Upgrading to Dolby Digital / DTS

[nick69]

Bit of advice please. I currently have a Pro-Logic Amp for centre and surround and a seperate stereo amp for left and right. I want to upgrade to DD / DTS so do I just need a new amp to replace the PL one? Is a sub woofer really necessary as my left / right speakers are quite powerful. Also any suggestions for a good cheap DD / DTS amp?

[nick69]

Is anyone on here familiar with Dolby Digital / DTS???:(

[Mozza]

Buying a DD/DTS amp will make your other amps redundant.

See how you like the sound before adding a subwoofer, the front speakers can compensate slightly for this, especially if you have a smallish room. I think subs can be a bit of an added luxury.

First step after buying the amp, IMHO, should maybe be to invest in a set of decent surround speakers.

[nick69]

Cheers. Can you recommend a good cheap (very cheap!) DD amp?

[megabyte]

Depends on what you mean by cheap-I'm sure you've clicked on Upgrade heavens site above -there a good selection in there:)
I'm currently researching all this DD and DTS stuff and I even got the Loan of a DD and dts amp to compare with my own dolby prologic set up.
Can tell you it's well worth the up grade-Compared to prologic,DD and DTS will seriously impress you, with a good set of surround speakers-try to spend 300-400 pounds or so on the amp though , in my opinion and sell your existing amps
regards
Conn

[soberion]

Before selling your stereo amp, what is it? It may be better at performing straightforward music duties than just a DD amp. (That's if you use your system for music CD's to, of course).

[nick69]

Cant remember what make it is but it has some serious wattage for music so I wouldnt want to get rid of it - my CD player is connected to it. All I really want is a cheap DD/DTS amp (under £200) to deal with centre and surround and then phono sockets to connect the left / right output to the stereo amp. The centre and surround speakers are good quality so they dont need replacing.

[megabyte]

Hi Nick 69
All I was suggesting was maybe selling your existing amp only if you have enough brass after that to get an Amp which will do both jobs-without comprimising on the Music end of it.
It would be worth it to just go into a few hi-fi shops and listen to what they have, and then maybe selling your existing set up and upgrading completely might do the job
cheers
Conn

[lionhart]

Don't know anything about this particular model, but I was browsing through the Maplin Xmas brochure and they have a Rocco sound system for £129.
4 sat speakers, subwoofer and intergrated centre speaker/ decoder. States that it does DTS/DD 5.1 and prologic. Optical. co-axial and analouge inputs.

[nick69]

Cheers - d'ya reckon it has phono outputs for each channel though?

[Neon]

You should look at the Yamaha DSP E800 - which is expressly designed for this job. It provides DD/DTS/PL decoding and three channels of amplification (3x70W) for centre and rear surrounds. It's generally available for around £240-250 (e.g. http://www.unbeatable.co.uk and http://www.hifijunkies.co.uk amongst others).

Alternatively, for a little less, you could replace your amp with something like the Yamaha RXV-420RDS, which includes an RDS tuner and all five (and therefore matched) channels of amplification. You can select sub output to go to your main speakers, if you don't have one yet. Be very sure they are beefy enough for the job!

[nick69]

Cheers - just what i'm looking for!