i wanted to buy system...one that comes with 2 speakers, a woofer, and a center speaker....any recommendations, i want a pretty cheap one.....i already hav a stereo system....is there any way to connect the amp system to the stereo system i have?
you'd be better off with a 4 channel surround system. center channels don't add that much to a home theater setup. surrounds on the other hand offer a dramatic improvement to DVDs and even TV shows.
what are you trying to do with your stereo? it really sounds like you're just trying to get a different stereo or are asking about using your current stereo for surround duty?
"i want too hook my old system up to a new one" is extremely vague.
if you want a home theater system, it's a good idea to have speakers that are all matched. there are some very cheap complete home theater packages out there that include a surround reciever, 5 speakers and a sub.
if you wanted to use your amp as a surround, you'd either have to buy a DVD player that has multichannel outs so your reciever could get it's surround channels and have to deal with adjusting your mains and surrounds volume seperately, or you'd have to buy a more expensive reciever that offers surround outs (but it would already be a surround reciever to begin with)
it sounds like you're trying to turn stereo into home theater.
cheap is good. i like cheap, but you'll get alot better quality for your money if you carefully shop for seperates.
if you don't need the absolute last word in quality, then get a surround package like sony's HT-DDW470 which includes everything for $300 at one store in yahoo shopping. if you want alot better sound though, get seperates.
saving money is nice, but you also get what you pay for too at some point. you can get giant killer sound for very little money though, but more than $300.
$220 (delivered) for a panasonic SA-XR55 100wpc reciever (awesome sound for below average price) but there are cheaper ones. mine has made my speakers sound better than 2 more expensive reviers i used before it.
$400 for 2 pairs of REALLY good minimonitors (love my discontinued NHT superzeros, but paradigm, energy, aperion, PSB, athena and others all offer nice speakers in that range) or for $200 for 2 pairs of entry level ones
and $200 for a "real" subwoofer is money better spent in my opinion. you can get cheap subs for as little as $100 though.
If your stereo amp has an extra auxiliary input, then you can plumb most AV systems through it. Provided the AV receiver you choose has a set of pre-outs, you can take the front left and right pre-outs into the auxiliary input on the stereo amp.
You'd set up the system such that you preset the volume on the stereo amp at a high value (say 12 o'clock on the dial) and then set the relative levels of the speakers via the AV receiver. Then every time you want to play a DVD, just switch the stereo amp to the auxiliary input and set the volume control to 12 o'clock and use the AV receiver as the master volume control from then on.
Some modern stereo amps have a 'unity gain' or 'bypass' feature which allows the stereo amp to be used as a power amp, bypassing hte volume control. This is a neat feature but it's not absolutely necessary as I've shown above.