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General discussion

AV receiver too big. Any way around this?

May 3, 2005 8:08PM PDT

I was wondering if there was any way of getting an ok surround sound system without buying a huge AV receiver. I have a samsung HD841 dvd player that has a dvi output that I really like. So getting a HTIB with a combo dvd player is out of the question. I was thinking maybe a logitech z-5500 or its predecessor but wasn't sure if it was compatible with my dvd player.Anyone have an opinion on this? Thanks in advance.

Discussion is locked

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onkyo
May 4, 2005 1:35AM PDT

Not all systems come with a dvd player. You could get something like one of the receivers that Onkyo makes that is slim, takes up little shelf space and has all the newest inputs. Then all you would have to get is a speaker package. If you want everything at once look around. There are many HTIB that are receiver and speaker only and will be compatible with your dvd player. Yamaha makes a couple that are decent.

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small receiver
May 4, 2005 3:14AM PDT

Have you tried any of Panasonic's digital receivers yet? I use the SA-XR25 in a small HT system and it's quite good. I think the XR50s are being sold off at bargain prices to make way for new models. The XR70 even has an HDMI in/out, though it likely makes more sense to go straight to your video unit rather than use a DVI-HDMI adaptor and go through the receiver.

If your speakers are reasonably easy to drive and not too bright sounding (the Panasonic can sound a little clinical), then it might be the ideal solution. It runs cool and takes up little real estate.

cheers

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link
May 4, 2005 3:17AM PDT
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Small Receivers
Jun 7, 2005 6:38AM PDT

Any suggestions for a receiver that is either less than 12" in depth or less than 3" in height?

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no...
Jun 8, 2005 5:34AM PDT

The Panasonic XR-50 is only 3.3" tall (16.9w" x 3.3h" x 14.8d" - did you follow the link?). My XR-25 is a little under that height wise, but they were discontinued a while back. There may be smaller HTiB receivers, but they're generally underpowered.

You have to be careful trying to shoe-horn a receiver (even a cool running digital one) into a space that small. Pretty much every component needs a little room to breathe.

Luck.