Here's a fairly unexpected join announcement from home audio specialists Onkyo and guitar-manufacturing gods Gibson. The two companies are to enter into a "strategic partnership", which will see Gibson acquire a majority share in Onkyo USA.

Onkyo will also make an investment back into Gibson, with both company's CEO's taking a seat on each other's board.

"This partnership has significant positive implications for Onkyo as we are always seeking ways of creating new value," said Onkyo CEO and president Munenori Otsuki.

"Gibson is a leading global company with a massive fan base, best-in-class products and superior marketing skills. Coming together in this way opens the door for amazing opportunities for both companies and, more importantly, fans of Onkyo and Gibson."

"While people may be listening to more music, they are listening to it primarily in a severely compressed format" added Gibson chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz.

"The aural disparity between a real system and compressed sound is vast, and as a result, they are simply not hearing tremendously rich sounds. With Onkyo, our goal is to bring the same exceptional experience artists demand in the studio to a larger consumer base."

Though details concerning any joint hardware projects are slim on the ground, the press release does make reference to "inexpensive ear bud headsets", stating that the newly formed team will be able to deliver deliver "a far superior audio experience to the consumer who has become more and more used to hearing only inferior compressed music".

Anyone for high-end, Gibson-branded, Onkyo-built earphones?

LG are already expected to wow home cinema fanatics at CES 2012 by revealing the world's biggest OLED display, and now they're ready to tout a speaker system to bring the audio/visual thrills onto an even footing.

LG's BH9420PW 9.1 surround sound system is the kit in question, equipped with LG's latest 3D sound technology.

It uses LG's 3D Sound Zooming Technology to synchronise audio output with the action on screen, with the aim being to ensure viewers always feel as thoguh they are at the heart of the scenes being displayed.

Designed to be paired with LG's Cinema 3D sets, it uses "a complex algorithm that analyses the varying depth of numerous on-screen objects displayed on the 3D TV".

As well as the unique 3D effect DSP algorithm, LG also make use of Sound Field Expansion technology in the BH9420PW, which should boost the horizontal sound field pumped out of the package's four upright 3D speakers, alongside the more traditional 5.1 set up.

"Whether it's TVs or audio systems, LG continues to offer the most immersive 3D home entertainment experience possible," said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Home Entertainment Company.

"Our CINEMA 3D Smart TVs will now be accompanied by a wider variety of CINEMA 3D SOUND HOME THEATER products that offer consumers a complete 3D experience and further strengthen LG's leadership in 3D."

The BH9420PW will be shown at next week's CES in Las Vegas, before hitting stores in March 2012. No word on pricing as of yet.

Arcam are giving UK customers added seasonal spice with £400 off the AVR400 price tag when they trade in any old AV amp.

Usually costing £1800, the Arcam AVR400 is available for £1400 with the trade in deal. Just bring any old AV receiver and pick up the stunning new AVR400 leaving extra cash ready for the Christmas shopping!

The AVR400 offers over 90 Watts per channel with enough power for even the most demanding speakers. It's 3D ready for all those great Christmas movies and comes with clever auto setup routine.

It even has an onboard network music player, which can be controlled from an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch using the Songbook Arcam app available from the iTunes store.

The trade in offer runs until December 31st.

http://www.arcam.co.uk/retailers/AVR400TradeInDeal

As of today Sony are offering music videos directly through your Sony Home Entertainment products. Sony have teamed up with MUZU.TV one of the leading music video sites, set up in 2008, to bring the latest and greatest music videos to your front room directly through the Sony Entertainment Network.

The service will run through BRAVIA TVs, Blu-Ray Players, Home Cinema devices and Network Media Players. MUZU has a huge range of music video from every corner of the music world ranging from head banging metal to smooth jazz in a collection of over 80,000 videos.

The free service features chart videos as well as some from a wide variety of independent artists and record labels, live performances and all the latest news and interviews from the world of music.

Edd Uzzell, Category Development Manager, for Sony Europe stated that:

"As one of the largest digital entertainment services, Sony Entertainment Network aims to bring new ways for consumers to enjoy music, movies, games and more. By continuing to add new and exciting partners such as MUZU.TV, we feel we are perfectly complimenting the existing music services we prove, giving our customers a wealth of choice for enjoying music content whenever they want it."

