Surround Sound (1 Viewer)

[Bano]

Hi, well with this being my only about 2nd post I want to thank everyone that is in here helping out. I am part of other forums and love helping people out.

I have been doing some research about what kind of home theater system to buy... I have an 80GB PS3 and it really sucks not having a surround sound. I had a phillips and it was pretty loud but kinda cheap. Only lasted me for about a year so now here I am. Just bought me a 40" sony bravia LCD and have been giving some thought on getting the Sony BRAVIA DAV-HDX279W.

I have heard that maybe a sound bar will do me better than getting a whole surround sound. It might be true because I've seen a few soundbars with several HDMI Inputs. So this is where I am stuck now, I know the sony 279W will do a GREAT job, but the only thing is that I don't know IF or HOW to make everything work with this surround (cable TV, PS3, and its own DVD Player). I like this model because it has the upscaler thing to get regular DVDs to look like 1080P I don't know if this is true but it looks like a good deal.

Please help out in any way you can, all answers are more than welcome and will for sure help me out in making the best decision. Thanks in advance.... have a good one

 

[Ennsio]

What is the room like where this setup would go? Is it quite open to other rooms, or more closed off? Could it support a surround sound system with speakers on the walls to the side or behind where you sit?

The Sony Bravia home theater system you listed would probably sound the same as the Phillips surround system - it will play sound but it won't sound very good. I would stay away from it and anything else like it if you care about good sound. Those tiny little cheap speakers just cannot produce the full range of sound that is needed for music and movies to sound good and feel like a home theater.

Let us know your budget and we can give you some suggestions for sound systems to buy. A soundbar might be okay, but you need a room that is pretty closed off with walls all around for the sound to bounce off if you really want them to work like they are intended. You will also want a receiver that can handle a number of components connected to it as you build your system in the future. The limited number of inputs in HTIBs and other simple systems are one of their main shortcomings and something that buyers soon come to regret as they use their system.

You don't need to spend a ton of money to get a good system. I have a $350 Denon receiver with speakers that cost no more than $175 per pair, and a cheap sub and surrounds from a previous system I had. With my setup, music and movies sound awesome and can very easily fill the room. I can always upgrade individual pieces as my budget allows, and my receiver can incorporate additional components as I get them. This would be the type of system you would want for your first HT. You could start off small with a good receiver and a few speakers and build from there with a good sub and surrounds.

Here's a great starting 5.1 setup with good speakers and a fantastic sub for $1000 to give you an idea of what is out there:
SVS SBS-01 System

 

[Bano]

I still have the Phillips system, I'm guessing something inside the sub isn't working. As soon as I plug all the speakers together the system will start making a static noise or better yet a popping noise. Tried getting it fixed but they told me they couldn't find what was wrong with it!!! I still have all of the speakers and the receiver. Everything works except for the sub.


P.S. I also have a brand new surround system that I never used, because I got scammed with it lol. I was looking for a surround and I just thought it was my lucky day. Guys showed up with magazines and the same exact unit for about $4000. I couldn't believe the deal I was getting for $150, to later on that same day find out that it was all a scam! speakers and everything are untouched lol. I was just too pi#$*d off to even wanna put it on. I just tested it and it seems like everything works...

What can I do? Thanx for the response bro!

 

[chuckg]

Well, if you are already out the buck-and-a-half, why not try using it?

At least you'll always remeber to do your own checking first!

My own experience is that any complete system for less than $500 is not worth buying, so use what you've got and save your change for a couple years down the road....

 

[andrew markworthy]

I think we need to qualify this a little. Yes, speakers the size of tombstones do on the whole sound better. But not everyone likes the looks of these or has a room size or (more importantly) room acoustics to do them justice. And not all small speakers are quite as bad as you paint them (though I grant you, a lot of them can sound pretty weedy). FWIW, because of room size and aesthetics, I have a set of KEF 'egg' speakers powered by a Yamaha amp and they do a very good job, and I seriously doubt if in the space available a large set of speakers (which in the size of room I'm talking about would be obtrusive and, frankly, ugly) would do a better job. However, in a larger room, it probably would be a different kettle of fish.

 

[JohnRice]

Just to add my bit, and echo some comments already made, you can get a decent system with small speakers, though good subs will always be large. I agree to just save your money. I would say the BARE minimum for a pretty good surround system is $1,000. So, save up instead of wasting $300 on a marginally less bad system than you already have.

 

[Ennsio]

Thanks for qualifying my comments, Andrew. You're right - small speakers can provide decent sound. What I meant was small HTIB speakers like the ones in the Sony Bravia system that Bano mentioned or similar systems like Panasonic's "home theater" speakers that I see at Best Buy for under $300 for the whole set will not produce an upgrade in the sound that Bano is looking for. As John said, he's better off saving his money until he can get something that is an upgrade.

Your Kef Egg system is in a completely different price and quality league than the Sony Bravia system would be. Good to know that those do a good job - I can recommend them to my friends that want unobtrusive speakers like you mentioned. Another small speaker setup I've heard good things about is the Anthony Gallo Nucleus Micros, but I have not personally listened to them yet.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I think we can qualify this by saying if you're buying this year's models at a realistic street price (the official price is likely to be way higher). However, if you want to save some pennies, you might want to consider last year's top models that are now likely to be heavily discounted at appropriate retailers. The one snag with this at the moment is that you are likely to miss out on some of the latest high def sound processing, so perhaps this may not be a wise idea for amp or DVD player. However, it might still be a good idea for the speakers.

 

[Bano]

WOW!!! I am a bit overwhelmed lol... Well, I guess I'll have to save some money up and do with what I have now. I still have all of the speakers from my philips surround sound.

I also have a THEATER LOGIC L6 surround which I got scammed for a couple of years ago . Good thing it works tho, what I want to know now is how to arrange something with what I have...

I put the L6 together this past weekend, and I really don't understand the layout of how the speakers are supposed to go.

This is what the L6 has:



I've never messed with anything like this before, but I'm guessing I will need some extra RCAs to get all the speakers to work. The only good think in this surround is that you can actually adjust each speaker to your liking...

This system will probably not give me what I am looking for, but hey it's better than not having a surround huh? lol... thanx for all of your posts guys, I really appreciate it.