Customer Reviews

RCA RT2500 Dolby Digital Home Theater System

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an Surround Sound Expert, I have done everything from headphone amp design, to Surround Sound DSP's
I consult new home builders on how to wire, and hook-up home theatres. They often ask what I have at home, and I tell them this system. (and they can't beleave it's under a $1000)

I have listened to a lot of systems, and this system is the Absolute BEST system you can get for under $2500

The speakers are crystal clear, they can handle un-realistic volume levels without distorting. (I tested this system to 125 decibles! A gun shot is 120db's)

Yes the Sub is a little lacking,
(AND IT IS POWERED and Active, not passive)
Some people get confused because the sub's amplifier isn't inside the Subwoofers casel; it is inside the Receiver
(Open your system up and you will see a HUGE amp that drives the sub)

Want more bass? DON'T REPLACE THE SPEAKERS
(You will never find any speakers that are clearer and as high power as these.)
The system still has a PreAMP subwoofer output.
Go out and buy yourself a second subwoofer and hook it up.
SHIELDED!!!)

After much research, I bought the RT2500. Some key factors in my decision on buying this system were:

1) A huge jack-pack with enough S-Video inputs for my DVD player and my DirecTV Satellite. It's amazing, but in my research, I found a lot of comparably priced systems that did not have S-Video inputs. This one has plenty!

2) I took the advice of one of the other reviewers. I liked the fact that this system has two subwoofer outputs. One of the only receivers I found to have this. I just happened to have an active subwoofer lying around. So I hooked that up to the sub pre-out, and hooked the sub that came with the system up as well. Wow, better bass than I could ever imagine!

3) Price. I wanted a system with a lot of features in the [money] price range. In that range, this was the only one with everything I needed.

After hooking it up, I popped in the shootout scene from Heat. The only thing I could possibly say to describe it is "Wow!" Music sounds great on it, too. It's only been a day, but I'm more than satisfied with my purchase.

I bought this system in order to tie into my RCA DVD Player and RCA Television. I also wanted something with a lot of power, as well being able to use it as my home stereo. This works great! I bought a 5 disc RCA DVD Player, and the sound is excellent on CD's and DVDs. I have had a number of people compliment on the sound from CD's on the DVD Player. Most say it is better, louder and has much less distortion then there home stereos.

Now, some will disagree with this assertion, but remember, you can have the RCA DVD player AND the Surround Sound for less than a Grand!! Yes, if you buy a $20,000 stereo, I'm sure the sound will be better, but for the $$, this is the way to go.

I agree the Subwoofer is a little weak, and may have been better if it was self powered. The power unit itself is excellent, and was very easy to hook up and operate. Great bang for your buck!

I have had this system for about 8 months and I have to say I think it is great. Sure you can get better systems but your gonna pay a bit more. The only real gripe I can see anyone having is that the system pieces are somewhat large and bulky compared to the current slim and ultra compact systems on the Market but that shouldnt be to much of problem with people who want a system that has packed all audio teckno goodies(minus THX)into an affordable and great sounding home theatre in a box. Buy this one!

I just want to add that recently I went out and purchased a pair of RCA floorstanding speakers, and holy (cow) talk about a great upgrade to this system!!!!!!!! I agree that the sub is a bit lacking but with the addition of the 12 inch woofers this thing rocks,they really fill out the midrange and I have more then enough bass for all my dvd viewing and I can really get things pumpin when when I fire up my RCA 5 disk cd player. I think I am in love!!

I bought this system for my bedroom theater. Because I am disabled, I wanted to have something that was not going to be too complicated and wanted a system from one manufacturer. I heard this system at a Radio Shack and even in the showroom environment it sounded very good. After installing it my bedroom, it sounds great. A better sub would be nice but that is immaterial as the bass from this system once you find a corner to place the sub is very good. The remote has no problem controlling all the RCA equipment that is attached to the receiver. The biggest nit I have is that the the receiver does not upconvert the video to the monitor so you need to have a monitor that has both s-video and composite inputs.

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.

Thats right, a home theatre package in one box. I started looking for a home theatre system around the hollidays. In the paper, magazines, on the web, and in the stores. With all different kinds of models and sizes its hard to decide whats right for you. Finally I decided I would just start with a simple home set up and improve from there because I didn't want to pump a bunch of money in an electronics package that was too expensive or just overwhelming. I came across radio shack looking for a new phone and thought I'd just check them out. To my astonishment they did. I downloaded the pdf file of the manual with the specs (I won't go into all of those) and price for comparisons to other systems. I was also getting a game console that has a dvd player (since I didn't own one I could kill two birds with one stone) and wanted the best sound I could get without taking out a loan. After looking around I decided to get this system because I didn't have to worry about separate multiple pieces, most small systems don't even have 500w, and for the money if I didn't like it then I could take it back or give it to someone as a gift :-) Upon inspecting the system I found it fairly easy to set up. The lines were color coded to the specific speakers and the manual was pretty self explanitory. My wife wanted the speakers to be mounted up on the walls (they had a service for that as well) so it was put in our den/kitchen (called a morning room) and though the speakers look a little big they looked fine after being installed (ceiling is at least 12-15 ft high). Let me tell you that the sound that this system produces is truly wonderful if you are looking for a starter or even and intermediate package this is it. Game playing is great, movies are like being at the theatre (never going back to vhs), and if you have a party or small gathering this baby can do very nicely. Even at 200w for the subwoofer it won't pack the punch you may be looking for. It won't shake the walls or give you the deeeep bass like the club or a great theatre but, is still nice and gets the job. You can add another (shielded) sub though to the reciever if you like to give you a little more umfff. I dare you to find a better system at this price.....don't bother because you won't....I've already been done that road.

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...!!!!