Soundbar vs Home Theatre

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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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What's your budget? New or used?

My list for receivers:
1). Pioneer Elite with ICE amps (SC series)
2). Onkyo (or Integra)
3). Marantz / Denon
 
ViperZ said:
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).
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I always hated the 890 buttons. Definitely prefer the Harmony One.

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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Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, Harmon Kardon, Marantz. All good choices.
 
ViperZ said:
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).
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I have an 880 upstairs, and a One on the home theater, and I really like the layout of the One compared to the 880.

I kinda obsessed getting an infrared dimmer for the home theater system, which the Missus gave me great grief over until the first time I put a movie in, then dimmed the "house" lights from my chair. Ahhh.

To the OP, If space permits, I'd go full 5.1 (or 7.1), expecting to upgrade speakers as time progresses. If it's a small space, with no room for the system to grow, a soundbar may be the route to go, but you might be better off with a decent 2.1 system as others have suggested.

I replaced an older Sony receiver (no HDMI) with an Onkyo about 4 months ago. I'm pleased with the Onkyo, as it has lots of assignable HMDI inputs.
 
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Ok home theatre time for me. Need help with a receiver and speakers and I'd like to keep this under a grand if possible but I'm open to spending a little more.

first up, what's the opinion in mixing and matching speaker brands and also the tower vs bookshelf debate. I'll be honest...I really like the look of towers. I also want to use this to listen to a lot of music and a shop guy recommended Yamaha receivers for a more natural sound. Thoughts?
 
jc100 said:
what's the opinion in mixing and matching speaker brands and also the tower vs bookshelf debate. I'll be honest...I really like the look of towers. I also want to use this to listen to a lot of music and a shop guy recommended Yamaha receivers for a more natural sound. Thoughts?
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Mixing and matching is fine. Keep your Front+center the same brand and use cheaper rears as they arent as critical. Yamaha receivers are good.
 
If you don't mind used, check out canuckaudiomart classifieds. Can't beat used, especially for speakers. Definitely buy center and fronts from the same series. If you get bookshelves for front, you'll need a sub for home theater. With towers you'll still eventually want a sub to cover lowest frequencies for home theater (i.e. 20-60 Hz or so).

If you can find a used Pioneer from first generation ICE power (SC-05 or SC-07), those are pretty amazing for the price.

Also, I would never listen to big store salespeople's recommendations, 99% of time they are useless and just try to sell you stuff. For example, if you do buy Yamaha receiver and match it with Paradigm Monitors or Polk Monitors, you'll get a very edgy sharp sound. Personally, it hurts my ears to listen to such system within 5 minutes. I do like laid back British sound (Rotel + B&W in my theater), so even Marantz + Paradigm sound a bit edgy for me, even though those two usually make a fairly neutral combo.
 
If I could get a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7 V7 for $599 is that a good deal? Or is the extra $200 for Monitor 9 V7 for $799 a pair worth it?

Edit: I think these speakers are new not used too.
 
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A local shop had Monitor 7's in an uncommon color (birch?) for $500 a while back. I think MSRP is $800 or so.

I've heard that the Monitor 7's are good speakers. The Monitor 7 has one 5-1/2" driver whereas the Monitor 9 has two.

A sub could make up the difference I bet. If you're starting from scratch, would go Monitor 7's with a good 10" or 12" sub rather than the Monitor 9's.
 
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ViperZ said:
Also, I would never listen to big store salespeople's recommendations, 99% of time they are useless and just try to sell you stuff. For example, if you do buy Yamaha receiver and match it with Paradigm Monitors or Polk Monitors, you'll get a very edgy sharp sound. Personally, it hurts my ears to listen to such system within 5 minutes. I do like laid back British sound (Rotel + B&W in my theater), so even Marantz + Paradigm sound a bit edgy for me, even though those two usually make a fairly neutral combo.
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Just wondering, do older Paradigms sound a lot like newer ones?

