Surround Sound Question

[Drachen]

I want to buy a surround sound system. I don't have one and it is getting annoying because I like to listen to music loudly. The things I would like are DLNA compliance (this is negotiable as long as I can connect anything via a bluetooth connection), I would like wireless rear speakers (this is pretty much non-negotiable unless the price is dynamite and I can upgrade the speakers later on without buying a whole new system), and I would like internet connectivity.

I realize that this is a tall order especially since I don't want to spend more than 300 dollars, but does anyone have any kind of suggestions?

[diego]

I did the research but never made a purchase

basically, what most people will tell/ask is:

1) how much of an audiophile are you? home theather in a box (htib), no matter how expensive, will not match up well to separate hi fi components. personally for my ears and budget htib is fine but most audiophiles cant stand them

2) what is your primary use? if you are just going to listen to music, surround is probably not that useful. Movies and to a lesser extent games are the only thing that will really take advantadge of it. Most will tell you that for music 2 good speakers, with or w/o subwoofer, are better than 5.1 or 7.1 (most music is recorded stereo, not surround)

3) if you are dead set on surround and want a better experience, most people will tell you to look at the receiver to make sure it supports the right formats, and to look at how much power it can send to each speaker, and whether it supports an active sub woofer. Some HTIB from better companies support active subwoofers, supposedly this is important if you like action movies.

4) Something that is becoming popular among audiophiles is to buy used equipment from the 70's / 80's. Supposedly this was the golden age of hi fi, and the stuff made now is all bells and whistles but neutered in power and quality. I have no way to verify because I dont live in the US, but supposedly you can find really good systems from that time and have them fixed up for the same price as a new system, with much better sound quality and power.


I still havent bought anything because literally all I can get here in Chile is over priced crap, so I'm still holding on to my 80's era stereo setup till I can find something better...

[leemajors]

2) what is your primary use? if you are just going to listen to music, surround is probably not that useful. Movies and to a lesser extent games are the only thing that will really take advantadge of it. Most will tell you that for music 2 good speakers, with or w/o subwoofer, are better than 5.1 or 7.1 (most music is recorded stereo, not surround)

this is pretty much why i never bothered. i am pretty sure wireless stuff is still pretty expensive, but I could easily be wrong.

[diego]

sorry, I didnt see the $300 limit; Im pretty sure you can find an onkyo htib with active sub for that money, but it definitely wont have wireless speakers or internet, and probably not dlna either. Though these days its pretty easy to get those features from other sources (ie, cellphones, media players, netbooks, htpc, etc etc.) Most onboard internet solutions on TV / Home theaters are pretty limited anyway.

[diego]

occasionally there are deals for htib with wireless rear speakers, but in both cases I saw such deals, there was a lot of fine print (ie, it included the rear speakers and an adaptor to send a signal to them, but you had to buy the wireless receiver for the speaker; or that it had a ridiculously short range and you had to buy an extender for it, that sort of thing). But its not necessarily hundreds of dollars more as it once was. Still, for 300 if I were you I would just focus on inputs, formats, and as much power and quality as possible, the other stuff is superfluous and basically out of your budget unless you go for something really cheap like the typical LG bluray HT with 5 identical mini-satellites, a passive sub, no optical in/out, but all of the net stuff like dlna and internet..

[diego]

oh, most rear wireless speakers still require power, kind of putting a drag on the whole wireless thing.

[diego]

here are a couple of links talking about vintage gear and how it supposedly trumps modern equipment in the quality department

http://monroetalks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24193.0

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blo...-sound-forever

[Cry Havoc]

http://www.fluance.com/shop-speakers.html

At that price range, this is probably your best bet.

[Drachen]

Wow, I really appreciate y'alls help. The questions y'all asked made me think and I guess I really don't need surround sound right now. My wife and talked about it and though we really thing SS would be nice to have, we can deal without it for now. A 2.1 channel solution would probably be better for us until we can spend a good chunk of money on something. Does anyone have any suggestions? I kinda looked around and it seems that there is an LG soundbar with a wireless sub at BB for 200 right now, it has bluetooth connectivity, but it has two problems. 1. My wife said she likes to listen to the radio sometimes. Not internet radio or pandora, but just the radio (and it doesn't have a receiver just two optical [not hdmi] inputs and bluetooth connectivity). 2. It think someone in here said that LG soundbar's suck, so that would stop me as well.

[Drachen]

Oh, and I am not a major audiophile. I just want my music loud, crisp, and not distorted.

[Drachen]

http://www.fluance.com/shop-speakers.html

At that price range, this is probably your best bet.

I still don't have a receiver though.

OH, and I don't care if it is a "solution in a box" at the moment.

Basically, I am settling because I have had the same requirements for the past year, and I still don't have a stereo system. LOL (I used to have a freakin sweet Onkyo from 89, but I made the mistake of sharing a storage space with someone who didn't pay their half and I lost it (along with a lot of other cool stuff). That thing had inputs and outputs for DAYS. LOL. Anyway, if anyone has any other suggestions I am all ears.

