right now, i have a denon s510bt hooked up to my tv(lg) with a pair of onkyo left and right front speakers, onkyo center channel, powered base(don’t remember the brand), and onkyo rear surround speakers. it’s halfway decent…but i’m lookin to go better(without breaking the bank, 'cause i’m a broke-ass-bitch, lol). the reciever i’m using only has ports for front left/right/center, the pre-out for the subwoofer, and for a pair of rear surround speakers. they do half way decent as mentioned…but i’m looking for a setup that will very literally surround me in the goings on in whatever movie i’m watching.
i think my current setup is also somewhat limited due to my having to use an optical cable for the sound output, as this reciever apparently can’t handle hd when i hook it up through hdmi into the tv.
don’t care the brand…i had onkyo reciever in the past, and i had a pioneer at one point. same with speakers. i just want decent “get lost in the movie” kinda sound. right now the setup’s in a 10x14 room. it may get moved into a slightly larger room, but that depends if i upgrade to a larger tv…which is a possibility too. yea…i watch too much tv. i know…
and finally…i know a very little about this stuff, so any suggestions…act as if i’m clueless please, lolol
kinda like…if i chose to crank the shiit outta the volume while watching…oo…i dunno…midway for instance…it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if the rest of the block were listening to it too.
I’m a big fan of Yamaha A/V receivers. Almost all have 7 channels. Mid price around $600. Higher end well over $1,000. Whatever your budget spend 50% on speakers. A mid priced receiver will sound good with great speakers but a top of the line receiver with budget speakers will sound like a budget system.
As to you being clueless the Yamaha’s come with a microphone you plug into the receiver for set up. It will automatically set levels for all speakers in the system. I’ve had to do some tweaking after set up but I’m a picky listener.
I really think you have to go listen to stuff to make these decisions. After listening to several brands and lines I found Paradigm equipment, for example, and it sounds really natural to me, unlike some of the Sonys which were really bright.
So I used to be in this space many years ago and still do a job here and there when time allows. The first question is always budget. Just like firearms you can go down a rabbit hole very quickly with audio. If you care to share your budget I can offer some suggestions that have proven to be reliable over the years.
i was/am trying to not go batshiit crazy…i was thinking soft limit 2k. i kinda feel that should get me above entry level. i don’t have tons of loot to spare on anything right now…but one of my escapes from the pressures of normal life(besides range time) is watching movies or decent series’s. i want to be able to immerse myself in them when i’m watching. as mentioned, right now, the room the setup’s in is about 10x14 with a drop ceiling at about 9ft high. 2 of the walls are stone, other 2 sheetrock, tongue and groove wood floor with vinyl flooring over it.
as mentioned with brands…i liked my old onkyo, and for the most part i’m not unhappy with the current denon(it’s just too old i think for what i’m trying to do). but i’m not beholden to any one brand, and i’m not even concerned if i need to mix n match. just want as awesome as i can get within reason.
I have a Denon 7.1 receiver but I only run 5.1 front speakers are Yamaha towers , the center channel is Bose my surround speakers are Bose 201s the sub is a 10” Velodyne CHT. I tried the automatic speaker volume setup I didn’t like it You get much better sound when you manually control all the speaker volume
For your $2k budget I’d look at RSL Speakers (sorry can’t post links). They are currently running a sale and offer Denon or Onkyo receivers that you can bundle with a speaker package that can be had at that price point. I have installed two of their CG23M 5.1 setups and the value to sound ratio is hard to beat. Plus they offer a 30 day return if you are not happy. As another poster mentioned sound is subjective and it’s best to listen to several brands to see what appeals to you. Everyone’s “best for the $$” is going to be different. 20 years ago when I bought my first home I went to a mom and pop audio store that carried mid end equipment and did a blind listening of the same track with several setups and ultimately choose equipment that was half my budget. Unfortunately most of those stores are gone.
No receiver for me. My old LG SJ4R 4.1 just dimed out yesterday. Always had issues with it. Always losing connection and the dialog was terrible.
You have a much bigger budget than I do. Bought a JBL 500 5.1. Dialog is crisp and the sub will rattle the windows. Might add rear wireless speakers in the future. Much better systems out there though for under 2G’s
one of my older onkyo recievers crapped on my about 8 years ago. that’s when i found the setup i have now. i bought it used off of craigslist for a couple hundred bucks. i don’t >wanna< spend that kind of loot…but the fact is that i watch too much tv and dvd’s…and at my age i’m not gonna change, so i want to enjoy the crap outta it. in all honesty, i’m hoping to find a great combination at half of that price. i’m not opposed to used…hell…i’ve trash-picked my lawnmowers for the last 40 years, lololol
i’m on their website now. i get it that the sound is subjective…but in my area there’s really no place i can go to listen to bunches of different brands. i guess i could try best buy, but i don’t wanna go somewhere where some kid’s gonna just try to push whatever they have in stock on me. i don’t think there’s any mom n pop stores around anymore. i might try them out…was looking at this…<<10E CG23M 5.1 HOME THEATER SYSTEM>>>> with this rx <<Denon AVR-X1800H (7.2 Ch. 80W 8K)>> and i like that they’re wired, as i don’t honestly want wireless. i dunno if that’s me being an almost-old fudd or what…but i want wired. which brings me to another question…any wiring better than others?
i REALLY appreciate all of the input that you guys are giving me
That’s what makes RSL appealing…the fact they offer a 30 day return, you can demo the system in your environment. Of course if you’re not happy shipping cost back to them would be on you. There was once a time when they offered free return shipping but those days are long gone.
As for speaker cable, choose something that is pure copper and not copper clad aluminum (cca). I’d recommend monoprice’s 14/2 cl2 rated cable for in wall use. A 100’ roll can be purchased from Amazon for $60. CL2 rated cable is good for in wall use in non-duct wall spaces, meaning it is not rated for use in wall spaces that house panned air returns/feeds. If you are running under carpet the jacket must be rated CMUC. With your drop ceiling it should be fairly easy to run in wall and avoid under carpet.
Appreciate the offer. I don’t understand the need to spend additional $ on a receiver if most stand alone 5.1 and above sound bar systems can get it done. I guess it’s all about the watts
Do you guys use your receiver for cd or turntable or some other media also?
Yes, I have a Kenwood component setup I got in the early 90s. While we don’t use the tape deck much these days, we do use the CD player/changer (I’ve collected way too many CDs over those years!) There’s also a separate EQ through Tape2 which has an input my daughter appreciates to hook up her guitar. Recently I re-foamed the Cerwin Vega 150s that are attached, back to partying like it’s 1999.
My old LG SJ4R 4.1 just dimed out yesterday. Always had issues with it. Always losing connection and the dialog was terrible.
Bought a JBL 500 5.1. Dialog is crisp and the sub will rattle the windows. Might add rear wireless speakers in the future. Much better systems out there though for under 2G’s
I don’t understand the need to spend additional $ on a receiver if most stand alone 5.1 and above sound bar systems can get it done. I guess it’s all about the watts