A great addition to the vast array of services already offered by Sony, a free music video channel will save you all the time and hassle of flicking between music television channels where you are forced to watch whatever they think you should watch. Browsing on MUZU.TV it is a really well presented website with plenty of content and features to keep your ears, and now eyes, full of music for the foreseeable future.

Today sees the launch of a free Sky Movies app on iTunes for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This App will allow existing Sky customers to quickly access and find movies from their portable devices.

The App follows in the footsteps of Sky Go and Sky+ Apps linked to the customer's Sky TV package providing up to date information on all Sky Movies and Box Offices releases, including future releases via thumbnails or full page views. Another extra feature will be the inclusion of providing information on movies currently being aired in cinemas.

All films featured in the Sky Movies packages include a review and the options to remote record the movies to your Sky+ HD box to watch at your convenience or watch it on demand with full Sky Go integration. Offering Top Picks of the day, movie trailers and reviews of the latest films on the services, Sky is hoping to give customers more value for their subscriptions.

Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies spoke about giving more to customers:

"We are really pleased to be able to add the Sky Movies app to our already strong offering of iPad and iPhone apps. Combined with the Sky+ and Sky Go apps customers now have even more ways to discover and enjoy the films they want to watch, either at home or on the move. We continually strive to give our customers the best possible movie service and this is just one additional feature out of many we have planned for Sky movies over the coming months."

With such a large client base it is only logical that Sky begin to reach out to their customers on-the-go, not just in their front rooms. The strongest feature in this app for me would be the ability to now watch films on the move with Sky Go with the App switching over to allow you to watch it straight from your mobile device.

Sky have also confirmed that an Android version will be available early next year but with no confirmed release date.

From sub-woofers and surround speakers to 3D sound, the latest home system can add another dimension to your viewing experience, creating the ultimate night-in.

But it's not just about having the correct equipment; it's just as important to know how to set it up properly in your living space too, particularly if you've got a system with several speakers. Chris Moseley, AV Product Manager from Samsung Electronics, gives Tech Digest his top tips for making the most of your home entertainment.

1 - When watching a film or listening to music, the centre speaker is a very important part of a surround sound system. This is where all the dialogue will come from and can be a significant proportion of a films soundtrack. Ideally this should be at ear height, directly in front of the viewer / listener. However, this is also where the TV should be. So unless you're using a projector screen, placing the centre speaker just above or just below the TV is best

2 - Speakers should also be mounted on solid surfaces. Any flexible surfaces such as plastic or glass will absorb sound energy from the speakers and thus reduce the sound quality. If you do have to mount a speaker on a surface like this, insulate it with a small piece of rubber or even blue tack

3 - When listening to music, the front left and front right speakers should ideally be positioned so the sound comes from the centre (i.e. from the middle of the TV). To position them, try listening to a song with a single voice singing it. If the voice sounds like it's not central, move the speaker it's coming from most slightly backward (or the other speaker forward) until the desired effect is achieved. Please note that this may mean the speakers are not positioned symmetrically (and it is also unlikely that the furniture in your room isn't either), meaning the speakers are not likely to behave the same on different sides of the room

4 - Ideally, speakers should not be placed against walls. In practice this isn't always possible, but if you can place the speakers away from the outer wall you will get less reflected sounds and a clearer bass

5 - Subwoofers can also be hidden out of sight. Low frequency sound carries a lot of energy so can be heard through objects like sofas and other furniture

6 - Rear surround speakers should also be placed at ear height, directly opposite the front pair (or 15 - 20 degrees outside of them if possible). Sound will come from these to enhance effects such as moving vehicles, fast action or explosions

7 - Samsung 3D sound can further improve your surround sound experience. This is a Samsung technology that enhances the surround effects based upon the 3D effect being shown on the TV. The result is total immersion in the films picture and sound

Did you know?

So you've got it all in place, it looks good and you're ready to watch and listen. But is there anything you can do to enhance the experience? Well, soft furnishings, such as cushions, sofas, rugs etc can actually help to improve the sound quality, especially if your room has hard floors, plain walls and lots of windows.

Soft surfaces won't reflect the sound, reducing any potential echoing, giving the listener better clarity and able to hear more details.

