Home > Consumer Reviews > RCA RT2500 Dolby Digital Home Theater System

I shopped all around looking for a home theater system with the sound, options, and inputs that I needed. Some of the high-priced systems did not have enough S-video inputs. I was suprised to find that the RCA RT2500 had everything I needed at an affordable price. I got my system at Radio Shack where they had it marked down from $399 to $149.00. At that price, I just couldn't pass it up. I could not be more happy with the purchase. If you need a system and can FIND this one, buy it. I had to search and search to find someone with one in stock.
I have an S-video VCR, S-Video DVD, S-video SAT, all hooked up, and still have an extra set of S-video inputs on the front open.
The dolby digital is great with the optical inputs.
We are re-watching all of our movies and re-enjoying them with the new sound. It is alot of fun. My only real complaint is that the folks at RCA help line are absolutely clueless. I really laughed at them when I hung up the phone. They must get zero training. With just a little reading & learning about Home Theater hookup, you will know much more than anyone I spoke to at RCA.
But the unit itself, RT2500 is awesome, so someone at RCA knows what they are doing. The RCA remote will not work my Dish Network Receiver (model 4000), but I was able to get my Dish Network remote to operate the RCA receiver, by programming the TV mode of the remote with the code of the RCA receiver.
Great system, great price. I don't know why some members of home theater forums give negative comments about RCA and the RT-2500. I think that they are just jealous because they spent much more money, and still are using composite video, because the receiver they purchased didn't have enough inputs. I'm very critical of products, and I think this one is top notch! I love it.

Yep it's a decent set for the money, but since the DTS decoding is flawed, I wouldn't bother if you enjoy DTS. How is it flawed, you may ask? Let me tell you. Play a movie with strong bass in it in Dolby 5.1, and then switch to DTS. Where did the bass go?

You want an example? Try Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition. The part where Sauron gets killed at the start and there's this bass-heavy 'tidal-wave' across the soldiers. Lots of lovely bass in 5.1, and nothing in DTS. Useless. Same story with ALL DTS movies.

You can do better..

I bought my first "Hi-Fi" as an 18 year old. That was 45 years ago. So while I am not an audio expert, I know when something sounds good to me. The RCA RT2500 was a great purchase. It took a year of shopping and listening, but when I found this RCA system, I knew that the time had come to make my move. Repeatedly, I listened to systems costing two to three hundred hundred dollars more that just didn't sound as good.

Just this week we got a mailing from a national retailer that listed receivers (alone) that cost $2,300, and speakers that sell for $1,300 each. I suppose that it would be silly to think that this RCA system could rival such equipment in sound. And yet, with Amazon.com customer reviews you can see that a higher price doesn't guarantee better results.

In my shopping I began to wonder how RCA was marketing a system of this quality for the price. I almost felt that a mistake had been made, and it would be discovered before I could buy.

The RT2500 offers what seems to be every connecting option you could want. If we had not had a couple of antique (by electronic standards) components, set up would have been a breeze.

The unit consists of just the receiver, five speakers, and a woofer. You will see other systems that include a DVD player, but it seemed that each time such systems would have a decent receiver and then a somewhat lousy DVD player. With the RT2500 you have the ease of matching speakers with the receiver while adding your own new or existing components.

Is all perfect? No, but my complaints are minor. The instruction booklet is too small and some illustrations too faint. Yes, I'm an old geezer, but our 22 year-old also had to strain a bit to see. And we were unable to come up with a code for the remote control for our one week old JVC DVD player. Maybe there is some dispute between JVC and RCA. Also be prepared to make a trip to your electronics store to buy cables. Several come with the unit, but we found that we needed several more to get everything connected.

We watched "Spider Man" with our boys last night. I really doubt that I would have sat there had the movie been played through the TV's speakers. The sound does add to your enjoyment, and we believe that the RCA RT2500 will please you.

hey, what's up, if your looking for the best then you've found it, i have the rca rt 2500, and it shreds, its got an am/fm tuner and you can hook all your audio and video stuff up to it. it's cool because you can adjust the vol. to each speaker seperataly, and the sound is killer, it's loud, loud, loud!!! if you go and get an optical wire {sold seperatly] and hook it to your dvd player you will not be disapointed, you'll hear stuff you never heard before. the remote that comes with it is cool too. well that's what i think of this system, if you buy one i'm sure you'll agree with me...!!!!

Now let me start off by saying this, every component that comprises my home theater was carefully picked after painstaking research based on value, quality, features and price. And for all those reasons the RCA RT2500 is the only theater sound system you should care about ;nay LOVE as a member of your family. First off the value: you will NOT find another HTIB out there with 700 watts of power at such a low price from ANY brand, period. Secondly the quality:I've owned this gem for about 6 months and I still have no idea how loud it can go.At or around 48 on the volume setting the speakers begin to shake the nails out of the drywall. There is nothing quite like a concussion wave from a thundering explosion hammered out through 6 speakers , just check out the first battle in Lord Of The Rings.At this point I'm relatively terrified to raise the volume any higher during a film. It is also put together EXTREMELY well. I had a problem securing the speakers onto stands and shelves because they literally would vibrate their way onto the hard floor, but every time I expected to see large dings missing paint or a speaker damaged beyond repair it was perfectly fine. Plase note: a fallen speaker is one thing but throwing your equipment is not recommended. And if it's features you want, the RT2500 has them. 2 S-video and 2 optical inputs,more than enough composite inputs for tv vcr dvd cd tape n camcorder . An am/fm tuner, several modes of DSP (digital cinema processing)which can simulate 5.1 channel sound from two channel stereo sources like a cd . It also decodes Dolby Digital Dolby Pro-Logic and DTS formats.which leads to the price value. There are still few receivers that handle both digital formats, and the rest are going to cost alot more for what amounts to so much less. 3 or 4 hundred watts at best, designed mainly for aestethic purposes.If I had one complaint about anything it would be the remote codes and not the subwoofer's supposed "lack of power". The remote doesn't have more than a few codes for different DBS receivers, and yes if you own a product widely popular in a far off country thats going to be a problem, but it shouldn't be if you own a Philips.All in all I STRONGLY recommend purchasing an RT2500,if not two or more before stock runs out.