Soundbar vs Home Theatre

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bunmanchi said:
that sounds a little crazy. when i clicked on the Home theater section on Bestbuy's website, there were maybe 20 systems under 500.
you cant possibly imply that they are all garbage, there must be something decent in there.
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Yeah, they pretty much are. I did a ton of research about a year ago when I wanted to FINALLY get a decent sound system. I looked at some sound bars and honestly, they seem like a decent upgrade over tv speakers as long as you're not expecting actual surround sound. As much as they claim it has "virtual surround sound" or "simulated" or whatever, it just ain't the same and might not even work depending on the shape of your room.



Anyways, after doing a TON of research and reading a crapload of reviews I eventually settled on Energy Take Classic 5.1:

http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speaker-systems/energy-take-classic-5/4505-7868_7-33310963.html

And for a receiver:

Danon AVR-1912
http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers/denon-avr-1912/4505-6466_7-34647681.html

Both were one of the highest rated products at their respective price points but this was a year ago so there might be better products now. Got both for $1000 + Tax at Future Shop on sale. This is considered an "Entry level" or "budget" setup. If you want a higher end system you're looking at $500+ PER SPEAKER!

EDIT: Here is another set of speakers I was considering:

http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speaker-systems/pioneer-sp-pk21bs/4505-7868_7-34654855.html

EDIT2:

They have a similar deal on now as what I got but with a slightly updated version of the receiver and it costs $100 more. I would still say this is one of the best bundles you can get for the price:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/-/b0000712.aspx?path=8599e4cd879c985542fb1efe60fc733ben02

But it's more than twice OP's budget.
 
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When I was looking at this issue a couple of years ago, I decided that the sound bar just didn't cut it. What I did was watch the sales and slowly pick up pieces as they went on sale. Now I have Polk Monitor speakers in the front, a Polk Centre Speaker, a Polk Subwoofer, Wharfdale rear speakers and a Denon 7.1 channel receiver. Hooked up to my Samsung LED 3D TV, it blows you out of the water.

Compliments of buying items on sale, my total investment was under $1,000 (not counting the TV). Retail was more than that, but my patience paid off and I got what I wanted, at a price I could afford.
 
revrandy said:
When I was looking at this issue a couple of years ago, I decided that the sound bar just didn't cut it. What I did was watch the sales and slowly pick up pieces as they went on sale. Now I have Polk Monitor speakers in the front, a Polk Centre Speaker, a Polk Subwoofer, Wharfdale rear speakers and a Denon 7.1 channel receiver. Hooked up to my Samsung LED 3D TV, it blows you out of the water.

Compliments of buying items on sale, my total investment was under $1,000 (not counting the TV). Retail was more than that, but my patience paid off and I got what I wanted, at a price I could afford.
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Thats what I did and do. Originally had an out theatre in a box kit, a crappy RCA, but better then any tv. I upgraded my receiver, well 2 times, now sitting with a Harmon Kardon. I slowly bought speakers as they were on sale, first off was a powered sub I needed for the receiver. After that I waited for boxing day sales, or any sale really. Now have a klipch centre speakers, Polk Audio tower spears and Polk Audio rear speakers. Everything was either sale price of a last years model.
 
revrandy said:
When I was looking at this issue a couple of years ago, I decided that the sound bar just didn't cut it. What I did was watch the sales and slowly pick up pieces as they went on sale. Now I have Polk Monitor speakers in the front, a Polk Centre Speaker, a Polk Subwoofer, Wharfdale rear speakers and a Denon 7.1 channel receiver. Hooked up to my Samsung LED 3D TV, it blows you out of the water.

Compliments of buying items on sale, my total investment was under $1,000 (not counting the TV). Retail was more than that, but my patience paid off and I got what I wanted, at a price I could afford.
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Wow, sounds like where I started many years ago. Polk RT-series HT speakers all-around with Sony ES receiver off craigslist. Btw, Polk has pretty much the best customer service in the USA.
 
I picked up an entry level Onkyo 5.1 system for $299 at 2001 audio video this summer.

It's not a bad kit comes with a full featured reciever which I plan to piece meal better quality speakers around, from what I understand an entry level reciever wont limit your sound quality much, just the amount of features and I/Os you get.

The kit came with a passive sub which I understand is not a very good unit however it sounds fine to me and really all it does it vibrate so not too worried about quality there.

