low-budget surround system?

[Wulfman]

has anyone made experiences with kenwood? I could get the 4530D (last years entry model) for about 130¤.

mfg
wulfman

[Maggi]

Hi Wulfman,

check out http://www.areadvd.de ...

in their hardware section, they tested quite a bunch of receivers and amplifiers that might give you an idea what to test on the model you're targetting at (you should get an idea what pros and cons to consider)

Also, they have a quite nice buying guide

[Wulfman]

thx maggi.

I read through these articles. after that, I was kind of worried if the kenwood is a good choice - lacking DTS & Dolby pro logic II.

but then I realised what I was really looking for: a cheap alternative to these pc-speaker sets that will provide me with more flexibility for choosing the speakers - and not a full home cinema system (I have no TV set nor do I plan to get one).

if I haven't missed anything, the absence of DTS abilities won't hurt the usefulness to reproduce game-surround sound. DPL II would have been nice for normal stereo-music, but I think I can live without that - especially for that price. keeping in mind that I'm limited to listening music via pc speakers at the moment, nearly everything should be an improvement.

after all the kenwoods seem to score quite well at areadvd.

mfg
wulfman

[Indiana]

Still, if you ever plan to use the receiver for DVD, DTS sounds so much better than DolbyDigital.
I would get a DTS capable receiver, they're not really that much more expensive if you search a bit.