Help with receiver for Elac 5.1 speakers

by Trish
(Cornwall)

I have inherited inbuilt Elac 5 speakers and a subwoofer. What do I buy to 'make them work'. I have never owned anything more than a plug in and go stereo hifi system so please go easy on the jargon.

Thanks, Trish

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Hi

I'm slightly confused by the term 'inbuilt' that you used.

Are the speakers something like these?

Elac Starlet 5.1 Speaker Package

If so, then you need a 5.1 (or 7.1) AV receiver. Even if your speakers are different to these, a basic AV receiver will probably be fine.

You connect your source devices (DVD player, Blu-ray, Sky TV box etc.) into the receiver. The receiver then sends the audio to your speakers (via speaker cable), and the picture to your TV (probably via HDMI).

There is more detail here in our guide to the AV receiver - and a more general overview here in an introduction to surround sound systems.

Assuming the speakers aren't anything out of the ordinary (something like the ones in the link), then an entry-level AV receiver will probably do fine.

For example, the Onkyo TX-SR508 or the Yamaha RXV465. Although there are lots of other alternatives.

Hope that helps a bit.

All the best.

Paul (Site Editor)

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