this system be loud . watch tv with it , I rarely if ever turn it up about 12 . watch movie I have listen at 15 on the volume control . once , just out of curiousity , I turn it up to the max -lrb- 40 -rrb- and be amaze to hear -lrb- with what be leave of my hearing -rrb- almost no degradation in sound quality . I also get a noise complaint from 3 story down and diagonally across the dorm building . extremely impressive power . the most impressive thing be the ability to decode DTS right in the system . this make the system excellent for anyone look for a simple system that provide a top-notch audio experience . the lack of a component out put be actually not as much of a concern as I now run hdmus , so I run it directly to the tv and then run a Optical audio cable to the input on the speaker . you still get the 5.1 no problem . I have use this system for 4 year now with my ps2 , tv and watch dvd and I must say that I have friend invite themselves over just to watch movie and play game at my house because of the sound . excellent , excellent system with clean , simple design .