Sound system

[passionate81]

Hopefully someone can help me out here. Im looking around for a home surround sound system, wanting to spend no more than 3 or 4 hundred dollars. Will i get a decent system for this price? And whats the best brand i could get for that price?

 

[M29]

A few questions:

In system, do you mean the whole thing amp, speakers? Or just the Amp?
How big is your room?
Are you concerned about a warranty length?

And lastly, NEVER buy Teac. At my work, they are the most returned and fault claimed product. Followed by RCA.

 

[passionate81]

Well im talking the whole amp and speakers thing, but if it works out 2 much then maybe just the speakers. Im also wanting to get a sub with it.


Brand wise im looking at anything Sony, Kenwood, LG, JVC, stuff like that. Again, im not thinking of going overboard, just something thats decent. Ive seen a few on the Keenwood, i think they were $316, but it had a whole lot a jargon that i didnt understand.

 

[Desredandwhite]

what are you planning to use it with?

some of the cheapie all-in-one packages where the amp sits in the subwoofer are actually not too bad. you'll have to make sure that it has inputs for the outputs on your player though. We have one connected up to the 2nd DVD player - 6 analog outputs plugged into the sound system's 6 analog ins. I think that was about 300? or 400 maybe. Remember that if you don't get this sort of system, you will have to get an amp as well as speakers.

As always, you will get what you pay for. Our main system hooked up to the widescreen telly is a sony surround amp/speaker package, probably about $1000 when I bought it a year ago. Sounds about 10x better than the other one, and has the DTV Set top box (via optical), VCR and DVD player (via coax digital) hooked up to it.

 

[passionate81]

I just want to hook it up to my tv and dvd player. Stay tuned. When i get the time i will find out what the Kenwood system has included in it and i will write it up here and u could tell me if its worth the money. For those of you who could help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Desredandwhite]

no worries - just let us know what your current setup is and all its inputs/outputs

 

[passionate81]

Kenwood surround sound $369

Front Speakers

2 Way 3 Speaker bass reflex system
80mm cone woofer x 2
25mm balanced dome tweeter x 1
100W peak input power
Speaker impedance: 8 ohms
Magnetically shielded


Centre Speaker

2 Way 3 Speaker bass reflex system
80mm woofer x 2
25 mm balanced dome tweeter x 2
100W peak input power
Speaker impedance: 8 ohms
Magnetically shielded


Surround Speakers

2 Way 3 Speaker System
80mm cone woofer x 2
100W peak input power
Speaker impedance: 8 ohms


I dont know much about these things and im not sure what u want me to tell you. But here goes. My setup includes a tv, dvd and video player. My tv has 4 sets up av points. Which means ive got 2 sets of av points left over after i plug these things in. Is this what you wanted to know?

 

[Desredandwhite]

Are they just speakers, or is there an amp in there as well? You would need an amp/receiver to power the speakers, as well as decode the multi-channel signals from the DVD player.

For example, my setup is as follows:

DVD Player -> single coax digital audio out -> Surround receiver
Digital TV Set Top Box -> single optical digital audio out -> Surround receiver
TV -> Left & Right stereo audio out -> Surround receiver

Excuse the cruddy drawing, I'm not so used to my graphics tablet yet

so basically the TV's speakers are never used. If you can't/won't use the digital outputs, then you will need individual analog connections for each channel (ie: centre, front right, front left, surround right, surround left) from the player (if it has discrete analog outs) to the amp. Your TV would probably only handle stereo. Some DVD players will have these individual outputs, but I don't think you can hook them up straight to the speakers...

 

[M29]

If your TV has Svideo use that, instead of the standard RCA. Better yet if it has CVO definately use that.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Originally posted by M29
A few questions:

In system, do you mean the whole thing amp, speakers? Or just the Amp?
How big is your room?
Are you concerned about a warranty length?

And lastly, NEVER buy Teac. At my work, they are the most returned and fault claimed product. Followed by RCA.

Teac make crap.

 

[passionate81]

After posting earlier that i was only willing to spend no more then 400 hundred dollars on a surround system i have decided to get the new LG system that is out for $890. HOWEVER... I do have 1 thing worrying me. An employee of the shop i was planning to buy this from said that he was unsure if surround sound systems could be used when just watching telly.

Can you only enjoy the sound of the system by watching a dvd? Or is it possible to use the speakers when just watching, say the footy, on the telly?

 

[Lethal]

You won't get surround when watching normal television. The rear speakers don't get used as TV is broadcast in stereo. Thus the rear speakers won't get used...the subwoofer will though.

 

[Desredandwhite]

again, "it depends".

If the speakers are just attached to the DVD player, then yes, only DVD audio will come out.. if your VCR or TV are hooked up as well, then at the VERY LEST you should be able to get 2.1 sound from your system (ie: left, right, subwoofer). If you're hooked up to digital TV, then some broadcasts are in surround sound.

 

[M29]

If you are watching it with digital sorround no. If you have analog (the old pro-logic sorround) then yes. If your lucky, the system may have a phanton sorround mode, which just splits different frequencies for the different channels. Much like what dolby pro-logic did.