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Old 17-11-2003, 15:10
AMcG
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Hi.

I want to add surround sound to my living room at a reasonable cost, however I seek clarification on a few points:

1 - since I already have a decent dvd player, I have no need for an "all in one" home cinema kit, just the speakers and decoder/amp. I've been looking at some reasonably priced 5.1 systems and from what I can see they only have one set of L-R audio inputs at the back. What I wish to ascertain is whether the audio from everything will go through the new speakers - i.e. from tv, digibox and dvd. If so, how is this done since there's only one set of inputs?

2 - what is RMS? For example - I was in Currys yesterday looking at an LG and a Yamaha TSS-10. To my layman's eyes the Yamaha looked the vastly superior piece of kit (it was also twice the price), however according to the specs the LG had 400W RMS to the Yamaha's 70W RMS. I had assumed that the higher this figure was the better the system would be. The salesperson wasn't able to give me much help on this score either. A link to the Yamaha is here...http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/prod.../ht/tss10.html

3 - a friend of mine seemed to save a lot of money by buying a Creative system. Since it's intended for PC use it doesn't seem to be as powerful as others, but it still sounds great (my living room is on the small side so I don't think power is a huge issue, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!). Since I could get a top grade PC speaker system (+ decoder) for the same price as a low grade "non-PC" system, would it be a good idea to go this route? For example, there's currently a very nice 6.1 Packard Bell system on sale in my local PC World for €139 (down from €300 or so)...

4 - when looking for such a system, what are the key things to look for? What features differentiate a "good" buy from a "bad" buy?

Thanks in advance for any advice - I'm sure some of my questions are beginners' level stuff but I just want to make sure that when I make my purchase it will give me good service for a number of years.
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Old 17-11-2003, 15:44
davep
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1) Basically, the more money you spend the more inputs you'll get! To only have 1 set of phonos I can only assume you were looking at a very cheap system (less than £100).

2) RMS is the best (most honest) way of measuiting output power. Some companies still try to make theirs sound a more powerful system by adding all the channels outputs together! This is probably what happened here. An honest company will quote figures on a per channel basis.

3) If the system has the number of inputs you need and you like the sound then buy it!

4) The only "good buy" is one you are happy with. Listen to as many as you can. I personally think you should spend at least £250 on a system. The Creative Platinum system has had some good reviews.

Take a look at the Sony systems

Dave
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Old 17-11-2003, 16:55
AndyM
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Just adding a few points:

- You will need to connect your DVD player via digital leads to get the surround sound signal to the amp, the phono are only needed for non-surround sources.

- RMS stands for root mean squared which is an average measurement of the power output. Also quite often the maximum power output is quoted on cheap systems to make them seem more powerful. The system will only reach this rarely for a split second. The RMS output is usually very roughly half the Max output.

- Don't just look at power output, look at signal-to-noise ratios and harmonic distortion. Remember it may have a high power output but the sound quality may be poor, it will also be more noticeable.
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Old 17-11-2003, 17:05
AMcG
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Thanks for the replies - every little bit helps! There were digital inputs on the back of the Yamaha system alright, I assume this is what you were talking about. Would such leads typically be included with a system or does one have to buy them separately? If so, what sort of price would I expect to pay?
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Old 17-11-2003, 18:18
The_One
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Usually, digital/optical connections/wires are sold seperatly. They are expensive for such a link up method.
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Old 17-11-2003, 19:44
AndyM
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A 1m optical lead is about £10. I assume you are just going to put it on top of/in the same cabinet as your current DVD player, so you only need a short one.
Depending on the connections on your current equipment you may need digital coaxial cables instead which is usually cheaper (obviously depending on the quality of cable you want)
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Old 18-11-2003, 11:58
wicket
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Just to add another point.

A phono input is important too because it allows the amp to produce Dolby Prologic material from your tv, Sky and vcr - providing your equipment is stereo. Your tv needs to have phono outputs and then provided you connect your other equipment via the scart sockets you will get Prologic sound. Then on your amp you would have one button for inputting sound from the tv, vcr and Sky and another one for the dvd player. Remember to match the amp up to your dvd player. Some amps, like my own, only have optical inputs. Dvd players can output digital sound via optical or coaxial outputs, so it is important to check what your output is with your dvd player.

If you are intending to upgrade to Sky plus an extra optical input on your amp would be handy.

Another thing to look out for on the amp is what sound system it supports. Dolby Digital 5.1 is the norm now (this is also backward compatible with Dolby Prologic) but also look out for DTS.