Bose have wowed us in the past with their stereo systems, and now the audio specialists are looking to make an equally big impact in the compact home cinema space. Today they've announced the launch of the Lifestyle 135 and CineMate 1 SR soundbar systems for those looking to add a bit of audio grunt to their flatscreen set-ups.

"Most conventional soundbars are bulky and hard-to-place, or thin but unable to deliver lifelike sound," said Doug Lankford, Bose director.

"The new Lifestyle 135 and CineMate 1 SR systems deliver a powerful audio experience that defies their size and elegant design - whether you're watching a movie, playing a video game, or listening to music."

The soundbars both achieve this thanks to Bose's proprietary PhaseGuide sound radiator tech and TrueSpace digital processing. Despite being single speaker set-ups, audio image width is given a boost through FlexMount placement technology that compensates for speaker positioning.

As for the differences between the two systems, the CineMate 1 SR is a one-cable entry-level soundbar speaker, whereas the Lifestyle 135 is the complete system that includes a 4X HDMI console, iPod dock and radio tuner.

Both systems use the same 6.1x 93.5 x 12.4cm speaker bar, which can be table or wall mounted.

Out now, pricing for the Lifestyle 135 home entertainment system is £2,400 and the CineMate 1 SR is £1,300.

Name: Rocketfish Rocketboost Wireless HD Audio Starter Kit

Type: Wireless bridge for 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound speakers

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £159.99 from Best Buy

Home cinema kits are all well and good for delivering that booming Hollywood sound, but they also cause more headaches than they're sometimes worth when it comes to leaving lengthy trails of unsightly wires around the room as you try to set up rear surround speakers. This Best Buy exclusive, the Rocketfish Rocketboost Wireless HD Audio Starter Kit, may however have an affordable answer to your wireless speaker woes.

Wireless home cinema systems seemed the future for surround sound in the home a few years back, but latency issues, high price tags and overall poor audio quality has made them on the whole somewhat rare relics these days. That's not to say that the demand for wireless speakers has declined, which is where the Rocketfish solution comes in.

The Rocketfish Rocketboost Wireless HD Audio Starter Kit (AKA the RF-RBKIT ) is made up of a sender and a stereo amp receiver, which Best Buy also sell as separately with the model number RF-RBREC.

Essentially, the two units create a wireless bridge between your home cinema receiver and the rear surround channels. Hookup the Rocketboost sender to the terminal posts in your AV receiver and switch both on after connecting the rear speakers themselves to the powered Rocketboost receiver at the rear of your viewing area. After a quick and painless pairing procedure, you're 5.1 surround speakers are blaring out audio without being directly connected to the main AV receiver you already own.

Now of course, this isn't truly wireless speaker territory here; you still need a power supply for the rear channel Rocketboost receiver, not to mention speaker cabling too. But what you are removing is the pain of running lengthy wires from the front of your home cinema gear to the rear of the 5.1 soundscape. You no longer have to hide leads under carpets, or pin them to the edge of skirting boards, instead just hiding it all instead (in what we'd assume is the usual viewing environment) behind the sofa.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that there'd be a considerable audio quality drop as a result of using such a system, but the undesirable effects are extremely minuscule. Set the sender to "HD" mode for Blu-ray flicks and you're still getting Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD system audio with latency issues so minimal you'd have to be a bat (or the most demanding of audiophiles) to notice the difference. Audio is sent across the wireless bridge at 16-bits, 48 KHz, uncompressed PCM audio, and with the RF-RBREC being a 50W x 2 (into 6 ohms) amp, it'll pump out audio at a healthy level with great calrity. Grab another RF-RBREC unit and you're good to go for 7.1 surround, with a handy channel-lock switch setting the gain levels from each separate amp equally for a balanced sound.

The only potential issue is that each unit uses the 2.4GHz wireless channel, a pretty crowded frequency that tends to be interfered with easily by microwaves and cordless telephones. Though we had no issues during our testing, it's a problem that may rear its head in other households.

Overall it's a relatively simple concept that works very well, but the potential for the Rocketfish gear doesn't end there. The wireless audio line is fleshed out further by a handful of other products that you can pair with the Starter Kit and each other to create a full wireless audio network.

