Great voice clarity... (1 Viewer)

Ok so here is the deal I finally joined a forum after months of searching and looking and being confused as heck about what to buy! We are replacing our tv with a 60" Samsung smart tv 3D, we currently have a Visio sound bar that was bought for us as a gift. Before that we had a Panasonic sound bar/DVD player. Neither one of these devices are great but the Visio one while it has its merits is really bad at voice clarity as was the pano. Connecting to...Apple TVDirect TVWiiSamsung tv unsure of model at the moment..Wants....Great voice clarity.Good all around sound.Network connectivity/AirPlayDon't want....Huge speakers.Budget...would like to stay around 500 might go more if its really worth the extra cash.So... Ideally in a perfect world I would want the smallest amp and speakers with the best sound quality for voices. My better half has a very hard time hearing voices from tv shows and movies as the background noises are always over powering with these soundbars and built in speakers of the tv. Neither one of us are huge audiophiles so if it has decent sound and great voice rendering that's all that matters to us. We do not watch but maybe one DVD a year and that goes in my MacBook Pro and streamed through the Apple TV. Everything else comes through DTV, Netflix via Apple TV, so DVD and bluRay is not important.Some of the info I read was about a year ago and most of the stuff recommended isn't available anymore.Someone said the Klipsch C1 was the best at the time for voice clarity. The amp, several said a Denon amp, or marantz. But I researched these suggestions and while most of th remodels they recommended are not available they are also probably outside my comfortable spending zone...as when I added up the suggestions it was well over $1000. Also I am still learning so my questions might be crazy stupid to many.. Sorry in advance. I am also not opposed to a box system but I saw they don't have great voice clarity at least from what I read in several posts. However, if you guys know of a great system, I am not opposed to giving it a go. One more thing a subwoofer is not required or even really wanted. But I know they typically always include them with box systems now.

First issue, you are buying soundbars from predominantly TV manufacturers.Buy one from a speaker manufacturer. It will solve all your problems.B&W has a great one.Yamaha has made numerous. To fit your budget, you might have to buy a 2-3 year old one.Boston Acoustics makes the TVeee series. I have two of them.

Second, you need to figure out what you want.The Onkyo HT-S. has numerous examples, but you have a Wii...which means it is simpler if the AVR has HDMI upconversion. Pretty sure you have to buy the 6500 or above.Do you want simple? Or another remote and learn a new way to use everything(and a hint, more expensive stuff tends to get you better remotes and easier integration...because of the Wii)?

Third, to make your purchasing "simpler", look into the...Wii over HDMIYou can find them on Amazon and Ebay. I've never tried one, I just buy the right equipment to integrate what I own(which includes VHS/LD).

Well honestly the wii is not that important for sound... It can hook directly to the TV and we would be fine with that. We mainly play it when family or friends come over other wise it's wii yoga which as you can imagine doesn't exactly require incredible audio.. Haha.You are right about the sound bars never really thought about it though... The better half says.... Toaster! Which means the simpler the better! Though we have a dedicated iPad that runs an app that I program all the important stuff into so it only requires the one iPad or iPhone with one screen. I can also program macros so one button can do multiple things. So remotes probably is not a huge concern for everyday use.

schan1269 said:

First issue, you are buying soundbars from predominantly TV manufacturers.Buy one from a speaker manufacturer. It will solve all your problems.B&W has a great one.Yamaha has made numerous. To fit your budget, you might have to buy a 2-3 year old one.Boston Acoustics makes the TVeee series. I have two of them.

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So these sound bars... You get great voice clarity from and not just over powering background noise? I mean I love a good explosion fight scene but I hearing what someone is whispering is probably more important.

schan1269 said:

Third, to make your purchasing "simpler", look into the...Wii over HDMIYou can find them on Amazon and Ebay. I've never tried one, I just buy the right equipment to integrate what I own(which includes VHS/LD).

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This is great to know I will look into that! It is annoying to have to plug in RCA cables...Thank you!

And, you could buy a Yamaha AVR(475) and just run it with 3 speakers. Nobody said you had to run 5.1. Just tell it there are only 3 speakers.The Yamaha 475 will play nicely with your ipad/iphone.

The Onkyo HT-RC460 is even less. If you check Woot's thread here, there is the Onkyo 560 for the same price as the Yamaha 475.

schan1269 said:

And, you could buy a Yamaha AVR(475) and just run it with 3 speakers. Nobody said you had to run 5.1. Just tell it there are only 3 speakers.The Yamaha 475 will play nicely with your ipad/iphone.