The bookshelf speakers are fine and output some great sound, I am not an audiophile and mainly only listen to MP3s so the sound quality is already bottlenecked at the music file.

My advice for your budget would be to get an entry level reciever / speaker bundle ($500) should be enough, and slowly build around that with better speakers.
 
I hear ya guys. If you buy decent components separately at least you can upgrade separately later and it won't kill your bank account doing it all at once. Also, speaker technology really doesn't change that much so investing in quality speakers doesn't seem like a terrible investment. I would actually say much safer than buying a top of the line TV. Receivers are a different story though.
 
optionfa said:
The bookshelf speakers are fine and output some great sound, I am not an audiophile and mainly only listen to MP3s so the sound quality is already bottlenecked at the music file.
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I would dissagree. Yes, MP3's are compressed but after about 192 kbits/s the loss of quality is pretty much undecipherable to the human ear but you can hear distortion from crappy spearkers and lack of low end/mid-range/bass, whatever but I will admit, playing electric guitar for a few years has made my ears very sensitive to the point where I guess I am an audiophile. Give me crappy $20 or stock ipod ear-buds and I'm ready to rage at the crap sound quality.
 
optionfa said:
The kit came with a passive sub which I understand is not a very good unit however it sounds fine to me and really all it does it vibrate so not too worried about quality there.
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This made me laugh. Thank you! Obviously, all your carton box passive sub does is vibrate, because it's simply not capable of doing anything else. I understand it's a niche hobby, just like biking, but what you said is basically saying - the only thing that brakes do on the bike is braking. Subwoofer is an integral part of the home theater, and arguably an integral part of a 2-channel music setup. I have a vintage rebuilt 15" Velodyne subwoofer (obviously active with an active crossover) in my music listening room, and two NHT SubTwo (500 Watts RMS each) subs in my home theater (equalized for room response with Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer setup equalizer). On my subs I can hear different bass strings in bass guitar or in a bass (you know, the giant jazz "violin"). Even in the movies, especially the newer ones, the subwoofer provides different low-frequency sounds for explosions, engines, etc. And yes, it does provide vibrations for the frequencies that you cannot hear (below 15-20 Hz, depending on your hearing), but those are good chest-thumping "vibrations", and obviously only good subs are capable of that.

To be honest, I'd rather not have a sub, than have that carton or plastic box that comes with 5.1 HTiBs. Like I said before, invest in a good pair (yes, two speakers) of speakers, and they will outperfom 5.1 HTiB in movies and music any time. Also, why are people so bent on buying new? My Magneplanar speakers were built in 1978, my B&W speakers were built in early 90s. These speakers will outperform pretty much anything in their price range from big box stores. Look on craigslist, kijiji, canuck audio mart, audiogon. Tons of great audio stuff for fraction of the original prices, just do your research.
 
Roasted said:
I would dissagree. Yes, MP3's are compressed but after about 192 kbits/s the loss of quality is pretty much undecipherable to the human ear but you can hear distortion from crappy spearkers and lack of low end/mid-range/bass, whatever but I will admit, playing electric guitar for a few years has made my ears very sensitive to the point where I guess I am an audiophile. Give me crappy $20 or stock ipod ear-buds and I'm ready to rage at the crap sound quality.
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It's so easy to rip your files from CDs to uncompressed FLAC format or just buy FLAC files, why even bother with MP3s? I have tons of MP3s and I still listen to them, but wouldn't bother ripping my new discs to MP3.
 
If it's just to watch TV and for movies to sound better, and you don't see spending more $$$ on audio, a sound bar is a good solution. They can sound nice and bring out the dialogue in TV shows.

Yamaha sells an all-in-one package that is basically a lower-end receiver with less-expensive speakers. A friend picked one up for $600 and he's happy with it.

I've spent a pile of money on the stuff in my basement and I'm... well, happier with my setup next to a sound bar or an all-in-one. But it's all relative too.

The receivers change over time with new technology (HDMI, different surround algorithms, Wifi, ....), but at the consumer level the speakers really don't seem to. (Actually, they just get sent over to low-cost countries to be made cheaper...) Used speakers would be a good deal. You can find sets of higher-quality surround speakers (Energy Take 5.1, Energy Encore, Paradigm Cinema 70) used for $300-400. Granted, quality speakers often come with nice, long warranties.

