Using surround speakers for HIFI?

G

Guy W

Guest
Please can someone help?

I currently have a 36in Philips Pixel Plus TV (36PW9607) and Philips DVDR 880.

I also have an (old) Panasonic seperate HIFI system and what I would like to do is to throw out the old HIFI speakers and invest in a surround sound system which I could use for both my TV-DVD and Panasonic seperate HIFI for CDs.

Can this be done?

If so, will I need a seperate amp to bring it all together or can I use the telly (which has a digital 5.1 decoder in built) or perhaps even the HIFI amp (guess not for digital 5.1?).

I was thinking about something stylish (all a matter of opinion I know!) but I was thinking about the Sony floorstanding SAVS500H? Are these any good?

In general can surround speakers cope with potentially 'Party loud' music from your HIFI ?

Any help someobody can give me will be gratefully received!

Many thanks

Guy W
 
Originally posted by Guy W
In general can surround speakers cope with potentially 'Party loud' music from your HIFI ?

If you mean using the "lifestyle" setups for parties, I'd say be careful. The sats don't go down very low, so the sub is doing all the work. These types of subs do tend to get stressed if you crank 'em up with a higher powered amp than usually is supplied in the DAVS-type setups.

Using 1 set of speakers with 2 different sources (amps) is also difficult to integrate without some form of switch-box and is best avoided. I don't know what "old Panasonic" speakers you have, but a good set of Mission or Kef bookshelf speakers around £60-£80 could give you an improvement.

At the other end, trying to drive a set of 5.1 speakers with a telly can lead to problems - telly's never have powerful enough amps, so the speakers clip and get damaged. :(

Best advice IMO is run a phono lead from the telly to the Panasonic for good stereo movie sound or replace the Panasonic with a proper AV receiver for the full 5.1 experience (in PLII format anyway :) )
 
Many thanks for this - you've confirmed what I thought that its probably best to seperate the SS from the HIFI.

Just means I'll have a room full of speakers!

That way it means I guess I can put the money needed for the AV into some better speakers.

Cheers

Guy
 

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