For starters, there's the RF-RBWS02 speaker. Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, it's a bi-amplified speaker with both woofer and tweeters, rated at 22 Watts. Working as a standalone mono speaker, you can add another RF-RBWS02 and pair the two together for true stereo sound, receiving audio from any source connected to your newly-set up Rocketfish wireless network. They'll work from an AC power supply or from batteries. They're not reference-grade speakers, but offer a surprising punch, especially when in a pair as we heard at a preview event earlier in the year, and make for a particularly effective audio solution for barbecues and parties spilling outside.

The RF-RBWS02 speakers come packaged with the RBAUX wireless audio sender/receiver, which itself can also be bought individually. It can take line input stereo and transmit it wirelessly, but also has a line output, allowing it to serve a "Zone B" powered speaker system by pairing it with the RBKIT sender, or serve as a loop back to the line input.

If you've got the dough, your home can be turned into a wireless audio workhorse with the Rocketfish gear.

Verdict:

OK, so the "wireless" part of the Rocketboost kit might be a bit of a fib as technically you're going to need power and speaker cables for your surround channels. But the flexibility and scalability of the Rocketboost range is excellent, and comes as a highly recommended alternative to snaking lengthy cabling across your living room.

5.1 systems give a great cinematic boost to the audio of your flatscreen TV, but they're often big enough to dwarf the slimline-chic of modern paper-thin TVs. Wharfedale's DX-1 HCP 5.1 system promises big sound from a small, stylish package.

Size wise, you're getting four 19cm tall satellites, a 29cm long centre channel and a 335 x 285 x 320mm subwoofer.

Each satellite has a 19mm silk dome tweeter and 75mm mid and bass driver with a polypropylene cone, while the centre offers two 75mm woven PP cones.

The subwoofer houses a 200mm long-throw bass cone alongside a new-generation, 150W Class D amplifier.

"In the UK and around the world, there is high demand for compact 5.1 speaker systems that combine crisp, modern aesthetics with high-quality sound," said Peter Comeau, director of acoustic design for Wharfedale parent company IAG.

"In the DX-1 HCP we have incorporated elements from Wharfedale's award-winning Diamond 10 Series to deliver a high-value package that is not only a delight in the home, but also extremely enjoyable to listen to. Modern movie soundtracks are exceptionally demanding, but we've made sure that this package is tailor-made for the job."

Available in black or white, the Wharfedale DX-1 HCP is yours for £399.99 from the end of the month.

The annual IFA tech show in Berlin has come to a close for yet another year, after bringing plenty brand new gadgets and gizmos to the table to start saving for. It's a massive show, packed with everything from AV gear to mobile phones and home appliances, but we've sifted the wheat from the chaff to give you our highlights from Europe largest electronics expo. Here's Tech Digest's IFA Best in Show for 2011.

BEST TV: Sharp 8K4K Super High-Def TV

The TV that Tech Digest shall set as the high-watermark all others must aim for for the forseeable future, Sharp's 8K4K prototype was by far the most stunning screen we've ever seen, and our favourite item overall at this year's show. Though it's not going to be commercially available for at least the best part of a decade, we were treated to a jaw-dropping presentation of footage 16-times the pixel density of full HD 1080p. We felt sorry for all the TVs we had to check out at the show after seeing this one so early on, as none of the others stood a chance in comparison.

BEST SMARTPHONE/TABLET: Samsung Galaxy Note

Not a great show for tablets or smartphones, with Sony's offerings a little underwhelming and few other manufacturers making a splash. Samsung's Galaxy Note, while not everyone's cup of tea, at least attempted something slightly different, with its massive screen and stylus input. Jobs may have delcared the stylus dead with Apple's touchscreen devices, but Samsung quite rightly still see a place for digital note taking with an input pen.

BEST PROJECTOR: Epson EH-T9000W

If you've got a few grand to spare, Epson proved that having your very own 3D cinema experience in your living room is a relatively affordable reality this year. Showing off their first line of 3D projectors, the stunning visuals were made all the sweeter thanks to the inclusion of Wi-Fi smarts in the EH-T9000W top-end model.

BEST LAPTOP: Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook

Who said Windows machines couldn't be as good-looking as Apple devices? Acer's Aspire S3 Ultrabook paired great looks and portability with supercharged power in a laptop that offered both i7 and SSD high-end configurations.

