PCA Forums

wasn't sure where to put this, so i hope this is the right spot. i just bought a dvd player, and wanted to get some surround sound. its for my sis, and so lookin at preferrably under $100. my question is this, i got it all working, but am wondering if all i needed was the speakers. i had a friend tell me, that u need a reciever to hook up the speakers??? doesn't seem right to me, but just cheking. i tried to hook up my comp speakers to it, and no luck there. of course they are couple years old.

thx

yes you need a receiver that is capable of decoding dolby digital, pro logic 2 , dts, or preferably all three. They run anywhere from 100-2000 dollars you can get a nice one in the 3-500 range. Then speakers for dolby digital 5.1 setup- if you wanna go DTS (i Highly reccommend it) 6.1 is what you want.
speakers start at 100.00 for the setup and can get up into the thosands for really high end. my setup ran me about 700.00 total for speakers and receiver, but im planning on going with better speakers in about a year, gonna build my own for about 1/4 of what high ends would cost
www.partsexpress.com has alot of good stuff for the do it yourselfer

Most electronics stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Good Guys sell a "home theater in a box" where you get a receiver and 5.1 speakers. They are OK as a first home theater setup but the sound quality is not great. The other thing a receiver does besides decoding your source signal is to provide power to the speakers. Home theater speakers are passive meaning they need an external power source.

Only DTS ES and DD EX movies take advantage of 6.1 (rear center channel), so paying more for a 6.1 system isn't really worth it right now.

I have a set of Z560 4.1's and to me i can't tell the difference in the surround from them to my buddy's fance 5.1 HT setup. I also have 20% hearling loss due to years of stupidity but can anyone really tell a difference between the 4.1 5.1 and 6.1 I know all it is is a couple center channels i just don't see the point?

hmmm

well i guess i'll look into one of those 'home theater systems'. not really lookin to spend that much, altho it would be nice =)

Predator, 5.1 is VERY important for home theater for one simple reason: 95% of all DD and DTS recordings use the center channel for dialogue. Thus, you simply cannot use 4.1 for true DD or DTS.

Thanks rogue i didn't know that... i'm happy with the 4.1 setup i have at my computer... sure when i buy a receiver and speakers for the TV i'll go 5.1 at least...