Pioneer KURO PDP-5020FD 50-inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

[MrBoylan]

Pioneer rolls its last home-built KURO plasma HDTV off the assembly lines and it should surprise no one that it sets a new standard in black level performance.

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[MartinH]

I just ordered a 5020FD and want to know if I can use the attached speakers as my center channel speakers. I have a 5.1 home theater system and would like to use the TV's speakers instead of finding a special cabinet just to house my stereo's larger center channel.

[MrBoylan]

I just ordered a 5020FD and want to know if I can use the attached speakers as my center channel speakers. I have a 5.1 home theater system and would like to use the TV's speakers instead of finding a special cabinet just to house my stereo's larger center channel.

The speakers on the 5020FD are detachable and accept a standard speaker wire so yes, you can use them as a center channel. But there are a couple of things to consider if you do this.

The 5020 speakers are a stereo pair of speakers, so you'll have to connect them up in SERIES to prevent damaging your receiver. This will probably lower the overall volume, but your receiver should be able to compensate for this in its level adjustments or auto-calibration facility.

Alternatively, if you are using an external multi-channel power amp and you have two channels available, then you can take the center channel preamp output of your preamp or receiver and use a Y jack to split this out to two amplifier channels and drive each of the Pioneer's speakers with one amp.

Speaking of amps, the 5020's built-in speakers are usually driven by the TV's built in amp which is only around 18 Watts/channel. If you drive them with a lot more power, you might possibly damage them. Unlikely but possible, particularly if you like to listen loud.

Last thing to consider is the tonal matching of the speakers. The Pioneer's built-in speakers sound pretty good as far as TV speakers go, but they are probably very different (tonally) from your main speakers. Ideally you want the same exact speakers across the front, left and right, or at least speakers that are similar in design from the same brand. If you don't do this then it might sound weird when sounds move across the front soundstage, e.g., a Harley may turn into a Honda is it moves from left to center then back into a Harley as it moves from center to right.

Honestly I think your best bet is not to use the Pioneer speakers at all, and just place your 5.1-channel system's center speaker below the panel where the Pioneer speaker bar would have gone. There is a decent amount of space between the bottom of the panel and the stand if you do not install the Pioneer speaker bar so even a fairly large center channel speaker will fit there. This does mean you will have no TV sound when the surround system is off, but if you want to be able to hear the TV sound, then you can always hook the TV's speaker outputs to a smaller pair of speakers that you place to the left and right of the TV.

Hope that helps.

-CB

[Daylightdon]

Looking for a 50 inch Kuro that is less than 32 inches high with the stand.

[MrBoylan]

Looking for a 50 inch Kuro that is less than 32 inches high with the stand.

Nope. This one is 34 1/8 inches high with stand. The panel itself (w/o stand or speakers) is 28 15/32" and with the speakers alone it's 31 5/8".

And this is the last of the KUROs (the last of the Pioneer HDTVs at all, in fact) so if you don't get this one, you will need to go with another brand.

The PDP-5020FD is really cheap now (relatively speaking), on Amazon with free delivery right into your house for $1949.98:

• PDP-5020FD on Amazon.com

-CB