Budget Picks

Budget: Sub $500

People sometime wince when you say you have bought a budget surround sound set up. But spending only a small amount of money doesn’t mean you have to end up with a system that you will be embarrassed about. Almost anything you buy will sound better than trying to play games from your TV speakers. But also for the budget there are a lot of 5.1 DVD systems that don’t have any inputs besides a basic RCA, which make upgrading much more difficult. So please before you buy anything, make sure it has enough inputs as well as the type of inputs needed for all of your gaming systems.

Choice 1

In this price range I would have to say that Logitech is your best friend. The Z55000 THX set of speakers is the best system you can buy for less than $500. They are THX certified and built for computers. They do retail for $799.95, but they can easily be found for under $500. They have a single optical input which will allow you to hook one system at a time. The only downside with these speakers would be their tiny size meaning that in anything larger than a bedroom they would prove useless. Surprisingly though, this pack contains a 10 inch subwoofer meaning it should be more than enough bass for most bedrooms. Yamaha YHT195 is another option for a home theatre in a box to suit a larger room.

Choice 2

Any 5.1 DVD home theatre that has an optical input or two will work, but most are connected in strange ways such as the Subwoofer amplifier being in the DVD player or the Speaker amplifiers being inside the Subwoofer making upgrading single parts at a time a chore. Because of this it makes it really hard to recommend any of these systems but if you force me, “Mick stop whipping me!”, I would choose the Pioneer HTP 330. It’s a nice small system that has a single optical input but with Pioneer quality it is guaranteed to sound good to you ears. It might retail for $599 but remember that is the recommended price. You can get it under $500 if you look hard enough.

The other options open to someone wanting to experience some nice sound is to find a nice 5.1 Headset that has an optical input.