I have Mk 1 Titans (hooked up to an old NAD 7220) and I wouldn't say they're edgy. (And for the price paid, they make quite a tandem.) I'm trying to remember the newer Atoms I had and if they were too tinny/harsh...

You're quite right, the amp and source definitely impact the sound as well.

Don't want to come off as a fanboy, but I usually tell all my friends to get Paradigms for the performance-per-$$$ factor.
 
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I'd say more modern Paradigms are more forward sounding than older ones, but still sound fairly similar. But I can only compare something from the same series - i.e. Studio Reference v.1 and v.5. Bigger Paradigms, like any other big speaker, will give you a better depth of sound than Titans.

Personally, if I were buying speakers for a long time, I would not buy them without first listening to them. Once I bought a set of Infinity Interlude speakers with the biggest center from that series (IL36c), took me forever to find them and get them shipped. Even my big Rotel amp could not make those speakers sing, sounded like empty cardboard boxes.

If you're going to get a sub eventually and you like the way new v7 Monitors sound, then just go with Monitor 7. If you want to listen to music more and will not be buying a sub for a while, go with 9s. I wouldn't discard older Paradigms either. For 600-700, you can score a pair of Studio Reference v2 easily. I would buy any older Studio Reference over any modern Monitors, as they are much more refined and detailed speakers.
These just sold for 475 or less, that's a super price for awesome speakers: http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649028496-paradigm_studio_60/ A couple of years ago I saw a pair of Studio 60s and a matching Studio Center channel at Audio One in Vaughan for 700 for all three.
 
I'll get a sub too...the guy says the Monitor 9s have gone and just one pair of 7s left for $599 brand new in box in black I think. That's a good deal correct? These are the version 7's.
 
Wouldn't say it's a bad deal at all. You might at some point find them cheaper (and you could sure do a lot for $600 used) but that's always how it goes.
 
I like the idea of having a warranty with them (I get one, I checked).

Assuming I get these speakers (might wait until Thursday to see what Futureshop's VIP sale day does) what would be a good match for a centre if I can't afford the Paradigm centre? I'll get the receiver a bit later as the speakers seem the most important parts.

Also...what is a bi-wired speaker? Apparently the paradigms are capable of this.
 
Probably zero relevance, but I've had a pair of ver 3 or 4's, can't remember, for a couple years now. Very happy with their sound, even happier for the $80 I paid for them used.
 
jc100 said:
Also...what is a bi-wired speaker? Apparently the paradigms are capable of this.
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Most decent speakers will be bi-wire capable. Gives you the option of feeding seperate speaker inputs to the speaker (usually being seperate speaker input for tweet and mid or tweet/mid and midbass).
I recommend you keep your rears the same as your centre as well. If you end up picking very mismatched sounding speakers you could have a Ducati start in front of you and sound like a Harley as it passes behind you (just an example but I hope you get the idea).

Get out there and audition some speakers. Maybe you'll find you like the sound of soft dome tweeters instead of the Paradigms (just an example). Picking the right speakers takes time.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Get out there and audition some speakers. Maybe you'll find you like the sound of soft dome tweeters instead of the Paradigms (just an example). Picking the right speakers takes time.
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This is good advice, I dont have a lot of money to spend on AV stuff, but some of my friends do. I was able to borrow a couple different speaker sets and listen in the room where they would sit. It was really interesting to have speakers, play the same music through the same amp and have iot sound somewhat different.
I know the guys that have better ears than me know this stuff, it was an eye opener. I bought Energy speakers on a price point and overall value.
I talked to a lot of people about the soundbar, it seems better than the speakers in the tv by a long shot, but its not like a real speaker box.
 
Check out the futureshop VIP sale today... I saw in the add for over $1000 off a set of tower speakers... You have to go in store to get the info though.
 
Last time I heard Energy paired with Yamaha, it sounded like when someone ran their fingernails on the blackboard, my ears were bleeding it was so bright. I think 2001 audio video has Harman/Kardon receivers on sale tomorrow. At least those will soften the Energy sound, not brighten it up even more.
 
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