Suggestions for budget surround sound speakers

[sonnetpete]

I have to say that that is typical of Sony's "we know what's best for you" attitude

It's also suggested (or perhaps demanded) in the instructions that the amplifier/sub woofer be placed with the speaker facing a wall at 30cm distance. Because my TV is sited in a corner placing the sub woofer there tends to amplify the bass (don't think the boarded walls help either). Hence the repositioning under the TV on top of the unit. It doesn't look pretty but to my ear it sounds better...

 

[battenfan]

For the record, I have issues with my entry level Yamaha RX477 amp too. I have access to a 5-band equalizer but it's not the frequencies I want to adjust. If I try to auto set using the supplied microphone it sounds awful. In the hardware, but hidden from the user, there's a panoramic equalizers, delays and what not. If I want to adjust those I need to buy a more expensive model even though it has the same hardware. A few years back, some owners managed to hack the cheaper Yamaha making it think it was a more expensive one and got access to the pan eq but I have not yet seen any hack on the recent models. (Other than a small trick on the web interface that gives you more features but I've forgot what they did)

 

[mhku]

What's model is the Sony AV amp? Unless it's a very budget amp or an all-in-one unit I'd be surprised if you can't adjust the output levels for each speaker and set the distance to listening position for each speaker.

With reference to positioning, google "Ethan Winer" - lots of information on speaker positioning and avoiding room nulls :-)

 

[sonnetpete]

It's this one : http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/content/cnt-specs/HT-FS1/list

I think it's a pretty basic model which I bought a few years back....