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What speakers are best for voice clarity? That won't break the bank if I went this route?

schan1269 said:

The Onkyo HT-RC460 is even less. If you check Woot's thread here, there is the Onkyo 560 for the same price as the Yamaha 475.

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I was actually looking at the onkyo560 on amazon after reading a few good reviews of it..

Also these AVR I've shown(and hardly the only three that would fit a budget of $600-$1000, AVR+3 speakers) have what is called "HDMI passthrough in standby". That means...if you bought the "Wii to HDMI", when you wish to do Wii Yoga, simply turn on the TV and Wii and you have a picture/sound. But, when playing RockBand...fire up the AVR and have a party.

Also these AVR I've shown(and hardly the only three that would fit a budget of $600-$1000, AVR+3 speakers) have what is called "HDMI passthrough in standby". That means...if you bought the "Wii to HDMI", when you wish to do Wii Yoga, simply turn on the TV and Wii and you have a picture/sound. But, when playing RockBand...fire up the AVR and have a party.

Speakers for "clarity" is open to your ears...not mine.

The speakers in my home(4 actual home theatres and outliers...garage, outside)

DCM TF
Infinity Crescendo
BIC V(not to be confused with the DV on Amazon...which coincidentally the BIC DV would be a good $250 spent speakers in the DV62 and DV52CLRS, or if you "have the room for it"...DV62CLRS)
Polk S(from the 90s)
JBL (outdoors, been up so long...don't remember what they are...10+ years old)
RCA/Optimus LX55 (lineaum tweeter, sweet. These pop up on Ebay once in a while. Even if you spent $100 w/shipping, worth three times that)

But back to you. If you are willing to spend a bit of cheese...
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-three-speakers/Level-THREE-Bookshelf-Speakers (almost a crime that a speaker this price has a ribbon tweeter)
http://www.htd.com/Products/level-three-speakers/Level-THREE-Center-Channel-Speaker (it isn't a little speaker. But, it is big enough that if your TV sits on a stand, your TV can probably sit right on top of this speaker. I've done that before...and I had to do that when I reviewed the SVS Ultra)

$500 in speakers...well spent.

I know I'm not supposed to link Ebay...but. Not the same speaker as the LX55(LX55 has Kevlar woofers that are yellow)...but the wonderful Linaeum is the same.

If these hit $60, including shipping, I'd be shocked.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Optimus-LX-5-Main-Stereo-Speakers-/271235071718?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item3f26debee6

Buy two pairs of them, if you can sit an upright speaker as your center. Keep the 4th as a spare. You'll "need" the spare...

So that's about 900 total with the Yamaha 475... I don't have an issue with that...but someone else may haha..

Ok I think I will start watching sales and ebay and woot and a few others for these different options you gave me and go from there! Thank you so much! I will continue to read up and ill post back here when I make my move on some stuff... I think I want to get away from soundboard though. I think even if I just do what you said run just three speakers it would be a huge improvement. One thing....I keep reading about not being able to mix and match speakers... So if I got the HTD's. could I not run a Klipsch c1 center? What is the hang up with doing this?

No you should not mix 'n match your speakers...especially the front three...which will be your only three.

I'd put HTD's(level 3) center up against the Klipsch anyway. If you've not heard a ribbon tweeter, go to Best Buy and listen to the Martin Logan Motion series.

The HTD is just "less attractive"...the sound will be close(when comparing the ribbons themselves).

Martin Logan would set you back $500 + $300 for their center. (and the HTD actually has a 6" woofer...meaning you won't need a subwoofer...with the ML you might, cause I think the ML Motion linked only has a 4")
http://www.amazon.com/MartinLogan-Motion-Bookshelf-Speaker-Piano/dp/B0035FZ124/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373388541&sr=1-1&keywords=martin+logan+motion+4

Ok I will I am going to be out running errands today... So just from a pure understanding and learning point... Why wouldn't you mix your speakers?

Sonic accuracy. Your three speakers need to be close to the same design(we won't get into the demerits of the MTM design...) as it comes to the tweeter and woofers.

If you match a ribbon with a horn, you'll have a brutal assault from the center speaker...that the other two won't keep up with...even if you dialed the center down to -12*. If you went with Klipsch...stick with Klipsch.

*Which would completely destroy the intent of having bought the horn in the first place.