Home theatre systems

[ajackett110]

Hey guys.

Bought one of those home theatre packages last year with DVD player, 5 satellite speakers and subwoofer. While it goes alright, I am looking to upgrade.

The specs of the speakers are 20w each (x5), and the subwoofer is 50w - or something like that. Anyway, in Harvey Norman, I saw a set of 5 speakers and sub down from $800 to $300 as a stock clearance sale. Their specs are 5 x satellite speakers (80w), 1 x sub woofer (100w).

Now my question is, if I use buy these new speakers will they make any difference to my existing dvd player, seeing as the dvd player is the amplifier which came in the original package?

Basically, will the dvd player amplifier limit the performance of the better speakers with regards to bass, volume, etc. or will there be a noticable difference?

Cheers

 

[raboyle]

I wouldn't recommend using alternate speakers with a DVD theatre kit. Whatever speakers it came with is what you should stick with.

If you intended to change the speakers then maybe you should have went for a component system instead of the all in one kit.

 

[Desredandwhite]

Well, better speakers would make SOME difference, but not as big an improvement as upgrading both the amp and speakers.

If you got one of those HT-in-a-box setups, the amp is probably quite underpowered (though quite satisfactory in a lot of cases). Lower-specced amps apparently quite often roll down the bass performance so they can quote higher power stats (low frequencies take more power to reproduce). And damage to speakers is usually caused by UNDERpowered amps clipping.

The more important specs to bear in mind when looking at speakers are:

- Impedence (ie: 4ohms? 6ohms? 8ohms?) A speaker with higher impedence will need more power than a speaker with lower impedence to deliver the same volume.

- frequency response - ie: what frequencies can the speaker reproduce? My old Sony satellites could reproduce 160Hz-18KHz, and my new floorstanding mains can do 38Hz-20KHz - mind you, they ARE about 20 times bigger...

I guess in the end it will come down to what you want, and how much you are willing to spend. Those all-in-one systems are great value, but make it hard to upgrade effectively. I would personally save up for a good amp and speakers (~$600-1000 receiver, and ~$1000-2000 on speakers), but people have different priorities...

 

[puddingfactor]

I would recommend saving up as well and looking at maybe using what you have for now, but in the future look to move away from the Home Theatre in a Box set up, and go for seperate receiver/dvd player/ speakers.

One thing which I learnt when we were considering getting home theatre set up was to go to specialty home theatre places rather than going to a Megamart or Harvey Norman type place. You will pay more - there is no doubt about that. But the quality of advice I found was very good, and you also get the chance to test drive your dvds on the systems they have set up. And then there are issues such as installation and after sales service which the major chains aren't that good at.

The system which I have cost less than $2000 - Aussie owned Aaron Speakers, Pioneer DVD player and Denon Receiver. All at the lower end of the market, but still of a v.good quality for the price.