200w or 1000w?

[PsychoticEpisode]

Im looking to get a home theater system but I don't know what watt to get what is the difference in a 200w and a 1000w?(other than the power drawn from the wall) I have found 200w and 1000w in the $100-300 range so what sets them apart?

[Fred Castellum]

Hmm which one to get? Depends, do you want your lights to dim when you start playing music? ahhahah

[maxgamble2]

depends how power hungry the components you pick are, the higher the wattage the more high end components your psu will be able to support

[Tam3n]

The wattage is like how much "audio power" the system has. Bigger wattage probably means more/bigger/louder speakers. The 1000 W system can probably go a lot louder than the 200 W one...

[WolfStrong]

Don't buy based on the wattage. Essentially the wattage is a rating at how much power the speakers can handle, which presumably makes them louder. The problem with buying systems based on wattage is that it isn't as simple as that. Speakers have different efficiencies, and wattage is rating in both RMS (average power) and peak (maximum handling power). That, and coupled with the fact that you don't need much power to get loud, is why I personally recommend people not to buy on wattage. Unless this is an auditorium, a concert, or something of the nature, chances are you only need ~15-30 amps/channel for the fronts (with as little as 5-15 for the rear channels if going surround). The best thing to look for is the quality of the speaker first and foremost, and then selecting a receiver that will have enough power to drive those speakers. Usually those 'speakers in a box' that most retailers sell are absolute junk. My $20 Lepai amp is probably better at driving 2 channels than most of the cheap receivers included in those gags. The other joke on this is that often the 'high' watt systems have very weak satellites, then throw a subwoofer with a huge peak wattage requirement, and that is how they get the 1000watts. Reality is that 1000watt receiver may only be able to provide 20watts RMS/channel, and the subwoofer may be so horribly inefficient that it takes tons of power to make a very small amount of sound...the 200watt system may be better or worse; it is anyones guess.

 

Really, my best question for you is, what you are looking for? $300 is a very tight, almost impossible budget to get a good quality surround system. It is, however, enough to put together a decent 2.0/2.1 system that will put that surround system to shame.