Page 1 of How many watts are needed?

Hi

I am looking to get a Surround sound system to connect to my dvd recorder and sky.

There are so many, however I don`t want to pay too much.

I do not want one with a dvd player built in as I have a dvd recorder.

Can anyone suggest a good one and how many watts to get a decent good quality sound.

Thanks

You need to go and test some systems. Book in advance and any decent hi-fi shop will accomodate you. It`s all personal preference and nothing to do with watts per channel, RMS or otherwise. If it`s budget equipment you`re after..try Richer Sounds. My only advice would be to make sure you get a bloody good sub-woofer unit. Makes a hell of a difference. May need some plastering work done a year or so later but, well worth it!! ;)

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all personal preference and nothing to do with watts per channel, RMS or otherwise

I`d agree with the comments about personal preference Aslan, but not to the power makes no difference.

I`ll do me best to explain here :D

When you amplify the original sound you distort it. Every amplifier has what is called a "clipping level", which is the point you can physically hear the distortion (rough sounds, crackles etc)
On the majority of amps, the clipping level is around 3/4`s of the way up,
At this point, regardless of the speaker power handling, the amp can blow the speakers (had one guy try to return a pair of 140 watt RMS speakers a few years ago he blew on a 50 watt amp! Asked him, and yup, "played at full volume cause the speakers were higher rated...")

Anyways, the more power you have in reserve, the less distortion you can hear as you amp up, hence the sound quality is better.

If we`re going budget range as I think the OP wants, it`s probably the comment about the subwoofer that`s most pertinent here. The better the sub, the better the whole thing will appear to sound. Don`t think any store I know would be happy to spend time demo-ing cheaper units though, so might be a case of take your own disc in and ask if you can try them out yourself.

Personally, I`d go the route I did. Decent hifi amp capable of 5.1/DTS or EX if you wanna stretch to it, and some half decent speaker setup.
More costly in the initial, but better in the long term :)
(I have a Kenwood KRV5050...not a top of the range amp, but does what I wanted at the time)

Talking of which...my amp is due for an upgrade :D

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Not disagreeing with you in any way Jimbo :oÞ. But the point I was trying to stress was that if they are looking to buy `budget` amps and so forth then a 50W Amp will be sufficient rather than spending extra on a 200W amp, if you see what I mean.

You can book demo`s at Richer Sounds in advance, but like you stated it is worthwhile taking your own discs, and a varied selection at that. ;)

And talking of upgrading amps.......no I`ve spent far too much this year. So only a few days to go and then it will be in next years budget!! :)

Yeah, I think we both had the same in mind regarding budget amps Aslan.
And you may have only a few days to go `til next years budget, but do ya really wanna splash out that much of your "budget" in the first few days/month on a new amplifier....?

Not that I`m trying to put you off or nowt :D

...`course I don`t run on "budgets"....if I see it, I wannit, I buy it :D
might bounce the CC up a bit for a month or so, but then if I need to, I`ll go and run an extra night a week taxi-ing ;)

BTW....got any recommends on Amps?

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

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BTW....got any recommends on Amps?

Like we say, it`s all a matter of personnal preference. But I do like the Denon range.
How about this one for a small outlay of circa £3000?

Micro compact style casing....pity.

anyways, it`s too cheap :D

Oh, and for mine, my next amp has two MUST HAVES!
1) DTS EX and DD 7.1 (6.1?) whatever the 7 channel version is...
2) a sleep timer/clock display

Suppose that`s 4 must haves really, but I need a decent sized display clock (miss my old Kenwood I gave my brother) and I really must have a sleep timer on it.
I like to fall asleep watching a disc sometimes, and can sleep timer the Plasma, but not the amp, means I need to listen via the TV when I`m doing that :(

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Jimbo....this has everything you could wish for...it even has an attachment that tickles yer testicles!!

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anyways, it`s too cheap

I`ll tell you what....I`ll buy one and sell it to you for double the price!! :D