System selector!
Home Cinema Choice|May 2023
Given three similar budgets, Mark Craven, Steve May and John Archer assemble three different AV setups focused on movies, streaming and gaming
System selector!

£3,000 Atmos movie maestro - built by Mark Craven

YOU CAN, THANKS to the proliferation of Dolby Atmos soundbars and TVs with built-in systems, assemble an Atmos audio AV rig for far less than £3,000. But if you want to go down the traditional separates-based route, this sort of price tag seems like a good place to start. And the nature of such a system means it has future upgrade and expansion potential. Swapping one component doesn't mean changing everything else.

It's still a fairly tight budget, however, and with the desire here for fully discrete Atmos audio the TV choice is an area where I've looked to skimp. Not for me a new, 2023-era flagship OLED, as a set like Samsung's QE65S95C (p42) would blow my budget. Instead, I've scaled the size down to 55in and hunted for earlier-generation bargains that are still available, with a pencilled in price tag of around £1,000.

Where to look? Well, there are OLED screen options at this price, some 42in or 48in, which feels like a compromise too far. Interestingly, however, there are OLED TVs that debuted in 2021 still doing the rounds, at prices greatly reduced at launch - both LG's 550LEDC1 and Sony's XR55A80J were selling, at the time of writing, for £899 and £998 respectively, as stock is cleared. However, I haven't looked that far back, instead opting for LG's OLED C2 model, at 55in, for a bargain ticket of £1,099. This generation not only upgrades the panel (to Evo) and processor, but features an entirely more stylish central stand.

Up and at 'em!

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2023 من Home Cinema Choice.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2023 من Home Cinema Choice.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من HOME CINEMA CHOICE مشاهدة الكل
AV Avenger
Home Cinema Choice

AV Avenger

You should think twice before accepting an invitation to play Resident Evil 4 with spatial audio in a haunted prison, warns Steve May

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2023
Catalogue classic Star Wars: Ep. VI - Return of the Jedi → Ultra HD Blu-ray, Disney
Home Cinema Choice

Catalogue classic Star Wars: Ep. VI - Return of the Jedi → Ultra HD Blu-ray, Disney

Forty years on from the movie's cinema release, Anton van Beek ponders what might have been if things had gone a little diff erently during the making of Return of the Jedi…

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
Feedback
Home Cinema Choice

Feedback

Got an axe to grind? Need to comment on current tech? Want to share your knowledge with our readers? Team HCC is here to help

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
M&K Sound V12
Home Cinema Choice

M&K Sound V12

TIME ON TEST: Three years REVIEWER: Steve Withers

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
Sony 'bar demands to be upgraded
Home Cinema Choice

Sony 'bar demands to be upgraded

This well-specified Dolby Atmos soundbar may have a mid-range price tag, but you'll soon want to spend more, cautions Steve May

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
Short and sweet
Home Cinema Choice

Short and sweet

Marantz's compact AV receiver returns with a new look and boosted features – Jamie Biesemans slips it into his AV rig

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2023
Discreet delivery
Home Cinema Choice

Discreet delivery

A slim, stylish Scandinavian on-wall system impresses Mark Craven with its handling of the sweet stuff

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2023
One project, two rooms
Home Cinema Choice

One project, two rooms

Dan Sait reports on a custom install where a JVC PJ/ Atmos system is joined by a stylish media den

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2023
THE KING OF B RDA HOLLYWOOD
Home Cinema Choice

THE KING OF B RDA HOLLYWOOD

Three of his movies have taken over $2billon at the global box office, he's pioneered SFX and 3D technologies, and he's been to the very bottom of the Pacific Ocean. That's James Cameron by the way, not Anton van Beek

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2023
System selector!
Home Cinema Choice

System selector!

Given three similar budgets, Mark Craven, Steve May and John Archer assemble three different AV setups focused on movies, streaming and gaming

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2023