seperates

danger boy

i can't afford to go seperates right now. but if i do down the road.. i have a question as to what all is needed for a simple HT seperates system

I have the amps needed. now what?

I know I'd need a pre amp and tuner if I wanted a tuner. but beyond that what else do I need to complete if for HT. TV i have also.

My question is what would I use to decode DD, DTS etc? How about DVD-a?

Would I need a pre amp, a processor that can decode DD, DTS etc?

it's all so confusing to me right now and it doesn't all make sense.

gidrah

I recently snagged one of those Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 thingies. It was less than $100. I have yet to hook it up and have heard conflicting reviews about it, but a serious preamp that'll do 5.1 DD, DTS (and DVD-A if you're lucky) will cost quite a bit more.

pjdami

Well, I'm going to take a stab at this even though I really should be going to bed after all the beers that I've had.

First thing you need to decide for HT is how many total speakers are you going to have? The basic setup is 5.1 which is five speakers total. A more advanced system is 6.1 or 7.1 and there are even more advanced than that now. I'm still running 5.1 and it is adequate. If you go the 5.1 route then a HT preamp that has Dolby Digital or DTS is cool. Now there is also Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES but you will need a sixth channel to take advantage of it. If you only have a 5.1 setup and choose the DD EX on the setup it will still be fine as the center back will be integrated into the surround back left and right channels (from what I understand).

The Outlaw 950 has just been named Steroephiles Guide to Home Theater Budget product of the year which is no easy feat. You can get it for $799 and it has all the lastest formats, DD, DTS, DD EX, and DTS ES.

Here's a link to the owner's manual where you can read about all the formats:

http://pdf2.outlawaudio.com/950manual.pdf

The Outlaw is a starting point if one is to buy new or B-stock. What competes with it would be Rotel, B&K, and NAD but these are going to be pricier new. The B&K Ref 30 can be had for a little over a grand used but it is only DD and DTS which is fine if you are going to only run 5.1. Rotel has the older 1066 out there which one can find good deals on in the neighborhood of a grand or slightly less. The newer model is the 1098 but I think it costs like 3 grand. In this league you have the B&K Ref 50 which is totally awesome and recently these had a $1000 price drop down to about $2,000. You also have the Anthem and the Sunfire HT preamps as well at over $3,000.

Really makes one wonder about the Outlaw 950 at just one-third the cost of one of the pricier units. Is it one-third the sound quality ?? I would venture to say no way just different. I haven't listened to one myself but hope to one day. I don't really care about the looks of it either but its the sound quality that really matters. I wish they would dump the silly cowboy riding a horse logo (its really not necessary).

As far as the DVD-audio, as long as the processor has the analog inputs available from your DVD players outputs then you are fine.

So here are the choices. I'm sure that I've left some out like maybe Parasound or something but the choices all depend on what your budget is going to be. The choices that I have listed would excel not only in HT but in two channel audio as well. This is strictly the seperates route. If one were to use an AVR w/ preouts then the ball game gets a lot bigger but seperates is where the best sound quality theoretically should exist.

Hope this helps a little.