L33T Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Hi, Admittedly, I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I've read many sites, and sort of figured out what I want. I'm trying to build a 7.1 separates-system that grows as I get more money. All I have right now is a pair of KG4s. Mostly, I'll be listening to music now, but I'm shopping around looking for the best surrounds for movies. What sort of amps, preamps, and processors should I be looking at? If I want 7.1 with all those DTS goodies and other things, does that mean my amp needs to be 7.1 also? I heard from somewhere that you could use a 2 and a 5, but they didn't specify if it worked for things like DTS, &c. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Hi and welcome to the forum. I am no expert by any means but as I understand it, it is your pre amp that gives you all the sound fields such as DTS as you have specified. The power amplifier only powers the speakers. And I am pretty sure you can use 5 channel and a separate 2 channel to make up your seven Also your receiver/pre would need to have pre outs for each of the 7 channels, use 1 rca cable for each channel to connect from the pre to the power amp Good luck!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L33T Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 Thanks for the quick reply and the welcome! I am quite excited about all of this. What would be a logical purchasing strategy? Would something like the NAD 2200 be a good amp? Also one last thing... with things like HDMI... well how does that add to all of this? Would the preamp have an HDMI input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 as for good amp well that really depends on your budget, and I would not be the best person to advise on this also. I have heard that NAD are good, I know that many people on this site use Emotiva amps . although I have never experienced using NAD or Emotiva. as for the HDMI - this is to make use of the latest sound and picture formats, but your receiver or pre would need to have HDMI in and outputs. so you would need 2 hdmi cables one from the blueray player to receiver/pre and then the other from video out on receiver/pre to your plasma/lcd screen. If you are just wanting DTS and Dolby digital then you wont need HDMI, an RCA cable or optical cable would do. But you mentioned that you want to slowly upgrade, then you would be best to go with a receiver or pre that has HDMI. If you are going to spend the money it is better to spend a bit more now and be happier long term. I hope that helps. though please remember I am not the best person to advise, there are many people here that have absolutely AMAZING systems and world of knowledge on this stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNRabbit Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 What's you price range, total? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bliss53 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I did a small amount of research but I was lead to believe that NAD has not fully embraced the HDMI connectivity. I was shopping for a receiver last year and I found that the NADs at that time had HDMI but they did not capture the audio from the HDMI connection. You had to use rca or toslink to get the audio. I do not know if there are newer models with different features. I was drawn to the NAD for the quality of the sound, especially with my PSB surround setup, but the hdmi thing was a deal breaker. I ended up going the inexpensive route with an Onkyo 606. The sound quality is not NAD but I wanted to buy 5 Heresies to try in a surround system at about the same time. I will wait until all the kinks are worked out with HDMI before putting money into a higher level sourround pocessor and amp. There will likely be more new codecs coming along so a seperate preamp will be cheaper to update than a whole reciever. An internet connection for codec upgrades may also be a feature that I will look for. For now with the price of just over $300 the Onkyo 606 is a no brainer for me and it will likely move to bedroom duty when I upgrade. Good luck with your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L33T Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 I'm looking to spend no more than say $200. It's more for the time being, until I start working in about a year after college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo1 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Actually, an RCA cable (single) won't deliver the DD or DTS encoded traffic. a TOSLINK optical or coax digital will, though. To help "future-proof" (as much as could be done anyway) your equipment, I wouldn't choose anything that won't accept audio from HDMI. All the new lossless surround formats (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc.) (and multi-channel SACD) will only work via HDMI if you want your pre-amp (or receiver) to decode them. Otherwise, you'll need the player to decode it and send it out over 8 channel analog to the pre-amp. TOSLINK or coax digital cannot carry enough bandwidth to transport all this data. Ain't progress great? Back to your amplifier question - I'm running my front 5speakers (KLF-20 mains, KLF-C7 center, and KSP-S6 surrounds) from a 5-channel amp (Emotiva XPA-5, which is 200wpc x5), and currently running the rear 2 surrounds (which are non-matching Klipsch KV-2 centers) off my old receiver while I wait for the Emotiva UPA-2 to be released.(125wpc x2). I wanted to make sure that the main 5 channels had matching timbre and amplification for 5.1 SACD tracks, and for HT, it seems to me that far more information comes from the side surrounds than the rear surrounds for 7.1, so a little mis-match won't hurt on those last 2 channels. The Emotiva amps are an incredible value, and are often reviewed head-to-head against products costing 2-5x as much. The XPA-5 is $799, and the UPA-2 will be $299. There's also the UPA-7 that does 125wpc x7 for $699. Keep in mind their power ratings are always conservative, and done with all channels driven to maximum output. For example, if the rear channels aren't demanding much but the fronts are, the amp can supply more power to the fronts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L33T Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 Does every component have to have HDMI capabilities? I'm not completely understanding this. So we have: Preamp -> Processor -> Amp So the preamp has to have HDMI inputs, but what about the other two pieces? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 L33T - I relate - I started into HT with KG4's and a Denon 3300. The Denon is still in place but the KG4s are now in my 2-channel system in my living room. But, they served me well in the HT until I got upgradeitis.... Your preamp will have the processor in it (aka pre/pro) so that's only one device. And after your source device (BluRay, Cable Box, Tivo, whathaveyou) it's the only device that needs HDMI (besides your TeeVee, of course). For amps, I've been quite pleased with my Acurus amps. Only available used at this point. I have a 5x200 in the system now. My 3x200 bench tested at about 340wpc, so they are very underrated as to actual output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 29, 2008 Moderators Share Posted October 29, 2008 Does every component have to have HDMI capabilities? I'm not completely understanding this. So we have: Preamp -> Processor -> Amp So the preamp has to have HDMI inputs, but what about the other two pieces? You can connect your components to the pre/pro or receiver in a number of ways for audio and video. Everything does not have to be connected via HDMI but if you want to take advantage of the new HD audio formats (Dolby True HD and DTS-Master), you will need to either hook them up using HDMI or using the Multi-Channel outputs from your DVD player into the Multi-Channel inputs on your pre-pro. If you want true HD video (1080p), you will need to use HDMI as well. So the short answer is no, you do not have to connect everything via HDMI, but the more you can, the better quality it will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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