Sound Systems, Surrounding and otherwise

y2jake215

so I'd like to get a sound system as a gift for my parents, but I'm not really an expert on all the equipment necessary to do so. The two things that would be optimal for the system to be able to do is to function as surround sound for a TV/Bluray set-up and to hook up to a turntable, etc. to play music. Is this combo even possible?

So far they don't have any equipment (speakers, receiver, etc), only a TV and bluray and a turntable. My budget here is about $300, possibly $400 or $500 if my brother decides to go in as well. It'd probably be easiest to buy a package deal, like I've been looking at on Amazon.

Anyone have any recommendations/advice for necessary/unnecessary equipment?

Thanks in advance

prfntbtr

To do surround sound, you will need 5.1 speakers (five speakers that will surround the listener and one sub for low frequency sounds). You will also need a receiver. In that price range, I would just go for whichever Onkyo set that you end up being able to afford, whether it is $300 or $500. They are about the best you can do for sets that come pre-packaged. I am assuming the turntable will use fairly standard audio out cables, and modern receivers are designed to take pretty much every type of input. Good luck!

matt has a problem

The $400 range is good for home theater in a box systems. I have a Sony DAV-IS10 system, it's 5.1, produces very respectable sound and has a slew of inputs so you'll be covered.

ben0207

You'll almost certainly need a pre-amp for the turntable, unless:

A: it's a piece of shit
B: you spend big bucks on an amp with a phono stage / pre-amp built in.

I'm of the (probably unpopular) opinion that for that sort of money a good 2.0 / 2.1 system will beat the shit out of a crappy home-theatre-in-a-box 5.1 system.

y2jake215

so a complete surround sound system wouldn't be all i needed to play the turntable as well? would a really cheap preamp be fine, if my parents aren't exactly audiophiles and just being able to play the records would be enough?

matt has a problem

It depends on the turntable. How is it hooked up now? Does it go through a receiver/amp first, then to speakers? Or are speakers directly attached to it?

ben0207

Yeah, youll need a preamplifier too - find out if their TT is moving coil or moving magnet (unless it's pretty nice it'll be MC). You can get a good enough preamplifier for about £50 or so (possibly less)

y2jake215

the turntable as of now isn't hooked up at all - it's just sitting in a cupboard somewhere. as long as i can remember, they've had it, so that'd be about 15-18 years old at least. it used to be set up with a stereo, if i recall probably 2 boxes were involved? it definitely wasn't attached straight to speakers. one included a CD player i think. sorry, it was a while ago they had the stereo, and i'm not the most educated on them anyway


edit: so if i got the surround sound system, and bought a preamp, they could just involve the TT in that setup and no more equipment would be required? being able to use the TT at this point would basically be a bonus - i'd LIKE them to be able to use it with this system but i guess it's not a deal breaker

Djeet

You see the red and white RCA connectors attached to the left-hand side of this box? If the TT has those kinds of connectors on its output cable then a cheap pre-amp like the one linked ought to work fine. You connect the TT to that, then you connect that box via RCA cables to one of the inputs on the receiver.

Improvolone

I'm with Ben. Sure, 5 speakers really gives you the "surround" effect by quite literally surrounding yourself with speakers, but a good system that produces very clear sound is excellent. The center speaker is the most important, the front sides next, and the rears follow that. Most all-in-one system speakers are of about the same build.
But I do understand that some people just really love being physically surrounded by speakers.

MrDelish

In my research for a surround system I've heard that Onkyo's speakers are trash. I've also heard that a general rule for buying speakers and a receiver is that the price of the speakers is going to be about twice that of the receiver if you're looking for a quality setup.

ReaperSMS

There's a rather large spread on price & quality. $4-500 is rather close to the barest minimum when you have no pieces at all, since the usual baseline for surround sound is:

Receiver -- can range from $150-$5000+ decently featureful ones are usually 3-400. Better ones might still have a phono hookup for the turntable, which is 2 RCA plugs and a ground wire

2x Front speakers -- Might be able to find decent bookshelf ones at $100/ea, but more likely to be $150/ea

Center speaker -- Definitly not one to skimp out on, as this is where all voice comes from.

2x Rear speakers -- The part you can cheap out on the most. Could probably find workable ones for $50/ea

Subwoofer -- Optional. Can be anything from $100-zounds

The subwoofer can be left out if they aren't big on rumble, or are in an apartment and don't want to draw the ire of their neighbors.

I imagine you will have difficulty finding something other than one of those Theater In A Box bundles that could fit in that price range. Piecemeal prices are listed above.

For the receiver, speccing it out to the bare minimum needed for their setup would probably help the most. HDMI switching for the bluray, preferably a phono input for the turntable. You might not need tons of fancy decoding, as the bluray player can probably decode to PCM on its own. Make sure you note the impedance (usually 8 Ohm) it wants. The ones they stuff in the cheap HTIAB kits don't usually have phono inputs.

Speakers should match that impedance, though a number of centers claim they're fine with 6 or 8. You'll want to actually listen to the speakers playing representative stuff in the store. Preferably bring some of your own test material if you can, the usual lineup is a decent sounding movie, a good classical recording, and some sample of their general musical taste.

prfntbtr

MrDelish wrote: »

In my research for a surround system I've heard that Onkyo's speakers are trash. I've also heard that a general rule for buying speakers and a receiver is that the price of the speakers is going to be about twice that of the receiver if you're looking for a quality setup.

Onkyo's speakers are trash. However, their trash, in my experience, sounds about ten times better than any of the trash that comes in any other HTiB set.