Kenwood 5050 pros?cons?

[punisher46]

Hi. I'm considering buying the Kenwood 5050 amp fron richersounds tomorrow.

Pros?

Cons?

[Just]

The big pro has to be the price. Cons - won't be too many for the price, power (maybe)? and a lack of flexibility, but it depends what you are comparing it to (a 600 quid amp is bound to have more features for tweaking). For around 150 the 5050 is pretty much unbeatable on every front I would have thought.

[punisher46]

Thanks for the info. I may just buy the Kenwood and the 700's as rears for now then.

[LauraLC]

Probably a bit late but...

Pros:
Price, sounds pretty good (i'm currently running through Stargate X1s, but sounded very good using my Ruark Swordsmans on front L/R duty).
Has 3 digital inputs (2digital , 1optical), so I can link my DVD and my Sky+ box (optical).

Cons:
only has composite switching, if you want S-video the 6050 has them.

As Just says if you compare it to a 600 pound amp its not going to be as good. But for the money its a flexible little receiver. The power output isn't that bad.

laura

[punisher46]

Composite switching??

[LauraLC]

Yeah,
the 5050 will do video switching , but only for composite video (the yellow RCA connection, rather than S-video or RGB). so the quality isn't as good.
That said, I don't use mine for video, just for audio and instead connect my video sources direct to the television.

laura.

[punisher46]

Sorry, I'm a lot of a newbie.

Don't quite get ya.

I get picture through scart and digital(dts 5.1)through coaxial digital right?, as my dvd player only has coaxial digital connection.

[Mr Flibble]

A bit off topic (sort of)

I own the 5050, but can't get the Kenwood remote to control my Sony 525 player - anyone got a code for it, I tried the ones in the book but they don't work :(

Oh, and great amp IMHO :)

[LauraLC]

thats ok.

In theory, you can make the 5050, the 'heart' of the system and have your audio and video from all your devices connected to the 5050, and then the 5050 connects to the TV/speakers. Then as you select an input on amp. the signal sent to the TV will match the sound coming out of the amp.

Most amps support S-video (where the brightness (luminance) and colour (chroma) signals are sent on seperate wires , this gives a good picture).
The 5050 supports only composite video where the brightness and colour signal are sent over the same bit of wire. This has the disadvantage that they can interfere with each other , so the picture isn't as good).

However, most people recommend connecting the DVD via Scart direct to the TV and just connect the digital audio to the 5050.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'm sure you'll find the 5050 a very good amp/decoder.

laura.

[LauraLC]

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
A bit off topic (sort of)

I own the 5050, but can't get the Kenwood remote to control my Sony 525 player - anyone got a code for it, I tried the ones in the book but they don't work :(

Oh, and great amp IMHO :)

I'm afraid it won't. Only the remote that comes with the 6050 is able to control other manufacturers devices. (Page 32 in the manual). The remote that comes with the 5050 will only control other Kenwood devices.

laura.

[Mr Flibble]

Originally posted by LauraLC


I'm afraid it won't. Only the remote that comes with the 6050 is able to control other manufacturers devices. (Page 32 in the manual). The remote that comes with the 5050 will only control other Kenwood devices.

laura.

That'll explain why I've been having no luck :rolleyes:

Luckilly the Sony remote works the volume on the amp anyway

[punisher46]

Thanks for the help Laura/all.

This Kenwood rocks for the money.

[LauraLC]

Did you buy one in the end? If you did, hope you enjoy it, we love ours....

laura.

[punisher46]

Yeah I bought one. Unfortunatly they didnt have the mission 701's or centre speaker in stock, so it aint quite complete yet.

user some 8 watt(I know its killing me) as rears.

[LauraLC]

Originally posted by punisher46
Yeah I bought one. Unfortunatly they didnt have the mission 701's or centre speaker in stock, so it aint quite complete yet.

user some 8 watt(I know its killing me) as rears.

Thats alright, since the rear channels are effects channels you won't notice them so much, before we got our stargates I was using the surround speakers that came with my surround tv, not great, but did the job.

laura.

[SloppyJoe]

Bought one of these yesterday from Richer Sounds (up to 5 days delivery though). I'm wondering which speaker package to go with though. I have limited funds and am looking at the Eltax packages from qed for £109. Which do you think would suit the system better the Stargate x.1 or the Silverado 5 speaker pack - with an extra subwoofer. I've heard the Stargates can be a bit harsh sounding. Any thoughts?

[hookbeak]

i have the Eltax Stargates from QED - i got them last week. To me they sound fantastic, although since i had an old goodmans prologic system before hand they would do :)

I have no complaints at all - and they certainly don't sound harsh to me. I looked at it this way - theres not much else of that quality at that sort of price for 5 apeakers and a sub, in future when i have more cash i could upgrade and sell on the stargates - after all they were only £109 !

[SloppyJoe]

Thanks for that Hookbeak - my system at the moment is the Schneider pro-logic from Asda. Just out of interest do you notice a real quality difference between your old Goodmans and your new system? I just wondered seeing as I haven't been able to check out mine yet.

[hookbeak]

Originally posted by SloppyJoe
Thanks for that Hookbeak - my system at the moment is the Schneider pro-logic from Asda. Just out of interest do you notice a real quality difference between your old Goodmans and your new system? I just wondered seeing as I haven't been able to check out mine yet.

Sweet lord, yes !

i'd say it's as big a leap as from black and white to colour tv ! there really is no comparison at all - 5.1 and DTS sound bloody fantastic next to my old prologic thing.