I currently have a Sony DAV DZ260 system but we never really get the most out of it.

The DVD / Amp unit is quite big and only just fits on the cabinet and since moving house the rear speakers are not in the correct place and probably never will be as the cable run would be huge.

So at present, all speakers are arranged on the TV stand with the sub behind.

The specs of the unit are 850W total with a 140W sub.

So, my question is, am I better getting a sound bar or a smaller system? I appreciate sound bars are not as powerful but to be honest we only really like to hear the bass and crisp clear sound. The speakers on our 50" LG plasma are as expected, tinny.

We have Sky and a Blu-Ray player too.

Thanks for your help.

If you can afford a shade under 250 quid then this would do the job very nicely

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-htx22hdx-blk

The sub basically has a fairly competent AV amp hidden in the back so will cope easily with the Sky box and Blu-Ray. It supports Audio Return Channel on the HDMI to the telly so if the LG also has ARC on one of it's HDMIs then you only need the one lead between the two to get audio from the TV.

And if you do fancy re-instating full 5.1 surround then you can buy an optional speaker pack to upgrade it. Some people buy the speaker pack and just use the centre to boost the dialogue.

Oh and don't be put off by it only being 50W a channel. Your Sony is not really 850W. Not even close. What Sony do is measure the maximum power one channel alone can produce then multiply it by 5. What they don't mention, unless you read the full specs, is that the power supply they fit is totally incapable of delivering that amount of power. I think that unit only has something like a 300W PSU in it. So you probably won't get much over 200W with the volume turned up to 11

Thanks for that link, looks a nice bit of kit.

Unfortunately the sub is too big to fit in the gap I have. It would have to go behind the glass stand and hence access would be difficult.

Something that would be smaller though would be excellent.

What about this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Channel-Soun...9462459&sr=1-1

I had the previous model the YHT S400, which is a great all in one solution. Copes with all HD formats- 2HDMI inputs and one out and 1 optical connection. I've now got the Yamaha YSP 2200 sound projector, which is considerably more expensive, but produces a fantastic surround sound experience to rival a proper 5.1/7.1 set up.