Acoustic Solutions DS 535

Found this in Argos a few years ago maybe 10 now lol it was £89.99 non sale. Was the best, would have walked all over my B--S soundbar. Can't find them anymore unfortunately. Had good quality copper cables all detachable ; remote ; amp with subwoofer ; 4x side satellite 10w speakers ; 1x central 20w speaker. All speakers could be tweaked in sections, e.g. Central - front L R - rear surround - sub.

The remote was flimsy as hell dropped it once it broke but was a common frequency to replace with an all in one.

If anyone finds this rig buy it, it has an optical port and for 89.99!

I bought this system in Argos a good few years ago now. I believe I paid £89.99. I was on the search for a 5.1 surround system with an optical audio input. This was cheapest with said connection, anything else was between £150 and upwards of £200.

But I got a whole lot more than I bargained for. A LOT more. On top of Optical Audio, it has Standard Stereo Phono Left and Right (Aux) and Coaxial Audio inputs.

Then, you have Dolby Digital and DTS sound modes which auto detect through the Optical and Coaxial inputs. Plus the addition of Dolby PRO Logic, this sorts out audio from a stereo source and tries to place the sounds where they should be across the speakers. It does a good job of this too, things go over your head, you hear sounds behind you where you'd expect to.

On top of that, you have various Listen Modes, Live, Chorus, Hall and Theatre which are probably best used listening to music, I don't personally use these.

The time I've had the system I've mostly used it on the Xbox 360. It gives you a gaming edge because it's difficult for other players online to sneak up behind you... You will hear them coming.

Recently though, I bought a Blu-Ray player and I connect it to the Acoustic Solutions DS 535 via the Coaxial. Sound is just amazing.

Although I have nothing to compare this system to and there is no doubt more expensive, better sounding systems available. I'm more than happy with my purchase. My only recent problem after approximately 3 and a half years of owning it, is when in Dolby Digital mode, I'm getting an unpredictable nasty crackle noise. It comes and goes, can go a whole day with no problems and all of a sudden it has to be switched to different mode because it becomes unbearable.

But for a system I've owned for over 3 years and priced as it was I can not complain.

Only other downside I can think of, as someone else has stated; The tiny remote. I've lost it a few times now causing moments of panic! LOOK AFTER IT!

My son recommended this to me and bought it for my birthday and I am really pleased with the sound and easy installation

The Acoustic Solutions DS 535 home cinema amplifier is a very good piece of kit for the money. Just beware of the remote control.

An introduction to Home Cinema for me and I am very happy with it to date. One problem though -after just over a year of constant use, my remote has died. The battery is still fine but the unit just will not respond.

Anyone any idea where I can buy a replacement remote control? Can't find one anywhere on the web.

I have been looking for a while for a good surround sound without having to pay the earth for it. I saw Acoustic Soloutions in Argos but I was reluctant to buy because I had not heard of them before (I should have known better after buying unknown BUT GOOD stuff in the past)anyway I came across this site with good comments on the Acoutic Soloutions DS 535 but when I looked in the catalouge there was another model the DS633 which looked like it had more power (100w instead of 75w). I got this system home and plugged everything in and I immediately noticed a BUZZ from the sub speaker. No matter where I placed it I still had this noise, upon further investigation on the net I discovered this was a common problem. So I did not want to give up on Acoustic Soloutions and after seeing all the good reviews on the DS 535 I decided to give it a try instead.

I got the system home plugged it in and noticed straight away..NO BUZZ!!

After setting the system up including two smart stands I can say I am so far VERY impressed with it, the sound is VERY good in my opinion with deep rich bass and plenty of volume. On the subject of volume on the box it says 110w RMS instead of the 75w as advertised in Argos ?

The build quality is very good and the supplied stands also seem to be well made and a nice extra. A lot of people do not like the remote and it is rather small and flimsy but I would not say its terrible and at least it is not obtrusive as I hate loads of remote controls lying around.

On the whole a very nice peice of kit with nice sound at a GOOD price...what else could you ask for.

After reading the reviews on this page I figured what the hell? Its got to be worth a try for £100 you couldn't go wrong. I thought I'd have a look at kelkoo.com just in case anyone was shifting it cheaper and to my amazement I found www.netelectrics.biz were selling it for around £60 plus a couple of quid for postage. I never really thought I'd be able to justify spending my hard earned on a surround sound system (and when I say I couldn't I obviously mean the wife couldn't!!). But she let me spend a little of MY wage on this after some convincing. Both me and the wife are chuffed to bits with this, it has exceptional quality for what you are paying. I have heard friends' systems that cost more than 10 times as much as this and can honestly say that the DS533 is not far behind them (and when I say not far, I mean there's hardly any difference). Ok, the remote control is quite flimsy, but even with my shovels it doesnt feel like it will snap anytime soon! I would recommend it to anyone, whether tied to a budget or not. Just for the record, the first film I watched once it was set up was Apocalypse now. I obviously skipped to the helicopter part, and it just blew me away.

Acoustic Solutions have proved, in my opinion, that you don't need to spend a fortune on audio equipment to achieve a great sound.

