Budget 2.1 or 3.1 - can I use any of my existing stuff?

[mayleth]

THE QUESTION
I'm wanting to know how bad my current system is, are there any known technology compatibility issues with my new tv, and if I were to spend $250 to upgrade my sound system, what would be my best options.

Budget: $250 (I could go up to $500, but it would REALLY have to be worth it.)
Use: almost exclusively streaming movies or tv.... mostly action movies

Goals/Side-Quests:

1. Avoiding technology compatibility issues. <--- most important... the rest are mostly to justify spending $.
2. Preserving or improving sound quality.
3. Redesigning speaker layout to fit the space. (7.1 was a very bad idea for my layout)
4. Carrying sound into the kitchen (livingroom area is ~300sq ft out of a ~600 sq ft open area, with kitchen being as far from the tv/speakers as it can get.... possible solution is a wireless speaker in the kitchen)

Current Gear (from 2010):

Onkyo HT-S6300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker System
The Onkyo still works fine, but gets really hot... which concerns me... but I guess is normal?​

Speaker Placement Options: Bookshelves to the sides of the tv/console.... or on the tv console itself. The Onkyo receiver is in the console. There are electrical outlets near the bookshelves, so powered speakers is an option.... is the difference huge? or just for more bass? There's also the possible placement of a wireless speaker in kitchen to solve sound reaching back there.

Other Restrictions/Concerns:

1. I don't want Mr. Roomba to eat the wires. I really only want the wires to be run along the wall with the tv.
2. I would prefer small speakers so they fit on my book shelves and leave plenty of space for my ever-growing boardgame collection... so preferably not more than ~12" tall.

Why now, after all these years.... my 2008 samsung tv died. It's being replaced with a LG OLED55B7A (the one w/ OLED Surround 4.0 Ch 40W). I could still return it and for another $200 get the C7P w/ Dolby Atmos 2.2 Ch 40W (20W Woofer). Essentially I'm worried about pairing old tech with new tech and I'm assuming that's bad...??? *shrug*

 

[mayleth]

I did a lot of reviewing of previous posts on 3.1 setups. Someone had recommended NHT SuperZero or SuperOnes. But before I spend $$ on speakers, I assume they'd have to connect to my 2010 receiver...

There is a compatibility issue I found between the receiver I have and a newer tv's (Source) when using a Chromecast Ultra. I do use a chromecast, so I may run into this. To recap the linked thread: Receiver doesn't run 4K video, so chromecast plugs into the tv. But the receiver doesn't support Dolby Digital+, so the chromecast downgrades audio to PCM because chromecast is dumb.

 

[sdifox]

You have a htib system, meaning you can't really upgrade components individually. Also, the individual speakers are probably not that great to begin with.

I would just get a new setup and move the existing one to kitchen and just connect two channels and the sub. Take the receiver outside, open the cover and blow off dust. Should help with over heat issue.

If you like action movies you want big sub. Unfortunately a big sub is bigger than your whole budget.


Don't bother with atmos if you have trouble with 7.1


Here is an affordable set of speakers

https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10906&cs_id=1090601&p_id=10565&seq=1&format=2

Receivers

https://www.monoprice.com/category?c_id=109&cp_id=10919&cs_id=1091901

 

[mdram]

a good 3.1 is fine imho
but figure a budget of @ 1k or so

i used accesories4less and got a refurb avr to save some coin
then i shopped sales to get the speakers
Receiver - Denon AVR-X2100W,
Speakers -F L/R - Infinity Primus P363, C - Infinity Primus PC351
Sub - Klipsch Sub-12HG

edit cost @ 800 total
of course non of this is in production anymore

edit2: if you want 4k, look for hdmi 2, 2.0a and hdcp 2.2
these are required for copyrighted 4k