Situation:

Got a new LCD HDTV from the grandparents. Don't have a sound system to go with.

However, I do have the 5 speakers from a Logitech Z-5500 system to use (yay for Logitech sending me a whole new set of speakers when my controller died). So, all I need is a receiver.

Obviously I am not looking for anything spectacular. I am on a very tight budget as you all probably know. I plan on using money gained from my birthday this week to secure it. So anything 400+ USD is out of the question.

All I am looking for is:

A. 5.1 support, no speakers.
B. Optical (TOSLINK) in, the more the better. I need at least 2.
C. HDMI/video support is gravy, not necessary. My TV has enough inputs, and has a general-purpose TOSLINK out.
D. DTS and Dolby Digital support (suprisingly my google shows there are systems that don't have both!)

The speakers are rated for ~60watts so I don't need a powerful system here. Anyway, I hope you guys can help me out, as audio is not my strong suite. Oh, and this will primarily be used for playing games and watching TV, not music, if that matters.

suit.

strong suit.

a suite is a group of things meant to be used together. i.e. a dining room set, or adobe's creative suite.

or a hotel room with more than one room in it.(not including bath)

i should post that on the "things that really bother you" thread.

and it only happens on internet. when speaking its always "not my strong suit" (soot) no one ever says "not my strong suite" (sweet)

also, sorry for not posting anything constructive. i know nothing about decent receivers.

It's a bloody figure of speech.

and he's doing it wrong. i've seen you do it too.

Thanks for the derail. Go make a grammar thread and complain there. Now, RECOMMENDS!

lol

I recommend Steve Smith, a small but mighty receiver!

dont those logitech speakers connect with RCA cables? If so you will have to choppa choppa choppa them up.

also you need to tell us more about your needs and wants to have a proper receiver recommendation. right now it seems like the cheapest thing available would be right for you since you dont need input switching and 60 watts rms is lol small.

i recommend starting here:
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Category/GroupMenu.aspx?g=10400&tp=33&cm_re=topnav*prodmenu4*spg_10400
crutchfield usually has not so good prices but their website is great for selecting components


also
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=sort&A=search&Q=&sortDrop=Price%3A+Low+to+High&bl=&atl=Channel_5.1+Channels&pn=1&st=categoryNavigation&mnp=0.0&mxp=0.0&sv=2517&shs=&ac=&fi=all&pn=1&ci=2517&cmpsrch=&cltp=&clsgr=

No, they're raw cable lines.

Anyway, as far as wants and needs, not sure what else to specify?

i need to poop

Onkyo makes good products in the low and mid ranges, I would look there.

I think you really want to buy some cheap bookshelfs instead of using the Z5500 satellites. They're not made for filling a living room. And they won't sound good without the sub handling everything up to 120Hz. Now if you could modify the sub to work via a reciever, that would be really cool, especially if it meant being able to fool with the crossover.

A. Bookshelfs would cost money. Money I don't have. The only reason I'm really considering this is because I have these speakers lying around for no reason.
B. As long as it doesn't sound terrible I don't care. I just want to get the surround sound working, and I can't do that without a receiver of some sort :/
C. I'll probably end up getting a sub later if I manage to get some more cash.

Honestly, I think you'd be better off with a 50$ set of budget 5.1 speakers. It will be that bad. A 400$ receiver would be a waste of money. You could get a decent stereo receiver and some decent bookshelfs with that.

On the matter of a 5.1 system
This (Z-540) is what i have and it is ****ing amazing.

How would a set of budget 5.1 speakers for $50 be better than Z-5500s?


No it won't.


No ****, which is why he isn't going to spend $400.

The Panasonic SA-XR57K is about the absolute best you can get for $240. In terms of sound quality, it surpasses high-end receivers that cost several thousand from hi-fi companies like Rotel. Not that it really matters anyway since all well defined amplifiers sound basically the same, but the specs put it way up there.

It's an all digital amp. Many analog amps claim to have, say, 100 watts per channel, but don't scale linearly with power and heat, so you end up getting significantly less than that. This thing will actually put 100 watts into each channel, possibly more. Digital amps like this are very efficient and don't suffer from the bottlenecks that their analog counterparts do.

