Upgrade bug has hit. Got a PS3 coming and have an older 5.1 sound system

[Chunkee]

Currently, I have a great Onkyo 5.1 setup that has been flawless over the past 9 years. 5.1 sound pumped through some great Polk Speakers. Rt2000 with built in power subs, PA center channel and nice PA surrounds. I would like to possibly upgrade my receiver which really rocks and add another pair of speakers for 7.1.

I like my Onkyo, but do not know if i should stick with them? I have a 40inch lcd sammy and use the whole deal watching cable, dvds and music etc.

Recommendations? 500 bux for a receiver reasonable for 7.1?

And polk has been very good to me, so the extra pair for 7.1 i would like to keep with them.

So, will my ears notice the difference in a 7.1 setup BluRay over 5.1 dolby digital? I really used to be in this a great deal, but have let the knowledge fall back bit.

thanks

JC

 

[mc866]

Onkyo 606 or 705 would be good bang for your buck and are both under $500 at Amazon. Can't say on the 7.1, still running 5.1 myself.

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: mc866
Onkyo 606 or 705 would be good bang for your buck and are both under $500 at Amazon. Can't say on the 7.1, still running 5.1 myself.

Thanks, i was looking at those. Just do not want to watch BluRay and have the experience crippled by my receiver and lack of speakers... or maybe, more than likely, i do not know what i talking about and 5.1 is fine and you wont hear the difference.

jC

 

[Tiamat]

Chunkee, if you cannot setup 7.1 as dolby suggests, its not worth it. More speakers are do not make a better experience. Properly setup, tonally matched, calibrated speakers make for a better experience.

Click on Get Started

1. We need to know your target budget.


I'd personally work to make sure that the room is setup as optimally as possible, then go from there. A poorly setup room will never yield satisfactory results from a home theater standpoint. If you want some advice here, PM me and we can chit-chat and see where things are.

Obviously, your receiver choice will have part to do with the features that are available and the features that you need/want.

A good stand alone subwoofer can be a welcome addition to a home theater, especially one that can dig down through 20hz with authority.

I would work on getting a matched front Left, Center, Right speakers.

 

[hclarkjr]

here is a suggestion i have found as i am looking at receivers right now too Pioneer 5.1-Channel Surround Sound Receiver w/ 600 Watts & HDMI, VSX-818V-K $199.99 not sure how this ranks with onkyo as i am a JVC person for years and have not bought receiver for 10 years or so. so be gentle

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I second the idea that a dedicated subwoofer would likely be a big and important upgrade. Much bigger difference compared to the 5.1 vs 7.1 difference.

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Chunkee, if you cannot setup 7.1 as dolby suggests, its not worth it. More speakers are do not make a better experience. Properly setup, tonally matched, calibrated speakers make for a better experience.

Click on Get Started

1. We need to know your target budget.


I'd personally work to make sure that the room is setup as optimally as possible, then go from there. A poorly setup room will never yield satisfactory results from a home theater standpoint. If you want some advice here, PM me and we can chit-chat and see where things are.

Obviously, your receiver choice will have part to do with the features that are available and the features that you need/want.

A good stand alone subwoofer can be a welcome addition to a home theater, especially one that can dig down through 20hz with authority.

I would work on getting a matched front Left, Center, Right speakers.

If you don't have matched speakers, don't even try?

Ohhh come on now, being a bit elitist aren't ya? Not everyone can afford to go out and buy a matched set of speakers.

 

[Chunkee]

what are matched set? I do not think you guys know about the RT2000P speakers? Amazing sound and sub sound. But but maybe I am wrong...i think they friggin rock. What about the bluray sound encoding? i guess that is what i want to know if i am missing...if i just run the bluray into 5.1...is it just a wash?

JC

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: Chunkee
what are matched set? I do not think you guys know about the RT2000P speakers? Amazing sound and sub sound. But but maybe I am wrong...i think they friggin rock. What about the bluray sound encoding? i guess that is what i want to know if i am missing...if i just run the bluray into 5.1...is it just a wash?

JC

Blu-ray doesn't sound better because of more speakers, it sounds better because it is lossless audio (versus compressed audio codecs that lose some of the sound data in order to compress the sound file). Think of it as the difference between mp3 and a CD; even though both are played over two speakers, it's easy to tell that the CD has greater fidelity.

That said, some of the better Dolby Digital "lossy" 5.1 tracks still sound very good; Transformers on HD-DVD lacked lossless audio, yet it was praised as having great audio overall. Lossless is virtually always goind to sound better, but a lot of that depends on your equipment; you won't hear differences in fidelity between well-compressed tracks and lossless tracks on cheap equipment, even though it may be blatantly obvious on more expensive equipment.

