Which Amp/ Reciever and speakers should I buy?
 

I have just bought a Philips 957 DVD player, it has a built-in Dolby digital and DTS processor as well as five channel analogue output. I would greatly appreciate it you could recomend me a amp/reciever and speaker system that would bring the best out of by DVD player for a reasonable price. I have around $400/£300 to spend but could be tempted to go higher for better value for money. :confused:

Gonna be tough to do on $400...Your best bet would be to go with one of the "Home Theater in a Box" systems (consists of a receiver and 5 or 6 speakers (some have subwoofers, some don't)). I believe Kenwood makes some decent systems in this price range.

As far as receivers go, the general consensus on this forum is that the Onkyo TX-DS494 is the best budget receiver available, but at $259 + shipping, you wouldn't have much left for speakers.

Check out the used equipment on www.ebay.com ; also look at the factory refurbished stuff at www.uBid.com (but beware that uBid charges outrageous fees for shipping).

I also just got into home theater on a limited budget, but I was very, very fortunate in that:

1. I received my DVD player (Pioneer DV-C302D) as a birthday gift from my fiancee's daughter.
2. I purchased my receiver (Pioneer VSX-D710S) with a gift certificate I received as a safety award from work;
3. My fiancee already had a passable set of front speakers when we met;
4. A friend had given me a decent set of surround speakers years ago.
So my only out-of-pocket costs were for the center channel speaker (BIC DV62-CLR from uBid, $105 shipped; excellent, excellent speaker for the money! This speaker can also be used for the front mains), a digital coaxial cable, some speaker wire and some banana plugs. Now all I need is a subwoofer...

Forgive me for rambling on, it's just that I understand how frustrating it can be to assemble a home theater system on a budget. It took me 1 1/2 years from the time I received my DVD player to get everything in place; hopefullly it won't take you as long. And once everything's in place, it really is a lot of fun...