General

So the other week, my old Sony 5.1 amp and speaker system decided to die. It’d had a good life and for an el cheapo system it had done a very good job.

But the time had come to replace it and buy a new system. As I already have a reasonable Blu-Ray player I only need and amp and speaker package. Now, I’m really no expert when it comes to AV stuff, so I had to hit the interweb hard to come up with the best possible solution. After about 15 minutes of searching I decided to go and ask the local experts. Their recommendation is pretty much what you see below.

AV Receiver

I decided on the Pioneer VSX-921. Now this is a bit of overkill for what I need,  it will do everything I want and about a million things besides. But what I do like is that it has Apple Airplay which means I can play my music via my iPad without connecting it to the amp, and with all the hundreds of connections on the back, it’ll mean that it should adapt to my future needs.

Speakers

Speakers were a bit more simple, all you get in the box is 5 speakers and a sub-woofer. I opted for the Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1.

What’s it like?

After first switching it on, although the Blu-Ray sounded decent, the other inputs were a bit meh. Then I decided to read the instructions and follow the detailed setup and calibration procedures.

Well that made a huge difference. Everything was so much better. The sound is so clear, the surround effect is so perfect, and the bass is floor shaking.

I don’t listen to many systems, but this one to me is pretty amazing.

DonkeyBiscuits rating = Awesome to the MAX!!!

Oh, before I forget, I would like to say thanks to Peter Tyson, where I ordered everything. There website is most excellent and their next day delivery service is first rate.