RCA RT2770 (1 Viewer)

[bugmenot]

I just got this budget system last week, there are some good deals online. Budget systems like this seem to get a lot of criticism online, so my expectations were modest. I knew the "1000 watt" rating was bogus, but many cheap HT systems use the same inflated figures. In the manual it claims 75 watts/ch of FTC RMS power per channel, and 150 watts for the subwoofer, which is not bad. I wonder how can that be true on a unit that states only 90 watts power consumption on the back. Music watts are different from line power I guess.

I would say so far I am quite impressed. While I'm not a true audiophile, I am a gadgeteer and can tell when a product is a good value. This unit replaced a 12 year old JVC stereo receiver with 50 watts/ch of clean FTC power, and I'd say the sound quality is definitely better on the RCA. This is partly because on the RCA I use the Dolby coaxial, optical and USB inputs instead of analog RCA plugs. I have an RCA 8GB Opal MP3 which plays directly thru the USB port, displaying track info on the receiver display - neat! The USB port also works on cheap Sandisk and COBY mp3 players I have, as well as USB flash drives.

I replaced the small RCA front speakers with my trusty old Infinity RL20's. The Infinitys are louder than the other RCA speakers, but the Level control on the remote keeps all channels in balance. I planned on replacing the RCA subwoofer with a powered Altec Lansing I had, but the RCA sw sounded slightly better. My living room is 18" by 24", and the RT2770 can almost shake the walls at high volume, so whatever the true power rating is, it's enough for me. Dolby Pro Logic is quieter than true 5.1 Digital or 2 channel stereo, but still loud enough. This was a very cheap system, but so far I have no complaints.

 

[gene c]

They do it by driving one channel at a time, at 1 khz instead of a full range signal, and at a high thd like 10%. In other words, they use "smoke and mirrors"

. If one does it then they all have to. But some of these in-expensive systems can sound decent enough if you don't expect them to do more than they can.