MADDEST GADGET: Jean-Michel Jarre's AeroDream One 11ft iPad dock

Jean-Michel Jarre; a man known equally for his pioneering electronic music and dazzling live light shows. He'll now also be known as the man behind the world's most ridiculous iPad dock, the 11ft tall AeroDream One. Tech Digest had the pleasure of talking to the French musical legend at IFA 2011 in the video above, where Jarre explains the inspiration behind his designs.

For more coverage from IFA 2011, click here.

2.1 speaker systems aren't always the most exciting of ventures when it comes to home cinema gear, but Panasonic have a nifty little unit heading to stores before Christmas in the shape of the HDB15 2.1 soundbar.

The HDB15 can split into two separate speaker units sitting either side of a smaller flatscreen TV, or transform into a single bar to sit under the display.

Hit the video above to see what we mean.

Remember the quirky Epson iPod projector we revealed to you at the tail-end of last week? Well, we've now caught it on camera on the show floor of IFA 2011 for your viewing pleasure.

With a pop-out docking station, the Epson MG-850HD projector will let you beam videos from your iDevice onto a wall at massive sizes, as well as having the regular HDMI and PC connectivity of a standard 720p projector.

It's had a mixed reception from the journalists we spoke to at the show, but one thing none will argue with is its reasonable price tag. You're looking at just a £649 asking-price when this one launches a little later in the year.

Following on from our quick-specs rundown of Epson's wireless 3D EH-TW9000W projector (which you can read here) we've now got a preview video of the model to go with it.

It's quite the looker we think, with it's curved white chassis bringing 2001: A Space Odyssey design chic to the projector space. In terms of industrial design it's intelligent too, thanks to front-facing venitlation systems that make mounting the projector in a shelving unit far less likely to cause overheating.

We've now got official confirmation of pricing for the Epson EH-TW9000W model too, makred up at £2962 when they hit UK stores in November.

Onkyo's top-notch range of net-connected home cinema receivers get an update today.

Alongside the addition of the AUPEO! customised radio service that hit the range earlier this week, the receiver's Spotify application gets an overhaul to include much-needed search funtionality. As well as Spotify Premium owners playlists and starred tracks, they'll now be able to use the receivers to search for and directly play any one of the 15 million songs on the music streaming service.

The addition of AUPEO! brings the number of radio and music services available through Onkyo's net-connected receivers up to a grand-total of 5 (Spotify, Napster, last.FM, AUPEO! and VTuner), making them some of the most desirable home cinema receivers around.

Check out our review by clicking here for further proof.

Download the new firmware by clicking here.

Onkyo have revealed that they've have produced a free Android app to control their 2011 range of networked home cinema receivers.

The Onkyo Android app will touch down in August, available for tablets and smartphones, and will allow users to stream music to the receivers without turning on their televisions.

Working over a home Wi-Fi network, the app lets you navigate all of the recievers' functions by touch, letting you adjust volume and tone, switch sources and control what's playing back in individual zones if you have a multi-room set-up.

It'll work especially nicely with the Spotify-enabled TX-NR609, which we reviewed here back in May.

If you ask people the one issue, other than finances, that holds most folks back from purchasing a 5.1 home cinema set, the answer you'll usually hear back is that the lengthy wiring needed for the rear speakers is unsightly and troublesome to feed around a living room. 5.1 speaker sales may be set to sky-rocket then thanks to RocketFish, whose new RocketBoost Wireless Audio tech offers a solution to the 5.1 trip-wire-cabling-conundrum.

Kicking off with a RF-RBKIT HD Audio starter kit (consisting of a wireless sender and an amplified receiver), the sender will hook up to your home cinema receiver using the speaker outputs, while the receiver is placed at the back of your listening space, connecting to your rear speakers. The audio is then sent from the wireless sender to the rear receiver without needing to have the rear speakers hooked up directly to your home cinema reciever.

While it's not truly wireless (as both the sender and reciever require your speaker cables to be fed into them) it does mean that you don't have to run the wiring around the walls, instead hiding it all with the sender beside the rear audio outputs, or down the back of the sofa in the case of many home cinema set ups. As the wireless units work on their own private network and intelligently pick a frequency free of interference in the surrounding space, playback is stutter-free. Also, as the unit is completely universal, it should work alongside any 5.1 system you own, regardless of brand.

