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Suggestions on home audio
rndmhero
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My wife and I have a considerable sum of gift cards to dispose of after the holidays and are looking at home theater setups. It is one of the few areas of technology that I really know very little about, so I feel considerably out of my element. You guys/gals are fantastic and I know there was a home audio thread a few years back, so I figured I'd ask here for input.
First, our constraints. We live in an apartment and will likely be doing so for the next several years, so I don't need a particularly powerful system. In fact, a real high-powered system would likely be wasted as I'd never be able to turn it up all the way without incurring complaints. Second, our equipment right now consists of a DVD player and a WiiU (laugh it up). While this means that we don't have a ton of stuff to hook up, it also means we still need everything for a home theater setup (blu-ray player, receiver, speakers, etc). Finally, I'd like to keep this to around $500. I know that limits us to the low end of the spectrum for home audio, but I have a hard time justifying more when I'm not wiring a house for a more permanent, impressive setup.
Now given those constraints, a lot of the newer theater-in-a-box setups (like this) look really attractive, both because of the price and taking care of all our needs in a single package. I'm wary, though, about how much you sacrifice by not having a true AV receiver, as well as the build quality. I can't seem to find anywhere that reviews speaker setups beyond Amazon user reviews and the like, so it's difficult to gauge quality as a total novice.
So what are your thoughts? Any particular brands or systems worth seeking out (or avoiding)? Are the home theater-in-a-box setups always bad news, or could they be a reasonable solution for a low-budget setup? Are blu-rays really magical?
First, our constraints. We live in an apartment and will likely be doing so for the next several years, so I don't need a particularly powerful system. In fact, a real high-powered system would likely be wasted as I'd never be able to turn it up all the way without incurring complaints. Second, our equipment right now consists of a DVD player and a WiiU (laugh it up). While this means that we don't have a ton of stuff to hook up, it also means we still need everything for a home theater setup (blu-ray player, receiver, speakers, etc). Finally, I'd like to keep this to around $500. I know that limits us to the low end of the spectrum for home audio, but I have a hard time justifying more when I'm not wiring a house for a more permanent, impressive setup.
Now given those constraints, a lot of the newer theater-in-a-box setups (like this) look really attractive, both because of the price and taking care of all our needs in a single package. I'm wary, though, about how much you sacrifice by not having a true AV receiver, as well as the build quality. I can't seem to find anywhere that reviews speaker setups beyond Amazon user reviews and the like, so it's difficult to gauge quality as a total novice.
So what are your thoughts? Any particular brands or systems worth seeking out (or avoiding)? Are the home theater-in-a-box setups always bad news, or could they be a reasonable solution for a low-budget setup? Are blu-rays really magical?
rndmhero on
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But you probably don't need the bluray player in in since you already have one. I went soundbar to avoid dealing with spots to put all the speakers as well as all the cables. It also has wifi built in for smart TV stuff, pandora, netflix etc. You not going to get true surround sound, but its a hell of a lot better than the speakers in the TV and much more convenient then a 5-8 piece set up.
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
http://www.FairWindInspections.com/
My only negative so far is the positioning of the optical audio input. It is positioned in such a way as to cause an almost 90 degree angle in the wire.
Origin: theRealElMucho
Saw this pop up on amazon earlier today. Looks to be good reviews on it.
Used to be HTiB's skimped on the inputs, but that's not so much the case anymore.
Yes, blu-rays are magical.
My ears. I bring in content I'm familiar with, have them play it, and listen/compare. If I am not sure I audition the gear.
Context: I have a different system for music (2 channel, tube amplification) than I have for watching tv/movies (multichannel, solid state, lots of inputs, no phono stage).
Current Bose is not hi fidelity (it may be expensive). They did make some good stuff in the 80's, though that seems more oriented to "audiophile" market rather than HT.
Is compactness an issue? Sounds like it might be given the soundbar and Bose interest. If you're interested in hi fidelity in compact form you'll be better off getting a receiver and nice pair of bookshelf speakers and forget multichannel. If you want the HT surround thing then get an HTiB.
Sound is shit, usually, too on top of that.
There's a bunch of solid advice for starting a home theater setup in that link.
Onkyo's HTIB in the box stuff is supposed to be pretty good, I've never heard their speakers. Their receivers are excellent for the price except their HDMI boards pretty much universally suck and will break at some point. Probably not for a really long time, and the rest will usually still work, but eventually some of the inputs or outputs will stop working. This can usually be worked around, like, on the main one I currently use the out HDMI is bad, so I can't really use it as a video switch like I should be able to, I just run optical or 3.5mm from all my devices into it for sound. This is the second receiver I've used from them that has had a similar issue and I've heard of lots of people having the same kind of thing happening.
twitch.tv/tehsloth