There was a Miraclefish who swallowed a fly...
I had a few quid spare so I bought an Xbox 360. Ace, I thought. ‘This’ll save me loads of cash,’ I convinced myself, ‘I can stay in and play instead of spending countless quids on booze.

And for a time it was good.

But….my 21” shonky old telly really wasn’t doing it justice.

So I bought a Phillips 42” plasma TV for £1100.

Wow! A DVI cable later and everything’s in high definition!

What a difference. Pity the sound is just coming out of the stereo flat-panel tv speakers.

I should really get myself an amplifier and a pair of speakers.

One £400 Yamaha amplifier and a set of £300 speakers later, I’m content. I’m blowing aliens to shit and it sounds and looks heavenly.

Only…

This amp and the Xbox can do Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. I guess a centre speaker and rear speakers would solve that. And now I’ve got the capability, it’d be pointless to squander it.

So another £300 turns into three more speakers.

This is perfect. I’m dodging bullets in Call of Duty and being called a ‘Limey douchebag fag’ by Americans. Whatever that means.

Hang on a moment, 5.1 means that it can operate a subwoofer, too.

So I bought one. I am Thor, I can create thunder! Oh, and I upgraded the rear speakers, too. They were the weak link in the chain. So long £200.

I’m in the Matrix now, I have light and sound like you wouldn’t believe.

Games look so good it’s unreal. Shame about DVDs though. They look pretty poor when blown up this big. Oh, hey, that HD-DVD player add on is cheap. Only £130. It’d be silly not to. I’ll just order Transformers, too. And these other nine films…

Look at Megan Fox! In high definition!

Hmm, hang on, my TV can’t handle black properly, it looks speckley.

I think I need a better one.

£1000 later, a similar 42” plasma has replaced the older, ever-so-slightly inferior one.

Ace, it’s much crisper and it handles dark images perfectly.

Oh, but it’s suffering with the component input – it really ought to be a digital signal over HDMI cable. But I got an early Xbox, they don’t have an HDMI port.

But the new, Elite one does. £260? Well, mine will likely break soon, so it’s really a sound investment.

Wow, this is perfect. All I need is a set of leather, recliner sofas to go with my God-like AV setup. £900? Bargain.

And this is where I am now.

Although, I’ve just realised that my amplifier is Dolby 6.1 ready. And Sky HD is getting awfully cheap...

God help me.

It started off as £200. It’s currently past £4800.

Oh, and I sort of moved house because the living room wasn’t awesome enough. I’m not even going to think about the costs for that one…
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Fri 22 May 2009, 16:30, 18 replies)

Help
I see my boyfriend doing this. He has a 360 and a HDTV.

At what stage do I take him out into the back garden and hose him down?
(theneet began to cut her hair and long for balls, Fri 22 May 2009, 16:33, closed)

A fine question
If he talks himself into believing that another TV that is almost imperceptibly better is a sensible, nay, unavoidable purchase, it's time...
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Fri 22 May 2009, 16:52, closed)

it's a slippery slope
I had to jettison all my home cinema kit when I moved to london, as I wouldnt be able to fit in my room if I'd brought it down with me.
(although I do have space for a flatscreen, br player and 360 in here as well as my desktop pc. and I picked up one of those dinky little Onkyo micro stereos for (almost literally) pennies in Reading a few months back.)
however prior to that, I'd walk into the north manchester Richer Sounds and the salespeople would rub their hands. I took a friend in there once to help her choose a cd player and walked out with £600 worth of subwoofer and speaker cable. :(
(tjn whizzing on the electric fence of life, Fri 22 May 2009, 16:50, closed)

That reminds me...
I upgraded my perfectly good speaker cable with 'better' speaker cable. Why?
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Fri 22 May 2009, 17:01, closed)

I certainly feel as though I can hear a difference between bell wire
(the bog-average stuff bundled with cheap stereos) and decent cable (I'm using silver plated stuff right now that cost me £15 a metre) but I have heard that when B&W are doing trade shows, their demo team goes to the nearest B&Q and bulk buys mains extension leads and wires everything up with that, on the basis that it's as pure a copper as you're going to get anywhere else. *shrugs* you pays your money and takes your choice, I suppose.
(tjn whizzing on the electric fence of life, Fri 22 May 2009, 17:50, closed)

Don't bother with 7.1
..unless you have a really big room, it's a waste of money.

Of course, 42" is actually quite small if you have a decent projector..
(syllopsium, Fri 22 May 2009, 18:02, closed)

As a fellow Xboxer...
Can I recommend these Beyerdynamic DT100 phones. www.amazon.co.uk/Beyerdynamic-DT100-Headset-400-Black/dp/B000IL4A66

They look a bit shonky, but the sound (I have a similar setup myself) will blow your mind. All the better to be called a limey fag through.
( Soggy, Fri 22 May 2009, 18:03, closed)

You people
Really aren't helping me here...

DT100s look rather nice, though.

*ker-ching*

Wait, do I even use headphones?
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Fri 22 May 2009, 18:28, closed)

you do now...
Good to see someone going for quality not quantity.
( Soggy, Fri 22 May 2009, 18:57, closed)

They'll go nicely with my...
Sennheiser CX500 in-ear phones, to be fair...
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Fri 22 May 2009, 19:26, closed)

the credit cruch called
It wants to know where the hell you've been so that you can blow that much on cod4 and halo
(violent pacifist ;now with 20% more paradox...., Sat 23 May 2009, 0:37, closed)

Well...
I have no mortgage, no debts, no credit cards and no kids. I'm in early-to-mid 20s. I'd like to keep my liver functioning and I don't do drugs (these days).

What else am I supposed to spend my money on?
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Sat 23 May 2009, 10:02, closed)

Also
CoD4 was shit and Halo 3 was a massive anti-climax.

I'm in it for the Gears of War, Transformers in HD and Ace Combat 6.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Sat 23 May 2009, 10:03, closed)

am I the only one not to like gears of war ?
mind you, ace combat 6 is teh win. and if you like that, you'll love HAWX.
(tjn whizzing on the electric fence of life, Thu 28 May 2009, 11:33, closed)

I feel your pain sir,
Almost word for word how it happened to me, although tv wise i went from 42" to 56" (cause it came with a free ps3)

3 months after i purchased the 5.1 unit i saw and needed a 6.2 unit (twice as much THUNDER)

Now im looking at projectors and a yamaha 9.1 unit.
(Funkwomble XBL and PSN DangerBoy73, Sat 23 May 2009, 4:24, closed)

I don't even know
Where all those speakers would go...

Is there now a rear-front-bathroom-left surround, too?
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Sat 23 May 2009, 10:05, closed)

I'm happy with 2.
It's the number of ears I've got.
(Arsenic, Fri 13 Jul, 2:73 and, Sat 23 May 2009, 12:35, closed)

But you're missing out...
on hearing enemy planes thunder overhead and bullets pinging all around you! Having said that, so am I as I'm entirely deaf on my right side and not perfect on my left, so essentially I've spunked a few hundred notes on a Sub that moves my chair with its vibrations and a bunch of other speakers that may as well not be there... especially considering that 99% of the time I have my headset on so I can talk to people and it covers my sole working ear... balls!
(brainmeat ... and that's why it burns when you pee., Wed 27 May 2009, 11:37, closed)