I would also recommend getting a dedicated subwoofer. There's no substitute for it when it comes to watching movies. To show off my system, I toss on Ratatouille on Blu-ray; it looks phenomenal, but the real "ooooooh" moment comes when I flip to the lightning scene. Lightning strikes in the background cause a faint rumble across the subwoofer and throughout the soundstage, before a lightning bolt crashes right down into the center of the scene with a corresponding bass thump so heavy it feels like you just got punched in the chest. Whenever I show that to people, they are always astounded, and tell me, "Well, we're watching movies at your place from now on."

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Matched set is referring to whether or not the center channel is matched to the front speakers.

PA center channel means Polk Audio center channel? Is the center channel voice matched to the RT2000P speakers? Not only would it have to be from Polk, but also from the same speaker series as the front speakers.

For example, with the current polk speakers

The CSi A centers match the RTi A floorstanding speakers
The LSiC matches the LSi floorstanders
etc.

Looks like the CS1000p might be the matching center?

Even with speakers with powered woofers in them, a solid subwoofer is often a good idea, especially if you have a larger room.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Jugernot

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Chunkee, if you cannot setup 7.1 as dolby suggests, its not worth it. More speakers are do not make a better experience. Properly setup, tonally matched, calibrated speakers make for a better experience.

Click on Get Started

1. We need to know your target budget.


I'd personally work to make sure that the room is setup as optimally as possible, then go from there. A poorly setup room will never yield satisfactory results from a home theater standpoint. If you want some advice here, PM me and we can chit-chat and see where things are.

Obviously, your receiver choice will have part to do with the features that are available and the features that you need/want.

A good stand alone subwoofer can be a welcome addition to a home theater, especially one that can dig down through 20hz with authority.

I would work on getting a matched front Left, Center, Right speakers.

If you don't have matched speakers, don't even try?

Ohhh come on now, being a bit elitist aren't ya? Not everyone can afford to go out and buy a matched set of speakers.

Not being elitist at all. If you reread my comment, you would notice that I made a case for proper setup and good calibration in addition to tonal matching. My biggest note was on the room setup. Yes, if you cannot setup the speakers as noted by Dolby, it is NOT WORTH pursuing extra speakers. Understanding how soundwaves interact with room boundaries is the first step to acceptable sound reproduction.

I also made a second case for adding a good subwoofer. Both of these things I mentioned before mentioning a matched front sound stage.

Before you get your panties all wound up, why don't you spend a little more time reading before commenting. Thanks.

 

[Chunkee]

i bought all the speakers at the same time at CC a few years back. I guess i can look to see if they are matched. Thanks for all the input. I will try out the BLuRay player with my current sound system this XMAS before investing in an upgrade. So far is it very good. I am even an old school user (when listening to music) i have a 15 band passive eq in the mix. seems to make a great deal of difference when shaping the music. I always thought so in car audio as well. my father still has my old car with great stereo in it...it has a nice pioneer eq with sub adjustments etc...it totally made all the difference.

Thanks again guys.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Many of the newer receivers will have equalization built in that will automatically adjust for how your speakers are interacting in the room FYI.

 

[thomsbrain]

It seems like even a lot of Blu-Ray movies don't use anything more than 5.1 in their HD audio mixes. Depending on setup and codec, there are sometimes ways to matrix the sound out to the extra two speakers, but the more I read up, the less I think it is worth it to try to have a 7.1 setup at home. Not to mention all that cabling and space for that many speakers could be a hassle if you don't have a dedicated room.

 

[Renob]

I would go with the standalone sub, and skip the 7.1 I have had a 7.1 set up and like the sound of the 5.1 more, and feel my system sounds better then my friends 7.1

 

[destrekor]

I had the same issue when I got my PS3. Just had to upgrade my receiver to allow video handling through HDMI to get the most out of my PS3.

First went with the Onkyo 605 (iirc), but it had issues with the audio: random popping in the speakers. Returned it, got another, same issue. Said screw it, and decided on the Harmon Kardon AVR 247. Only issue I had with making the decision was the lack of HDMI 1.3, but I got over that, as the PS3 could internally decode Dolby TrueHD (and at the time, couldn't even touch DTS HD Master, only the core). Been loving the 247 ever since. Great audio, and can seriously pump out the volume. HK are famous for being extremely modest and underrating the wattage of their receivers, so don't be fooled by the stated wattage. If you have or get speakers with high sensitivity ratings, it definitely won't matter.

Only issue seems to be the '-10dB bass problem' for multichannel LPCM audio (which is what will be required to be sent from the PS3 is watching BD movies and desire the high-res audio). Some people have stated you can simply up your subwoofer's output level, but that doesn't treat the crossover problem, which the more technical audio people can clarify this, I believe means the low-level audio below the crossover value will be -10dB across the board, so the low-level audio from all the speakers will be -10dB compared to the rest of the audio. Is this right?

I just discovered that there is an official firmware update from HK that solves that problem for multichannel LPCM sources. Now to determine whether I actually have that problem, and if that would explain why it seems my front towers just don't pump out the low-levels that I kind of expect.