Author Topic: new sound system (Read 604 times)

keviny1 · « **on:** February 26, 2012, 05:37:28 PM »

ill start off by saying i love watching movies on my home theater setup, i currently have a magnavox bluray player and a phillips dvd surround sound system. i was thinking about selling both and get a bluray/surround sound combo such as a http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/tv-video/home-theatre/home-theatre-systems/HT-D5130/ZC . What do you guys think about this decision? i do not have a whole lot of knowledge in the sound system department, just that it makes the movie experience so much better.

halfelite · « **Reply #1 on:** February 26, 2012, 11:11:36 PM »

What is your budget? Most theaters in a box are not very good, they are under powered and priced a little high. If You are willing to spend a little more you can piece together something that will last you a long time.

keviny1 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 26, 2012, 11:18:20 PM »

400 was my limit. thats including what i get from selling the other equipment. so your saying it would be better off if i went and bought a receiver and speakers separately?

halfelite · « **Reply #3 on:** February 27, 2012, 12:44:30 AM »

Yes. the main issue with the all in ones is they usually have minimal port options. So if you have a lot of devices they cant use it. another option is look at the boxes like these http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S5400-7-1-Channel-Theater-System/dp/B004O0TREC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1330306732&sr=8-5 that come with a semi decent receiver. Usually only thing they lack is upscaling of sd sources to hdmi output. Then later down the road you can add a nice set of speakers to it to make it a very nice setup.

datora · « **Reply #4 on:** February 27, 2012, 05:20:31 AM »

.
I was looking at this one very carefully:

ONKYO HT-S3400 5.1 Home Theater System

Currently on sale for $250 delivered ... unfortunately, the clearance sale on it ends 27 Feb ... so time is real short just now to make a decision.

You would then need to buy a blu ray player to plug into it, but it's got a lot of flexibility to connect a lot of things through. For the money, the quality would be very difficult (maybe even impossible) to beat. Most everything else I've seen with similar specs and positive reviews/customer happiness runs in the $350 to $600 range. And up.

I would have bought this last week, except I just couldn't scrape the funds together for it.

kitamesume · « **Reply #5 on:** February 27, 2012, 08:57:25 AM »

^ lol dat price.

find a sound system with an HDMI pass-through, you'll need it when Hi10P or 10Bit gets too popular and hardware players still doesn't support them.

the purpose of this is for your sound system to receive the audio signal via HDMI connection from your player/HTPC and pass the video to the TV as is without modifying it, so if your player/HTPC sends out 1080P then the TV will receive 1080P. well since most TVs doesn't have built in 5.1/7.1 sound system on them or just sounds horrible... you get the idea.

HTPCs will auto-magically upscale SD sources btw.

but i do have to warn you, any path you'd choose will be expensive, be it buying decent amplifiers + decent speakers and being contended with analog outputs, or going pure digital via decent AVRs.

keviny1 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 27, 2012, 03:49:50 PM »

Hmmm that onkyo system on newegg looks like something that I would be interested in. Only thing with that sale is though that I live in Canada and newegg.ca don't have any home theater system from what I can see.

halfelite · « **Reply #7 on:** February 27, 2012, 06:59:48 PM »

This is what I am currently running

Onkyo tx-sr608 http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR608-7-2-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B003BIFOL8
htd level 2 from front and center http://www.htd.com/Products/level-two-speakers
ED a4.b for surrounds
Energy V-Mini rear surrounds - http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en/products/v-mini-overview/
ED A3-250 sub - http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_41&products_id=951

You can always find deals on the onkyo setups check out amazon as they usually have same things as newegg.

halfelite · « **Reply #8 on:** February 27, 2012, 07:04:32 PM »

Quote from: kitamesume on February 27, 2012, 08:57:25 AM

HTPCs will auto-magically upscale SD sources btw.

