Page 1 of dts question

i`ve seen that the wharfedale m5 has onboard dts decoder. does this mean that the speakers can plug straight in the back without going through an amp???

Fraid not old chap - (as I understand it) an onboard DD/DTS decoder is only any use to plug it into an older surround amp eg Prologic. so the player does the decoding but the amp still does the "amping".
Go and visit Mr.Richer for a nice Yammy or Kenwood....

Tottaly correct, Mr Fecker sir...

You`d not to hook the M5 up with six phono-phono plugs to a (sadly very rare) ProLogic amplifier with matching inputs.

On board decoders are fairly superfluous if you have a digital amplifier or receiver (a receiver is basically an amplifier with a radio tuner).

Have a browse through http://www.richersounds.com for an idea of how much "cheap" amplifiers cost - if you can get an end of line Yamaha DSP A5 get that, as it has been replaced by the DSPAX620. The A5 is an excellent budget amplifier (and yes, I own one !)

cheers lads....had a look at mr. richers - whats the Kenwood KAF3030 like? would i be better off buying that and a separate set of speakers or something like the sony HTK215 kit from unbeatable?

my budgets around 250-300.

There are other options, you don`t have to use a dolby pro-logic amp. You could use an active speaker set. Generally these comprise of a powered subwoofer with 6 inputs (like the pro-logic amp) and 5 satelites (front L/R, rear L/R and centre). This means that like the pro-logic amp the signal is decoded by the DVD player and is amplified by something else, in this case an active sub.

This would fit into your budget but then again so would a yamaha / sherwood / kenwood DTS/DD amp and Gale speaker package from Richersounds and as a rule amp decoding is preferable to having the player do the decoding.

I`ve just seen this in another thread

http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=211&Thread=48829

I`ve seen the Bush system but not heard it. This is a very chaep active set of speakers. At this price you would have cash to spare for a few more discs!

This item was edited on Friday, 27th July 2001, 18:32