If you want to later on expand to a 7.1 system, it's then simply a matter of adding another RF-RBAUX sender/reciever unit, or the same unit to hook up an auido source such as a PC speaker set wirelessly. Should your regular stereo speakers require an amp too there's the RF-RBREC amplified reciever variant, while RocketFish have also put together their own speaker set, the RF-RBWS02 Wireless Speaker kit, which is suitable for outdoor use.

As you can see, scalability is a key advantage with the gear, allowing you to expand the wireless sources and control them independently as your audio set-up around the house grows too. All in, you can send up to five sources of audio to nine different Rocketboost receivers without any drop in audio quality, including HD Blu-ray tracks in Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Exclusive to Best Buy, you can check out the RocketBoost gear by clicking here.

Name: BDS 700 (Harman Kardon)

Type: Blu-ray deck and 5.1 home cinema combo

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £1099.99 direct from Harman Kardon

The convenience of one-box home cinema set-ups often make them the first port of call for budding home theatre enthusiasts. Combining a Blu-ray deck with 5.1 surround speakers, Harman Kardon's BDS 700 set is a stylishly designed premium AV solution. But can the sparse feature list do enough to justify its hefty price tag?

As the introduction suggests, in the box you're getting a Blu-ray player which also acts as a simple receiver for an included set of 5.1 home cinema speakers with the BDS 700. For the sake of simplicity, we're going to focus on both aspects individually, starting with the Blu-ray player.

The deck in question is the BDS 5SO. It's chunkier than your average player (as it needs to house all of the 5.1 audio connections) but is in no way lacking in the looks department. A mixture of gloss black with brushed aluminium accents, the large volume knob with its backlight adds a Tron-like air to proceedings, married with a clear blue dot matrix display. The slot-in rather than pop-out disc drive also allows the kit's smooth lines and curved front edges to be maintained, though we're always a bit fearful of what would happen if a disc ever got stuck inside.

In terms of connectivity, the deck has a single HDMI output, a USB port for media playback, an Ethernet port for BD Live functions and an array of speaker terminals backed by two optical digital inputs, two analog RCA stereo audio inputs and a coaxial digital input. You'll also be able to play files directly from an iPod or iPhone via an optional Harman Kardon Bridge IIIP dock (not included).

Despite being a premium bit of kit, we were disappointed to see how underused the Ethernet port is here. Solely for BD Live content, you can't access files stored on your home network, nor any media portals or web video services familiar to owners of Samsung or Sony decks. USB playback fares a little better (compatible with MPEG, DiVX-AVI files, MP4 in HD and even temperamental MKV files with the H.264 codec, as well as MP3, WMA , AAC and FLAC audio files) but shoots its usability in the foot by being limited to drives formatted in FAT32, leaving you with only 4GB of storage to play around with.

Thankfully, Blu-ray playback image quality is very good. We popped in the stalwart Casino Royale disc and were welcomed by sharp images and smooth-moving action scenes, crisp textures and vibrant colour reproduction. Even murkier scenes, such as when Bond is captured and tied up, retained visual clarity, highlighting minute details in the darkened dungeon room and making the purple-y bruises on Bond's face look all the more painful. Boot-times were fast too, taking just 14 seconds to get Bond going. Remember however, that you wont be able to play 3D discs here; another feature now quite regularly found in more reasonably priced sets.

DVD upscaling was equally impressive, pushing our Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back DVD to 1080p. Colours were natural and overall images were sharpened up nicely without any smeary artifacting. The only real weak spot was during the opening yellow-scrolling introductory text, looking a little shakey with slight colour bleeding over the black space backdrop.

On then to the BDS-700's sound capabilities, which are overall very good. In the box you'll find a 200W 353mm x 267mm x 267mm down-firing subwoofer, four 167mm x 100mm x 92mm 80W satellites, and a 120W 102mm x 241mm x 92mm dual-driver central channel. Compatible with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital and DTS-HD / DTS-HD Master Audio formats, it delivered crisp audio, consistently well spaced across the soundscape.

A quick jump to Avatar's massive tree-felling battle sequence really saw the subwoofer working a treat, booming with a ground-shakingly resonate sound every time an explosion went off, easily tweaked with the rear volume knob if it's a little overpowering. The central channel too did very well to keep dialogue clear over noisy action scenes, while the rear speakers blended in with subtle ambient sounds remarkably naturally. Our one complaint with the satellites is they at times felt a little bright, but tended to settle down once they'd warmed up a little.

