Newbie needs info on AV amps

B

Ben H

Guest
I'm considering getting a surround sound system, and from reading the articles here, I gather I could replace my current hifi amp with an AV amp which can handle DD 5.1/DTS surround sound as well as regular audio from a CD player/tuner?
 
True - most amps are direct replacements for hifi amps except many do not have a phono stage.

If music plays a large part of your life you need to be aware that most AV amps are not as capable as hifi amps when replaying cds in stereo and for this reason it is probably more adviseable than normal to have a proper demo before you buy.

Of the more common amps at the lower end, Marantz appear to have the best reputation for musicality whilst also handling 5.1 sound well.
 
Cheers! :)

You need a phono stage if you want to play vinyl records, yeah? That's not a problem, all my music is on CD.
Also, would it be possible to reuse my current pair of hifi speakers as part of a surround sound speaker system?
 
It is fairly important that you have a tonal match between the centre speaker and the stereo pair and if you can get hold of a centre speaker that matches (normally from the same range as the front pair) that should work.

You may have problems if your stereo pair are a few years old and possibly will have to demonstrate a few centres before you can find a match but years ago I had a mismatch and it doesn't sound good when voices are panning from left to right and the sound changes part way through the pan
 

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