DTS is another sound system which, in my opinion, is better than 5.1. It is becoming more and more available on dvd discs. Also a lot of the amps now offer Dolby Prologic II, this produces a 5.1 effect from existing Dolby Prologic material - giving it a new lease of life (I am told, not heard it for myself). These are other sound decoders you should be looking for on your amp.
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Old 18-11-2003, 13:51
RedEarth
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I went for a Yamaha 'Home-theatre-in-a-box' (HTIB) for £350 which comprised of a Dolby digital AV amp (with tuner), 5 sattellite speakers and a subwoofer. The amp is a little basic (no DTS, only composite video connections, not S-Vid/RGB), but it does everything I want it to. I got it two years ago, so today's equivalent will almost certainly have DTS as well. The speakers are only small ones (about 5 in high), but the quality is good, however it leaves the door open for upgrades at a later date. Of course, you could spend a little more and get everything separately, but sets like this are usually well-matched, and IMHO are very good value for money.
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Old 18-11-2003, 16:41
AMcG
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Thanks once again for the replies.

So, I'm looking for a system with...
- at least one set of phono inputs
- at least two sets of optical inputs
- DTS
- Dolby ProLogic II
- and my lesson is that sound quality is more important than the raw power numbers quoted on the box...

When one looks at signal to noise ratio and total harmonic distortion, what would be deemed to be "good" or "bad" numbers?
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Old 18-11-2003, 20:31
AndyM
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Originally posted by AMcG
When one looks at signal to noise ratio and total harmonic distortion, what would be deemed to be "good" or "bad" numbers?
Signal to noise ratio (SNR) - the higher the better, above 90dB is good.
Total harmonic distortion (THD) - lower the better, > 0.01% is good.
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Old 18-11-2003, 22:09
freneticvirus
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i plumped for the creative option recently (bedroom use, so anything else would have been overkill).
works well, sounds great. can't have too many complaints.
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Old 19-11-2003, 11:23
AMcG
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i plumped for the creative option recently
I was looking at a few of their systems - the GD580, the 5500 and the 5700. I managed to find a view of the various connections options for the 5700 on this page: http://www.digit-life.com/articles/i...5700vsdtt3500/ ... it's about half way down. I emailed Creative and asked if it was possible to plug in a DVD player, TV and Sky digibox into their system. They said it was, however from this picture I just don't understand how it can be done.

Can anyone shed some light?
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Old 19-11-2003, 15:21
marc-h
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I know it is a very cheap system but I have just bought the Pacific Dolby Digital/DTS system from ASDA for 69.99. In the box you get a Sub/Decoder, 5 satellite speakers plus lots of cables!

It comes with a coaxial cable, a clever scart lead that lets me get surround sound from my TV and freeview box, plus all the speaker cable you could need (not the really cheap stuff either). It has two sets of phono inputs plus coaxial and optical for digital sources.

I wasn't expecting much but in a reasonably small room it sounds great. With only low RMS levels about 100 combined (I think) I thought it would be really quiet but I can only turn it up about half way without it getting too loud, there is no distortion either as you increase the volume.

To further improve the sound I am using a couple of JPW (think there the ones) speakers in place of the front pair but this isn't really necessary (or recommended probably) I just wanted to get some use out of them!

Overall a very decent system at a bargain price!
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Old 30-11-2003, 11:22
Deanparkr
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Originally posted by AMcG
Thanks once again for the replies.

So, I'm looking for a system with...
- at least one set of phono inputs
- at least two sets of optical inputs
- DTS
- Dolby ProLogic II
- and my lesson is that sound quality is more important than the raw power numbers quoted on the box...

When one looks at signal to noise ratio and total harmonic distortion, what would be deemed to be "good" or "bad" numbers?
Take a look at the Sony HT-P1000
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Old 30-11-2003, 18:59
Phil S
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The Panasonic SAXR15 sold in Argos has all you need:

Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Pro Logic II
DTS
2 digital optical Inputs
1 digital Co-ax
LOADS of Phono Inputs, DVD, VCR, Sattelite, TV, Tape/Aux
Video in/out

£229

You do need a set of 5.1 speakera with it. The speakers they sell with it are £149 but you get £30 off if you buy the two together. = £349.

This gives you L40+R40+C40+Ls40+Rs40+SW100 = 300 Watts
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Old 30-11-2003, 19:16
freneticvirus
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i went for the creative inspire 5100 - plugged up to my computer, freeview box & dvd player.

dvd's through the optical cable (dolby digital 5.1), computer through the coax option (dolby digital 5.1), and freeview through linein (it only has the pro logic option available on that box, so it's no loss).

sounds great on all three, and the supplied cables cover the length of the room. £140 on ebuyer.


dts & prologic 2 isn't supported on this one (the newer creative box does), but it was no loss for the bedroom - dolby digital sounds funky enough.
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Old 01-12-2003, 09:10
AMcG
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Thanks for the replies. I went for the Creative GD580 and it sounds great. It's got Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS and Dolby ProLogic 2 and although I have to get some extension cables for the rear speakers, it's great value. Total price: €189 including FREE speaker stands for the rears (price on the Creative website: €54.90).
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