RVFGOD

Help on choosing Amp/ Reciever.

Hello.

I have a little problem that I hope you can help me with.

I have a basic home theatre (Philips dvd all in one) system. After having a few good christmas presents I realise I have to change my current setup.

I have a basic no frills TV with two scart inputs and one set of composite inputs (3 rca leads).

I have a Sky box with audio outputs (rca).

I now have a HDD DVD recorder with both optical and coaxial outputs, as well as one set of audio outputs (rca). LG RH7500.

I also have an X-Box 360 that has an optical output port on the connector.

By the sounds of things and after reading this forum, it seems I need to get rid of my all in one home cinema and buy a Dolby Digital amplifier / receiver to process the signals and output via the normal 5 speakers.

I am not too sure of what to get and was wondering if anybody had any advice on what I might need and what would work. I am not going to upgrade the system much further so it does not need to power Krypton!!

I live in England and have around £200 to spend, I already have speakers with the rca connectors including a sub woofer that does not have a built in amp to power it.

Any help you can give would be most appreciated. I do not know that much on this type of equipment........but I know cars if anybody needs any help!!

Many kind regards.

Ricky

Bob McElfresh

Re: Help on choosing Amp/ Reciever.

Hi Rick. Welcome to HTF!

I'm afraid you may have confused a lot of our members with the 'scart' reference and the fact we are not too familar with equipment available in GB.

Well lets get down to a few things:


Thats a problem. Only speakers that come as part of a propritary set have RCA connectors. Generally - line-level signals travel over RCA cables, but speaker-level signals go over speaker wire.

If you bought a modest HT receiver - this will have binding-posts for speaker wires which wont mate to your speakers.

So you are looking at both a receiver and speaker upgrade.

Your best bet is to search the GB version of CraigsList or eBay for someone selling off his older, but more general system. Look for a receiver by Yamaha, Kenwood, Denon. Be very careful about Sony/Pioneer. They have a few good receivers, but a lot of crappy ones as well.

Speakers: you want to find someone who has 5 speakers all from the same manufacturer. A lot of newbies have a stereo system, then add in some other center & rear speakers all from mixed brands. This is bad because even if all the speakers are well-respected, the sound will change as sounds move around and blow the surround experience.

(Your set of inexpensive Philips speakers is actually a better setup than using a mix of more expensive speakers.)

Ideally - you want a used set with a self-powered subwoofer. This leaves the receiver all it's power to drive the other 5 speakers and takes a great load off of it.

Option 2: Does your Phillips have a composite and L/R connectors for INPUTS? If so, consider just buying a 4-1 switch box. Hook everything to this switch box and feed the Philips unit. You wont get the DD sound from the xBox but it will work.

If the Phillips has a optical input - hook up the optional toslink optical cable from the xBox to this input for surround sound from your games.

(Mental Note: I just got a 360 myself and I should do this. I just have to get the daughters away from Lego StarWars long enough...)

Hope this helps.

RVFGOD

Re: Help on choosing Amp/ Reciever.

Hello,

Thank you very much for your reply Bob, I hope the scart reference was not to off-putting.

It is the standard connector over here (GB).

My Philips unit only has one set of audio inputs (rca connectors) and no toslink connector, my X Box only has a toslink for audio. I am a bit of a neat freak and two DVD drives running together will do my head in, as the Philips would only be used for the DD function.

So I think it will be best to replace this in favour of a receiver.

I have a set of matching Sony speakers from my old unit that do not have any connectors on the ends ( bare wires ) they are not amazing....but a start.

I would like to have everything running DD if possible.

I have found a possibility on eBay, a Pioneer VSX C300.

Can anybody recommend this, or is it a model to avoid.

Thanks again!