Older HT equipment -- dumb questions

[Excumbrian]

I am going to buy (cos it's a good deal) an older Pioneer VSX-9900S receiver and Cerwin Vega E712 speakers from a workmate for our family TV room. The equipment is in excellent condition.

Now I've never owned an AV receiver, or CV speakers, before so I'm wondering:

1 Is the power spec of the receiver (quoted at 130 WPC!) overkill for a family room?
2 How good are these speakers for the task in hand? I hear people say they're good at bass and loud, but questions about their sound quality.
3 I assume the receiver (built 1991, I think) is 5.1 Dolby Digital. Will it play modern DVDs in 5.1 sound? (i.e. are the DVDs backwards-compatible?)

Sorry to ask such basic questions but I'm still very much in the 2 channel era.

[Face]

You can never have too much power.

[whoaru99]

Afaik the VSX-9900 is NOT Dolby Digital, it's only Dolby Pro Logic.

If you're going to use it for HT, I'd pass because Dolby Digital is so much better than Dolby Pro Logic.

[Excumbrian]

Afaik the VSX-9900 is NOT Dolby Digital, it's only Dolby Pro Logic.

If you're going to use it for HT, I'd pass because Dolby Digital is so much better than Dolby Pro Logic.

Hmmm. Food for thought.
Have to say that:
(a) it's mainly going to be used for watching kids' DVDs, music DVDs and the like
(b) with the kids being young and hard of attention, chances of sitting down and getting the full "cinema experience" are pretty low
(c) the price is right (< $100 for the receiver)
(d) I don't even have rear speakers yet!

Would you still get surround sound via this thing from more modern DVDs encoded in different Dolby formats?

Right now we're listening to DVDs via an old JVC receiver circa 1988 and old KEF speakers (1981 vintage). Pretty happy with the stereo sound, but want to move the KEFs upstairs to form part of a vintage audio system.

[Fred Sanford]

That receiver will likely only have analog audio, so you'd have options like stereo, maybe all-speaker stereo, some room simulations, and pro-logic. At best, it MIGHT have analog 5.1 inputs (doubt that) and some DVD players have analog 5.1 outputs. Chances are also good that the receiver has decent amps for the front speakers, and much lower quality amps for the center and rear channels (rear channels are possibly mono, too). Don't know if that receiver would even have a sub output.

je

[willyrover]

A 17 year old Pro Logic HT receiver shouldn't be more than 30-40$. You could find a used 5.1 unit for around $100 if you look carefully.

[whoaru99]

You could get a refurbished Onkyo, H/K, et al., 5.1 or 7.1 receiver for around $100 that will have a much better feature set.

Or, as willyrover said, keep an eye out for a used one. People turn these things all the time to get newer features so used ones often can be had pretty reasonable.

[Clmrt]

Do you actually plan on running 5 speakers?

If you're going to do stereo speakers only, go ahead and get it. No big whoop.

But - if you plan on doing true 5.1 (concert vids on DVD = killer app) then Dolby Digital / DTS is a must. Go with this for now but watch for a deal on a modern rig. You can always get $50 for the Pioneer or use it in a 3rd room / garage.

[RadShak1251]

Do you actually plan on running 5 speakers?

If you're going to do stereo speakers only, go ahead and get it. No big whoop.

But - if you plan on doing true 5.1 (concert vids on DVD = killer app) then Dolby Digital / DTS is a must. Go with this for now but watch for a deal on a modern rig. You can always get $50 for the Pioneer or use it in a 3rd room / garage.:thmbsp:

Will it play modern DVDs in 5.1 sound? (i.e. are the DVDs backwards-compatible?)If the dvd has a separate "Dolby Surround" track which many do, you'll get at least 4.0 sound: front left & right, a center channel and a mono rear channel played by two speakers. Though as Fred mentioned, it may not have a subwoofer output, but that is not a huge loss if using floorstanders. Depending on the studio sound-wise Dolby Surround tracks can sound good-to-excellent and they can easily do front to back (and vice versa) directional effects and have good ambience reproduction. But Dolby Surround is still no match for Dolby Digital and DTS with their six fully discrete & full-frequency range channels.

When only a 5.1 track is present, a standard dvd player combines all those tracks - except the .1 track which is left behind* - and generates a stereo mix that is sent to the analog RCA left/right jacks. Sometimes a receiver's Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro-Logic decoder can pull surround info from this mix, sometimes not.

As far as 130 watts being enough for a family room: YES. And IMO, too much unless you were running really inefficient speakers like large vintage ARs or Infinitys.

But Cerwin-Vegas? Ouch! Those very efficient speakers will take 130 watts & turn a family room into an AC/DC concert with no problem whatsover. So I would make sure you "train" everyone to not spin that volume knob too far! Or based on sales experience (embarrassing experience in some cases :blush: ) don't leave it at MAX - a lot of kids like to do that I've discovered - while turned off because when the next person comes along & turns it back on, a change of pants may be required afterwards!

I think CVs are not all that great at reproducing fine detail but they aren't total audio slobs either. I think of them as the Camaro Z28s of the speaker world: while being driven on a twisty mountain road, they don't have the finesse of a Nissan 350Z but they still stick to the road well and get the job done.

* the .1 (or LFE) channel is where the extremely low bass info is.....if the movie needs that kind of bass. But many soundtrack mixers also place bass of a higher frequency in the front channels to maintain a sense of what is happening.

[Lastplace]

Older AV recievers lack optical and coax input for 5.1 digitial & LFE (the .1) output for sub woofer.

Keep checking CL, picked up my second sony DE897 for $45.

BTW, from what I understand most of the heavy lifting is done by the "powered" sub woofer, removing a lot of power stress from the amp.

Here's a nice little "basic" AV amp for $150 new.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=10420&i=158STDG510&tp=179

This amp has been getting some great reviews

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?showAll=N&g=10420&i=580TXS705B&tp=179

[Lady Ayeka]

the -9900S is a fine A/V receiver. not quite as good as the -D1S, though. that would be a far better choice. a word of caution, the speaker levels are adjustable only by the remote on the -9900S.:thumbsdn: