Inexpensive home audio system

[mkillio]

I'm looking for an inexpensive home surround sound system, here's the catch, without a dvd player. I just want the amp and speakers. It has to be 100watts minimum, I only really need it for parties.

My roommate has some decent speakers so I guess just a cheap amp would work as well.

BTW, Does any one want to buy my car, if they do I could buy a better sound system.

 

[horvendile]

I'm no audiophile and not very into these things, so my questions might be stupid, but here goes:

Do you mean 100 W total or 100 W per channel?

If you just want it for parties, is it surround you really want? My impression is that the surround experience depends on you being in a specific position visavis the speakers (meaning in the centre). For parties, where people mill about and can't expected to stay within the, er, speaker circle all the time, wouldn't one be better off with a pair of good stereo speakers instead of five semi-good speakers?

 

[mkillio]

Probably 100 watts total. I would like the surround sound because it would complement my HDTV quite nicely.

 

[Jabbah]

How much are you looking to spend? Inexpensive is quite a relative term

There are plenty of budget av receivers out there with 100wpc output. Yamaha and sony do a good range with a decent set of features for the budget market.

You wont have a problem with connections, most of the amps allow you to connect a pair of speakers and turn off the surround processing until you get the rest of the set.

Once youve got a full set theres usually a dsp mode that will output a stereo input to the 4 surround speakers (in a 5.1 setup) some with various weird echoy effects

Some features to look for: Pro-Logic(1&2), Dolby Digital, DTS, At least 1 of each of optical and coaxial inputs, and a sub out (phono).

Look at spending about a 3rd of your budget on the amp, the rest on the speakers.

If you go for a surround speaker package then look for a set with some decent sized cabinates. The small discreet home cinema packages are fine for films but dont usualy work that well with music - sound a bit tinny and lack the bass.

For speakers, Mission and Tannoys are decent ones to look out for. If you want a small home cinema set that works well with music then the KEF 2005.2 are excellent. They cost a bit more but are well worth it.

Anyway, goodluck with it.

Jab

 

[stevem]

My recent impression was that while Yamaha and Denon are still the performance leaders in this segment, you get better value/performance from Pioneer. Sony, Marantz & Onkyo are also good, but a bit bland. Consider JVC if price is the main critereon. Note the new processing modes, auto speaker setup & video switching options (if required). Don't exclusively look at printed power specs. Do take note of power-band/impedence/THD figures though, and listen to a setup with speakers you're considering. I won't comment on loudspeakers other than most bundled sets tend to be more style than substance, but can recommend DIY/kit if you have the inclination... Check out AVSForum, Secrets of HT & Hifi, & PartsExpress speakers/kits, if you haven't done so already.