Page 1 of AV Processor V`s AV Receiver

Hi,

forgive me if these question sound silly to the experienced but ...

I`m currently looking at purchasing home cinema equipment ... I`m looking to connect my TV, DVD, VCR and CD to an amplifier of some form, trying to get inof on hardware at the moment.
I`m currently very new to the hardware and what one should expect an amp to do, but can anyone tell me the difference between an AV processor and an AV reciever ? if any ? and the advantages of one over the other in relation to a home cinema setup ?

Also if I have a good amp, why should I need a subwoofer ?

Thanks

As far as i know a reciever is an amp. so powers the speakers, the processor just decodes the information, an amp/reciever has its own processors, as for the other bit i dont get what you mean. Having a good amp has nothing to do with wether you need a sub or not. If you have decent speakers that provide enough bass for your liking then you may not need one.

Hope that helps

Thanks for that ... that makes sense ...

On the woofer question, a number of manufactures suggest a woofer and an amp together, I can\could not understand why ? My feelings were if your Amp & speakers were good enough you shouldn`t need a woofer ...

or the question should be re-phrased as :
What does a woofer give you that a good Amp and Speakers can`t ?

thanks again for the response

hughead, i don`t think your fully grasping the nettle here, so some salient points:
1) A SUB-woofer to give it it`s proper title supplies the DEEP bass that smaller speakers can`t, and is usually supplied with a set of 5 smaller speakers, therefore filling in the missing ultra low frequencies. Hence the term 5.1 (The 1 being the sub-woofer).
2) A receiver is merely an amplifier with a radio tuner built in. Most surround sound units sold these days are receivers, but there are some stand alone amplifiers without the radio, but not too many.
3)The Processor is the part of the receiver (or amplifier) that decodes the Dolby Digital/DTS signal, and is built into the unit! If you are referring to a separate processor unit these are very few and far between these days, although I believe Yamaha make one.
4) The need for a sub-woofer therefore is more dependent on the size of the speakers you have than the receiver, as most home cinema kit pumps out a fair amount of volume anyway. In order to forego the sub-woofer you would almost certainly need to ensure that the front pair (left and right) are large(ish) floor standing speakers.

I use a set of Gale speakers (from Richer Sounds), with large floor standers, and a sub-woofer was definitely not needed! However smaller speakers will.
Any clearer?

Yeah that was what i ment you just said it better :-)

Thanks for the response guys ...

I`m now a more enlighted shopper ...

cheers

hughesd, firstly apologies for calling you hughead...........my glasses must be kept nearer to hand in future! Glad to be of assistance, but just a couple of smaller pointers for you. Even if your budget is quite low, try not to get a receiver WITHOUT DTS, as I have found the DTS soundtracks to be superior to Dolby Digital. secondly, if you can, try and get a receiver with Dolby Pro-logic 2. This is, apparently a big step up from Prologic, however this is not as crucial as getting DTS. If your budget`s low, try Richer Sounds, as they do some quite incredible bargains in DD/DTS receivers, and do a deal at the moment where they do a DD/DTS receiver, and a set of 5 Gale speakers for around £160-£170, the Gale`s having large floor standing front speakers! Lastly (Phew!), when you come to set up a system, whatever it is, READ THE MANUAL, as there are special settings for the receiver to know what size all your speakers are! such as FL,CS.RS (Front large, centre small, rear small etc). Set wrongly, you will be dissatisfied with the sound, and not know why. Hope this helps also. Happy shopping!

This item was edited on Saturday, 19th October 2002, 11:37