The other big advantage here is that the signal won't clip. Speakers usually get blown out because analog amps are pushed too high, causing the signal to clip (which causes a larger amount of power to output). It's pretty hard to blow speakers with this amp. Not that your grandparents will be blasting power metal or anything but it's a nice thing to have anyway, and is pretty amazing given the price.

I have the older XR-55 model and it's awesome. This one has HDMI and 7.1 as well as some other things. It doesn't do HDMI switching, unfortunately.

I originally recommended Onkyo because I thought you could get something good enough for a lot cheaper. But as I looked through their models, you'd have to spend a whole lot more to get the equivalent to this thing.

If you don't believe how awesome this thing is, just Google it (or the similar XR-55 model). There's a sort of cult following around these models because they're so amazing and so cheap.

It does look pretty good, and the price is right.

I do have a question as far as it being 7.1: Since I only have 5.1 to work with, is that going to screw up the surround sound? (thus, there being a dead area where the middle surround should be) Or is there a way to tell it I am only using 5.1?

No, it's fully configurable from 2.0 through 7.1 and anything in between.

One minor warning, though. As I recall, it may have some funny DSP effects turned on by default that might make things sound different, so look out for that.

Alright.

Well, one last question then.

I was also looking at this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8258501&productCategoryId=abcat0202003&type=product&tab=2&id=1170289629617#productdetail

It's got a few more inputs on it, although there are complaints about HDMI (I'm not too concerned about it though). Doesn't have much power but I don't need it. Good/Bad?

I don't know anything about HK. There's a brief review and a forum topic about it on Audioholics though, see here: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/harman-kardon-avr-146

I had an HK back in the Dolby Pro Logic days, it was pretty amazing.

Have an Onyko HTIB now, it's pretty good. Replaced the center channel though, because the one it came with had ****ty highs.

They wouldn't except for the fact that he has no sub. In the Z-5500's those things never go below 120Hz.

They do when you have the system set up not to expect a subwoofer. It may not be the best sounding bass in the world but it is there. The Z-5500's 5 main speakers sound like they have no bass because the controller expects the subwoofer (as it's also the amplifier) and won't redirect the low end to where it belongs, even with the subwoofer turned all the way down.

Hook them up to a different system and bam, there's your bass.

There's a reason that Logitech had those things set up to redirect to the sub at such a high frequency.

Obi, you do have a valid point, but the problem is that for $50 he's already more than a third of the way towards a rather decent subwoofer. Dayton is the Parts Express in-house brand, and that 10" model (as well as the 12" version) has always been hailed as providing great bass with nice clarity for being rather cheap.

I say you keep your Z-5500s and get a sub later.

Honestly, receiver choice won't matter that much. You aren't doing anything that insane, and as long as the receiver is designed well, it won't sound any different from any other (with the possible exception of when you're using extremely high end gear). Just make sure you look up reviews for it first, and if it seems decent, it's probably good enough.

If you really want to be cheap, you don't need to buy a receiver for the Z-5500s. The controller has both an optical and a coax input, and has on-board 5.1 dts/DD DACs (decoders). Just buy a $15 n-way optical selector switch in lieu of a receiver. Unless your HT setup is complicated or your TV only has 1 HDMI input, this should satisfy your requirements to the minimum.

spending money on a sub that isnt one of these http://svsound.com/products-sub-box-10nsd.cfm is silly.

I've done it, and I regret it deeply. I spent 279 on a yamaha sub, and while it DOES go well below 25hz it has very little volume at those frequencies. The SVS sub there should be considered entry level as far as I'm concerned, because spending money on anything else is a waste of said money.

It's hooked up to my PC powering a totally different set of Z-5500's in a different room. I have 5 spare speakers because my controller fried (literally) and I had it RMA'ed. Rather than sending me a new controller back, they sent me an entire new set of speakers.

I am so not spending as much on a subwoofer as I could on a whole other set of Z-5500's >.>

I'm not an audiophile, folks. It's really not going to kill me if things sound a little tinny >.>

Yeah, but like emon says, this is really only a good idea for a total stop gap solution. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Wait.. so the controller breaks.. you keep the old speakers... And get an entire new bloody set?

I am willing my controller to break right now.