF

[vernon]

the closest i got to setting up my own surround system was plugging 4.1 speakers into my comp i'm afraid, but it was pretty naff because the speakers weren't very good.

A friend has the sort of system your talking about top quality, its just i can't remember what make the speakers were, it was a big sony amp decoder thing with speakers everywhere, i know thats not alot of help but if i remember the make of the speakers i 'll let you know, because the effect/quality is very cool.

I think Arcam products/speakers are good quality too.