If you go piecemeal, try to match the speakers - especially the front and center channels. I have mis-matched center and front tower speakers and it irritates me.
 
So how do these sound systems, the 5.1 surrounds not Theater In A Box, respond to downloaded torrent movies? Is the sound quality worse because the source file is crap?

Maybe obvious question, but I'm a total noob at this stuff.
 
ViperZ said:
It's so easy to rip your files from CDs to uncompressed FLAC format or just buy FLAC files, why even bother with MP3s? I have tons of MP3s and I still listen to them, but wouldn't bother ripping my new discs to MP3.
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I have about 300-400 CDs but I'm honestly too lazy to rip them myself as it would take so long so I end up just re-downloading MP3s cause it's faster. I'm not overly picky on lossless formats as I find I can't tell the difference anyways unless it's a low bitrate MP3 so I just download what I can find easily. Especially since I don't really listen to popular music so I can't afford to be picky on download sources.

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estone said:
So how do these sound systems, the 5.1 surrounds not Theater In A Box, respond to downloaded torrent movies? Is the sound quality worse because the source file is crap?

Maybe obvious question, but I'm a total noob at this stuff.
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You can download movies in 1080p now with high quality 5.1 audio and they will look and sound perfect on any system. Obviously a crappy source is going to sound crapier and sure, you could tell the difference easier on a high quality audio setup but it should still sound better than on a crap system.
 
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I'm somewhat biased towards this as I am an audiophile, I woudn't go near a sound bar. I think you would be better off building a 5.1 system slowly.
This is how I did it over a few years. Now I have Paradigm Monitor 11 and cc 370 fronts, Paradigm ADP 370 surounds Paradigm mini monitor rears and a Paradigm 2200 sub.
This setup blows away any movie theater I have been in, now mind you it cost 10 times the op's budget, but you don't have to go that high end for really great sound.
 

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in regards to roasted's post about the "Energy Take Classic 5.1", i was blown away by that system...the sound is just amazing...i set it up for some folks as a thank you, their kids wanted better sound for their movies and games, parents wanted radio and such. i've played with systems thousands of dollars more and had these speakers hooked up to an old HK AVR125 unit, the quality was just outstanding...most of these HTiB units are garbage, but, there are some amazing ones out there...i use a paradigm cinema 90 setup which i think doesn't sound as nice as the energy system, but i was buying on a budget and they came up at a bargain price i couldn't pass up...i picked up the energy take 5 system for $230 in the box mint condition...well worth the money...
 
Connie14 said:
I'm somewhat biased towards this as I am an audiophile, I woudn't go near a sound bar. I think you would be better off building a 5.1 system slowly.
This is how I did it over a few years. Now I have Paradigm Monitor 11 and cc 370 fronts, Paradigm ADP 370 surounds Paradigm mini monitor rears and a Paradigm 2200 sub.
This setup blows away any movie theater I have been in, now mind you it cost 10 times the op's budget, but you don't have to go that high end for really great sound.
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A Logitech universal remote will get rid of the clutter on your coffee table. My missus used to get lost in all the switching input and outputs, but no longer!
 
Scudzo_2 said:
A Logitech universal remote will get rid of the clutter on your coffee table. My missus used to get lost in all the switching input and outputs, but no longer!
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Nice advice! I don't know how I'd live without my Logitech 890. I even control light dimmers in my home theater with it. (Somehow I like 890 design more than Harmony One, which has been sitting unused since we bought it).
 
I have a Sony HTIB set up that I'm very happy with. Got it on sale reduced by about $300 cost me just under $500 at the time. I know it's not audiophile quality but to be honest it does the job very well and also plays my CDS etc. I'll eventually upgrade to a component system but it's not a priority as this is actually a very good compromise right now. I'd like to hide all the wires but I've never fished wires through drywall and studs so I'm not sure I could do a good job.
 
so lots of opinions out there, obviously 5.1 is the way to go, and not a Htib

so what do you think is a decent Receiver to start with ?
 
bunmanchi said:
so lots of opinions out there, obviously 5.1 is the way to go, and not a Htib

so what do you think is a decent Receiver to start with ?
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Price to preformance I love Yamaha recievers. Wait for sales though! Get the right one with the rights features you want. Some do multi room others don't. The newer ones work with you ipad/iPhone/android tablet/phone. Pretty neat. I set one up a while a ago. I could postthe video on YouTube later and put a link up later.

This is my signature
 
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