Verdict:

If you've neither a Blu-ray player nor 5.1 system to accompany your HD TV, the BDS 700 kit isn't a bad shout at all, providing you've got the dough. It looks and sounds great, with sharp HD images from Blu-ray discs too. However, buying a separate Blu-ray deck and 5.1 set up from other brands for the same combined value as the BDS-700 would open you up to far more fully-featured products. Convenient, but not necessarily good value for money then.

Name: TX-NR609 (Onkyo)

Type: 7.2 channel AV Receiver

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £499

Onkyo have built a solid reputation for themselves by offering affordable AV kits that consistently perform as well as their more expensive rivals. Their latest effort, the TX-NR609, may be their best mid-range AV receiver yet, packing in a a range of web-connected audio features, including Spotify.

More-or-less maintaining the chunky black look of last year's range (though silver models are available too) the Onkyo TX-NR609 is a satisfyingly sturdy affair. Source and Mode controls are placed along a thin groove within the flat face of the receiver, with a chunky master volume dial to the right and an easy-to-read screen sitting near the top edge.

Six HDMI v1.4 input ports can be found on the receiver (including one sensibly on the front), suitable for full HD 3D signals, 1 output HDMI, as well as twin optical and twin coaxial digital inputs, a USB port for media playback and iPods, Zone 2 output, PC IN, component, composite, a Universal Port for Onkyo peripherals and of course the myriad connections for hooking up your surround speakers. An Ethernet port is included for accessing the many web features included here, and though Onkyo have an adapter planned in the pipeline, it's a shame the TX-NR609 doesn't ship with a wireless internet solution.

Set up is an incredibly simple affair thanks to the Audyssey 2EQ wizard. Plugging a supplied mic into the front of the unit that monitors a series of test tones, it intelligently weighs the volume and width of the sound image sent out from each speaker. You can of course tweak all manner of speaker distance, volume and panorama settings manually should you so desire, and a clean onscreen interface makes it a breeze to do so.

The connected capabilities here are incredible given the price tag. Chief among these is Spotify playback; those with a Premium account for the music streaming service will be able to check out all their playlists in a nicely presented user interface that includes artwork alongside "What's New" and "Starred track" tabs. If you've yet to sign up to the 10 million-strong song streaming catalogue, it should be your top priority if you purchase this receiver. Equally well presented are vTuner internet radio, Napster, Last.fm and DLNA-certified music streaming across your network, all accessible from a dedicated "Net" remote button.

If the range of web connected features wasn't enough to tickle your fancy, then audio quality certainly should. The TX-NR609 again performs marvellously here. THX Select2 Plus-certified, it has no problem decoding all manner of HD audio formats, also offering Dolby Pro Logic IIz and Audyssey DSX processing. Twin subwoofer outputs (hence the 7.2 categorisation) allow for a surprisingly sharp bass response, backed by a healthy 120 watts available to each speaker. In practice, it lead to truly dynamic sound reproduction from our Star Trek test Blu-ray; thunderous explosions resonated ground shakingly in the opening battle scene, while the sounds of sparking circuitry and tinkering glass scattered around the room with great fidelity at all but the highest of volumes. That then would be our one concern; that signal/noise ratings don't quite seem to match those quoted in the specs by Onkyo, distorting noticeably along higher volume levels.

Though it doesn't have much of a practical application at this point, the receiver also supports Marvell Qdeo 4K video upscaling, four times the pixel pushing power of 1080p upscaling to a whopping 3840 x 2160. 4K displays currently cost a bomb and are specialist items, but it's nice to know this receiver is future-proofed, particularly considering that the likes of Toshiba have glasses-free 3D sets supporting the feature waiting in the wings.

Verdict:

The features-to-pricing ratio on the TX-NR609 could easily lead you to believe that Onkyo would had to have had cut corners somewhere on this receiver, but that's plainly not the case. From the rich, detailed sound of the 7 channel amp to the painless mic set-up and slick Spotify interface, it's a real winner. You'll be hard pressed to find a better receiver in the sub-£500 price bracket than this one.

Home cinema fans are in for treat today, as Sony have announced the launch of not one, but three new pieces of kit to turn your living room into a multiplex.

