Surround Sound Amp

[DaveMurphy]

My neighbour used to have a DVD/Video player with 5.1 surround sound, (it's quite old) but the DVD stopped working, so he decided to get a replacement, but now he's moaning because there is no surround sound, we still have the speakers, is there some sort of small amplifier which would take them? OR would it be cheaper to get a whole new 5.1 surround system?

 

You fix one thing for your neighbours... then the entire street want you...

 

Cheers.

[Hacksawbob]

bearing in mind that if the DVD player has no 5.1 outs even if the disk has surround sound on it you are only going to get an interpretation of it I have a yamaha DSP-492 which is about 12 years old It takes a stereo input and decides what is rear and what is speech etc by analysing the sound input. You'd probably pick them up quite cheaply. But better to get the right tool for the job, theres loads on the market these days, tell him to stick it on the 'bay and do his homework next time.

[maniac]

To get 5.1 surround, you're going to need an external amp, but unfortunitely they tend to be a little on the large side. You can probably pick up one second hand on E-bay for between £40 - £80 for a cheap one.

 

However depending on the quality of the speakers, you may be better off buying a cheap 5.1 speaker set for around £99 upwards, you'll get everything you need in one pack. BEWARE thou, some of the cheaper 5.1 sets are only Dolby Pro-Logic and not Dolby Digital - to get proper 5.1 surround as recorded on the DVD you need to get a set which is Dolby Digital and has a digital input (either co-ax or Fibre Optic) I assume the DVD player has a digital output, I've never seen one which hasn't.

 

Mike.

Edited March 13, 2010 by maniac