If this was about my not supporting up scaling it was not about video, If you say have a wii that is composite connection the AVR will need a analog composite cable to the tv On lower end models as they dont support taking analog sd signals and going digital over hdmi, The higher end model avr's will do this Like what I run but I have not seen any of the ones in the box sets do it. More then likely he is looking at this setup for more then just anime watching.

kitamesume · « **Reply #9 on:** February 27, 2012, 07:36:00 PM »

^ i didnt mean it that way, i meant it for the HDMI pass-through where an HTPC could upscale any SD sources you play on it so the TV would always receive a full 1080p no problem at all.

plus hes on a budget, the avrs you're mentioning costs 2-4x his budget.

halfelite · « **Reply #10 on:** February 27, 2012, 08:06:01 PM »

Always good to give people options. Buy a nice AVR now or upgrade in a couple years you pay the same amount.

mgz · « **Reply #11 on:** February 28, 2012, 12:51:53 AM »

Quote from: kitamesume on February 27, 2012, 08:57:25 AM

^ lol dat price.

find a sound system with an HDMI pass-through, you'll need it when Hi10P or 10Bit gets too popular and hardware players still doesn't support them.

the purpose of this is for your sound system to receive the audio signal via HDMI connection from your player/HTPC and pass the video to the TV as is without modifying it, so if your player/HTPC sends out 1080P then the TV will receive 1080P. well since most TVs doesn't have built in 5.1/7.1 sound system on them or just sounds horrible... you get the idea.

HTPCs will auto-magically upscale SD sources btw.

but i do have to warn you, any path you'd choose will be expensive, be it buying decent amplifiers + decent speakers and being contended with analog outputs, or going pure digital via decent AVRs.

you can end up with a really solid low end get up for like 850
thats 5.0surround 5.1 for another roughly 100-150
using polk monitor 70s tower speakers in front cs2 center and monitor 40 or w/e in the rear
with a minimum of 200 on your receiver
towers on sale go for 150 each - 300
center on sale is 99 - 100
rears on sale 130 pair - 130
decent receiver - 300
and you have a solid ass sound system that will shit bricks on movies and sound great for music
throw a sub in there for roughly 125
these prices happen at least once a month for speakers on newegg

halfelite · « **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2012, 01:22:29 AM »

Quote from: mgz on February 28, 2012, 12:51:53 AM

you can end up with a really solid low end get up for like 850
thats 5.0surround 5.1 for another roughly 100-150
using polk monitor 70s tower speakers in front cs2 center and monitor 40 or w/e in the rear
with a minimum of 200 on your receiver
towers on sale go for 150 each - 300
center on sale is 99 - 100
rears on sale 130 pair - 130
decent receiver - 300
and you have a solid ass sound system that will shit bricks on movies and sound great for music
throw a sub in there for roughly 125
these prices happen at least once a month for speakers on newegg

I would pass on towers myself and get a better sub with bookshelf's that have a nice driver. Towers are good if you like to max the volume, or listen to a lot of 2 channel stuff or heavy into music, For movies and things i prefer all bookshelf with quality subs but all depends on preference and room size

mgz · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2012, 03:40:56 AM »

if you are skipping the towers then you can grab 2 extra pairs of the monitor 40s and a sub and make it 7.1

keviny1 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 05, 2012, 08:46:06 PM »

what do you guys think about this system as a starter system for a good entertainment center?
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/onkyo-onkyo-800-watts-7-1-channel-3d-receiver-home-theatre-system-hts5400-hts5400/10167716.aspx?path=05bdd23b908a6ad3a1e96f6d22dca7bcen02

halfelite · « **Reply #15 on:** March 05, 2012, 10:02:48 PM »

that is a decent setup, does it have enough connection that you will need enough hdmi ports/composite/component?

keviny1 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:27:04 PM »

I believe so, it has 4 hdmi inputs, so one for pc, bluray, and Xbox. So leaves me with an extra hdmi. Only composite I would have would be if I play a ps2 game. So that's leaves a few extra of those.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #17 on:** March 07, 2012, 06:29:42 PM »

I want this.

... Badly ...

kitamesume · « **Reply #18 on:** March 07, 2012, 06:54:53 PM »

^lol, nasty price though.

well since we're talking about sound systems i'm gonna hijack this thread a bit.
anyone got a comment for sennheiser HD 428? i got my eye on it and it seems good.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #19 on:** March 07, 2012, 06:58:06 PM »

Quote from: kitamesume on March 07, 2012, 06:54:53 PM

^lol, nasty price though.

well since we're talking about sound systems i'm gonna hijack this thread a bit.
anyone got a comment for sennheiser HD 428? i got my eye on it and it seems good.

I never liked the one I bought in 2004. It was good but had issues. The Z5500 was really good - I bought this one really cheap in early 2008 for like 140 US dollars (plus $40 shipping) and am really happy with it. Now I want that one up there. Seems like the stock cables aren't great so I'll have to get copper ones.