First up is the Skype-enabled BDP-S780 Blu-ray player. Compatible with any webcam, you can plug one into the player and have fullscreen video chats with your pals from in the living room. The Blu-ray player is also fully 3D compatible, converting 2D content to 3D, while built in BRAVIA Internet services give access to YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Lovefilm and more. There will also be a smartphone app to let you control the device from your mobile.

The new player is flanked by two new 2.1 speaker systems, the BDV-EF200 and BDV-L600. Each comes with S-Force PRO 3D virtual surround sound, IP Noise Reduction technology and two HDMI ports. They too come with BRAVIA Internet access, as well as an iPod/iPhone dock for playing back music and videos, all again able to be controlled by a smartphone app. The differentiator between the two is positioning options, with the BDV-L600 able to be placed in variety of horizontal, vertical or wall-mounted positions.

No news on pricing or availabilty yet, but we'll keep you posted.

Name: HD Theater 500 (Klipsch)

Type: 5.1 speaker set

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £499.99 from Klipsch

No matter what the brand or size, buyers of a flatscreen TV have to be ready for pretty woeful audio quality from nearly every set. This isn't necessarily a problem however, as ever-more-affordable home cinema speaker packages hit the market, making 5.1 surround sound far more accessible than it ever was. Klipsch's HD Theater 500 package sits at the top end of mid-priced speaker packages. As veterans of the silver screen cinema speaker scene, can Klipsch bring the Hollywood magic into living rooms too?

Comprised of four satellite speakers, a centre speaker and an active subwoofer, you've got nearly all you need to get a home cinema system set up straight out of the box, barring an AV receiver of course. For the most part, build quality on Klipsch's HD Theater 500 is very good; aimed at smaller rooms, the speakers are sensibly discrete. The surround satellites measure up at 6" x 3.6" x 3.85". the centre channel 3.6" x 9" x 3.85" and the subwoofer 13.9" x 12.5" x 12.5", each finished with a gloss matte finish and with removable grilles on the satellites that reveal the woofers and tweeters. Each had a solid weight to them, with smooth, well-finished casing. However, we were disappointed to find spring-clip wiring connections on the speakers, usually the reserve of cheaper all-in-one box 5.1 systems. They're fiddily and not as reliable as binding posts.

Wall-mounting the speakers shouldn't pose much of a problem, helped along by a collection of brackets in the box. In a nice touch, the speakers can be angled within a 40-degree cone, allowing you to fine tune the arc of the sound image.

On the rear of the 100-watt subwoofer you'll find a range of dials to tweak volume and crossover settings. Crossover range can be put between 80 and 160Hz, with something around the top end of that range best suited to the included satellites. A 150Hz subwoofer-to-satellite crossover seemed to be optimal during our testing. Line inputs, and switches to control flipping the phase 180 degrees are also housed on the back of the subwoofer.

Moving onto the satellites, each house a horn-loaded 0.75-inch aluminium tweeter and a 2.5-inch woofer, with the larger centre speaker using two 2.5-inch woofers either side of the tweeter.

We popped on the Star Trek Blu-ray to try out the Klispch HD Theater 500's movie performance in the film's particularly-testing opening scene, and came away very impressed. As explosions and alarms fire off all over the show, the speakers managed natural separation, with little notable join between the audio sources. Shattering glass and booming explosions felt measured and appropriate, with particular praise going to the subwoofer. While the satellites distorted slightly with the highest frequencies at louder volumes, the subwoofer massaged bass tones to a warm and satisfying degree, giving full-bodied sound that remained clear rather than grumbling. Also worht noting is the centre channel, which admirably pushed dialogue to the fore.

Playing back a range of CDs of many musical styles, covering everything from Lady Gaga to Metallica through to classical works by Verdi, all showed the Klipsch kit performing well, though we often again found the satellites making higher frequencies sound a little harsh.

Verdict:

They're not the cheapest speaker option, but you could do a lot worse than the Klipsch HD Theater 500 set. They'll easily provide smaller rooms with a significant cinematic audio upgrade over flatscreen TVs, pushing blockbuster sounds to your sofa. The spring clips may seem a little cheap, and there's the odd minor niggle with the satellites, but that subwoofer is a joy to listen to, with literally earth-shaking performance without compromising clarity.