[Frenzy]

Been meaning to upgrade my surround. It's like 6 or 7 years old. Pioneer has been good to me via that system. I used it daily and turned up the volume plenty of times. Still sounds good..just well it looks old

It's a cd/dvd/recevier that's not given me one problem just it ...it looks old ..I'm so superficial

[leemajors]

i'd start with a good receiver and build out from there. you can find a bluetooth ready receiver easily and they all normally have radios built in. i'll leave the recommendations on exactly what to CH, but I am sure there are some good deals out there this weekend. Are you able to push music to your WD Live using your phone? You could even skip bluetooth if you could do that.

[Drachen]

i'd start with a good receiver and build out from there. you can find a bluetooth ready receiver easily and they all normally have radios built in. i'll leave the recommendations on exactly what to CH, but I am sure there are some good deals out there this weekend. Are you able to push music to your WD Live using your phone? You could even skip bluetooth if you could do that.

Yes, I can do that, so I guess that is true. I was looking at receivers by themselves just now. I think that I have an old pair of speakers in the attic. So I could just get a receiver and hook up those speakers until I can save up more. Is Onkyo still a good brand? How about Pioneer?


(I just hope I have that pair of speakers, otherwise, it would suck.

[Cry Havoc]

Drachen, do you live in SA? You could also check out some craigslist deals, I'd be happy to give you info on any components you see that look interesting.

[Cry Havoc]

Also, I should point out that the nice benefit of buying separate components is that you can acquire them gradually and build up your dream system piece by piece. I bought my towers on craigslist and got a fantastic deal on them, then pieced the system together around the first two over the course of several months.

[Drachen]

Drachen, do you live in SA? You could also check out some craigslist deals, I'd be happy to give you info on any components you see that look interesting.

yeah, I do live in SA. I will look on CL.
I will ask one question. Can Receivers act as video passthroughs these days? I mean, can you plug all of your electronics into the stereo, and have one HDMI cable that goes to the TV?

Also, what is a good wattage to look for?

[leemajors]

yeah, I do live in SA. I will look on CL.
I will ask one question. Can Receivers act as video passthroughs these days? I mean, can you plug all of your electronics into the stereo, and have one HDMI cable that goes to the TV?

Also, what is a good wattage to look for?

some have several hdmi ports, yes.

[Drachen]

some have several hdmi ports, yes.

Right, and this will tell you how long it has been since I have had a stereo set up, but the last time I did something like this, I had to plug into the tv for video, and the stereo for audio which creates a whole mess of chords. I am assuming that now you can plug all of your stuff into the stereo itself and it sends both audio and video signals down one HDMI cable which is connected to the tv. Is this the case? and if so, how do you get the TV to play through the sound system. Is that one HDMI cable two way, or do you have to run another HDMI cable back to the stereo in order to do so?

[Drachen]

how are these?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Yamaha+-...8#BVRRWidgetID

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pioneer+...dio&cp=10&lp=4

[leemajors]

hdmi does sound and video. you would just need hdmi from multiple sources into the receiver then one hdmi to the tv. a lot less cable, thankfully.

[DMC]

Wow, I really appreciate y'alls help. The questions y'all asked made me think and I guess I really don't need surround sound right now. My wife and talked about it and though we really thing SS would be nice to have, we can deal without it for now. A 2.1 channel solution would probably be better for us until we can spend a good chunk of money on something. Does anyone have any suggestions? I kinda looked around and it seems that there is an LG soundbar with a wireless sub at BB for 200 right now, it has bluetooth connectivity, but it has two problems. 1. My wife said she likes to listen to the radio sometimes. Not internet radio or pandora, but just the radio (and it doesn't have a receiver just two optical [not hdmi] inputs and bluetooth connectivity). 2. It think someone in here said that LG soundbar's suck, so that would stop me as well.

I did the 2.1 in one of my downstairs living rooms and it's worked out great. I went with the Samsung sound bar and wireless sub. Just do your research if you are using it for TV because there can be some sound delay issues.

[DMC]

how are these?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Yamaha+-...8#BVRRWidgetID

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pioneer+...dio&cp=10&lp=4

Both will serve your purpose. Neither have speakers.

[diego]

Right, and this will tell you how long it has been since I have had a stereo set up, but the last time I did something like this, I had to plug into the tv for video, and the stereo for audio which creates a whole mess of chords. I am assuming that now you can plug all of your stuff into the stereo itself and it sends both audio and video signals down one HDMI cable which is connected to the tv. Is this the case? and if so, how do you get the TV to play through the sound system. Is that one HDMI cable two way, or do you have to run another HDMI cable back to the stereo in order to do so?

i'm pretty sure this feature is called ARC (audio return channel) for the TV to send its audio input to the receiver through the same HDMI cable that is feeding the TV video from the receiver; you need a HDMI 1.4 spec TV and cables though (my TV's are 1.3 )

[diego]

the alternative is to hook your cable/sat/antenna directly to the receiver, and then just the video from the receiver to the tv and disable the TV speakers