I bought this Acoustic Solutions DS535 system for £89.99 from Argos, as have many of the other reviewers. Perhaps more unusually I bought it for our bedroom as a supplement for those cold nights when we would rather go to bed and watch a movie than stay downstairs with the main system. As I was, and still am, thinking about getting a really good home cinema system for downstairs, I figured this one would make a good entry-level, test-the-waters choice. It's left me wondering if I really need spend much more on our main one.

However all was not rosy initially. After I spent a good hour on Sunday assembling the unit fully and after enjoying a Woody Allen film I put on a Star Trek DVD and, half way through, the subwoofer made a violent BURRRRRRR noise. I switched it all off, back on again, and found all the LEDs dancing around and the system unresponsive. I switched off and on again, no lights, just a low hum. It had spectacularly died, and was very hot at the back. My only theory was that the constant deep background bass on the Star Trek DVD was too much for it. At any rate, at a cost of time re-packaging and un-packing again it was exchanged for a new one.

I'll forgive any piece of electrical equipment one failure. So far, so good with the new one. It too has some signal noise when idle, but it is a different pitch and less audible than the unit that failed. One thing that does annoy me is the fact that the speakers are not powered down when you put the standby mode on. It doesn't appear to be a standby mode at all, it is very much still on. This does no favours for your electricity bill and is noisy if you have your TV and DVD player off. The trouble is, and this is also annoying, if you turn it off at the switch, which is also fiddly given where I had to place it, it forgets it's previous settings and you have to reset the various volumes. I think a memory system is vital for a system like this.

There is much to be praised though. The unit, speakers and stands are well made and have a reassuring solidity to them. The package weighs in at a hefty 16 kilos, and I wouldn't put the sub on anything other than a sturdy table or the floor. The stands are robust and well made. It can be a little tricky feeding the speaker cables through them but I found if you pull out the cables to get rid of their transit kinks they will go through fine. The finish of the main sub unit is very attractive and will complement a silver TV and DVD/VCR nicely. Indeed, the whole thing looks very pleasant and betrays its price when assembled. With the latest system you can choose to lay the sentre speaker flat on top of the TV if you so desire, though I wouldn't recommend it as I found it slipped easily sideways.

The remote control is a curious thing, and because there are no controls on the sub, it is vital. It's credit card thin and uses a button cell battery similar to that found in most watches for it's power. Personally, I think it lacks the power a modern remote should have and I'd prefer an AAA celled remote. The layout and controls on it are good, but it's too dainty, and tricky to hold. Credit card remotes are the preserve of old Bang and Olufsen systems, this should be different. There is a suggestion this remote has been updated at some stage, as there is a large "Mk II" sticker on the back of mine, possible hinting at previous troubles others have complained of. Time will tell if it holds out but so far it's fine, if a little underpowered.

I watched Am lie on the sytem as my first real test of the Dolby 5.1 and I have to say I was very impressed. The bass was more than adequate, the surround sound really did make me feel as though I were in the cinema. I have heard better on more expensive systems but they were many times as expensive, and only ever as much as 10% richer sound I'd say. Really, for £90 you're getting a massive improvement over your TV. Here's a hint: mute your TV until you've set your desired sound from the system then bring your TV slowly up in balance with it all. This will make it seemless.

All in all, I'd say this is a great system for the money. It does have its quirks but it looks fantastic and offers excellent sound at this price point. Unless you're very demanding on the sound and volume front, I doubt you'll have reason to feel underwhelmed by its performance. 90 watts is several times more power than the average TV puts out and let's face it even they can get quite loud! If you can put up with those little niggles, you're made.

Only had these Acoustic Solutions DS535 speakers for a bit and am really pleased. Except when I select the coaxial or optical button (tried both) to watch a DVD, I get a high pitched whistling noise from the five speakers. Cant really hear it when movie is on, except when a quiet bit in the film comes on. Has anyone else experienced this?

Bought this Acoustic Solutions DS535 system now the DS-533 for £89.99 fron Argos after reading other reviews on review centre and other sites.

It appears to have been upgraded to 90 watts output (on box) from the advertised 75 watts and the speakers ar different from the picture on both Argos & Acoustic solution's websites, with the centre speaker being the same size & shape as the others.

I must say i bought it thinking if its cheap crud then i could take it back under the 14 day Argos guarentee for a refund. No need the system has far exceeded my expectations after only two days of use. The system is reassuringly heavy, both the sub and the satalite speakers and i like the smoked glass (plastic)panel which covers the leds which tell you which mode you are in etc. The writting is small but after a few days use i can tell which of the 3 modes Stereo, Pro-logic or 5.1 Digital the unit is in from the sound and in any case the unit automatically selects 5.1 when i have the DVD player on and Pro-logic if i have my Sky digibox on (which is how i connected it for normal telly as it gave me a purer sound than the output from the phonos on my Sony TV).

I found the DSP effects (church etc)not to my taste and preferred to set the balance of sub, centre & sat's manually, this is just a personal thing for me. The pro-logic is very good for normal tv though not as good obviosly as the proper 5.1 you get on DVD's which i think is excellent for a unit of this price. The seperate volume controls allow you to tailer the sound just how you want it, and after you turn the unit off it saves the last setting automatically. I only bought it to use with DVD's but have found myself using it all the time now instead on my TV speakers (which are pritty good themselves).

To sum up if you want a 5.1 system at a good price with good sound then you cannot go wrong with this system. Even my wife likes it and she is very hard to please if it didn't look or sound the part she would have made me take it back!