Upgrading my Surround Sound System

[imported_cinder]

I currently have an Onkyo HT-S580 and I am looking to replace the receiver and subwoofer for this setup. Also, I plan to keep all the surround sound speakers and center channel and I would like to add some floor standing speakers at a pretty low price.

I also have some connections that I might need:
Progressive Scan DVD Player uses Digital Coax
Xbox360 uses fiber optic
HDTV uses fiber optic (currently not using in current receiver cause I only have one on the receiver)
PS3 of course with HDMI (I don't own this yet but will buy when I get the receiver)

So in that case, the receiver will need HDMI Switching and at least 2 fiber ports. Up for any suggestions but like Onkyo due to great experiences. The receiver must be able to send out 1080p signals. I'm not gonna downgrade my TV for the audio. I just cant do it.


If I can get good floor standing speakers that are a decent price without having to replace my current sub that would be nice. If they are good speakers but still need me to replace my sub I will as long as I can make sure the price is pretty good. I don't want to spend over 400 for a pair plus sub or no sub.

Thanks in advance to any suggestions.

 

[imported_cinder]

Never mind, I did some more research and seems I should just get a whole new home theatre in a box. It will be a much wiser choice for me. Onkyo HT-SR800 is what I plan to get. I will use the larger speakers as the floor standing speakers and I plan to just buy some stands for them. Seems like a much more budget friendly way for me to go. Thanks for reading. Sorry if I wasted your time haha.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The SR800 will not do audio over HDMI so you'll have 2 optical and 2 digital coaxial for digital audio.

Looks like you'll have 3 devices that you'll need to hook up via optical though (unless the HDTV has digital coaxial as well)

If you want to have audio over HDMI, you could get a receiver that does that, a matched set of 3 speakers up front, a new sub, and keep the 580's speakers to use as surrounds and rears.

 

[TechnoSaint]

Off the top of yous guys heads, which Receivers have audio over HDMI (so I can be pointed in the right direction, and won't buy something crappy , which btw will be hugely prevented already thanks to Jello's HT Audio thread o' threads!). I am prolly gonna get a 42" Plasma 1080p, so I'd like the sound to match the picture. I WAS going to get the Onkyo HT-SR800 system but I think Jello said it doesn't have HDMI over audio (i've read so many threads in the last few weeks that they're all blending together now ). Anywhoooo hook me up with a good starter system for about $500. I don't mind the separate components ratios, I'm not married to the HTIB concept. THANKS in advance!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=738511
Some info on various levels of HDMI and audio features...

In general I think you're still looking at about $350-$400 for a receiver that can do HDMI audio.

If you fit one of those into a $500 total system, it's going to be very unbalanced.

Audio over HDMI is going to become much more or a standard feature on lower cost receivers within the next few years so if my budget was $500 right now I wouldn't worry about audio over HDMI initially. Yeah, it's a nice feature to have, but I wouldn't compromise the rest of the system to get it.

I'd much rather have a basic receiver and nicer speakers + subwoofer than the ability to play back the new audio formats from HD discs but only being able to do so on extremely low budget speakers and sub.

 

[TechnoSaint]

Thanks for the prompt reply. So if you had $500, what receiver / speaker / subwoofer combo would you go for?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: TechnoSaint
Thanks for the prompt reply. So if you had $500, what receiver / speaker / subwoofer combo would you go for?

If I was starting from scratch again and had $500 to work with, I'd know that it would just be a starting point for myself so I'd want to leave myself a lot of room to upgrade.

I'd probably start with just a basic receiver and a pair of nice bookshelf speakers.

From then I'd eventually add a subwoofer, center channel, and then either move the first pair of speakers to surround duty and buy new fronts or I'd buy different surrounds.

Since the receiver is going to get outdated most rapidly, I'd probably skimp on that initially knowing that even if I spent $400 today, several years down the line it's still going to be missing the latest and greatest speakers.

On the same timeframe, a nice set of $300-$400 bookshelf speakers is still going to be really nice... so I'd try to spend my money on the components that are going to hold their value the best.

I'd get a receiver that had all the connectivity I needed in terms of digital audio connections but I wouldn't worry about HDMI at all knowing that I could just send video straight to my display and use the other connection types for my devices.

The receiver I'd get would probably be in the $150-$200 range and I'd start looking for either Onkyo or Pioneer for new units... or I'd try to find a used receiver from various FS audio forums, ebay, audiogon, videogon, craigslist, etc. There are a lot of people out there ditching their once mid to high end receivers to get new HDMI and auto-calibration features and due to not having these bells and whistles, the resale value on those older units is pretty low. That's a good thing for someone looking to start a system with really high bang for the buck but the newest features aren't absolutely necessary.

Then I'd buy a good pair of speakers that could be the base for an eventual surround sound system. (Meaning a pair of speakers that comes from a lineup with a center channel and possibly different surround speaker types or floorstanding speakers, etc.)






Well that's what I would do knowing that I'm the kind of guy that's very interested in this sort of thing and would be willing to drop money into this over time to end up with a better system in the end.

On the other hand if I knew I wanted a complete system right away, I would do something else.

This might mean getting a HTIB system. I'd start looking at Onkyo like the ones mentioned as well as checking out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=109 to see if there was anything else to look at.

I would also consider getting the receiver / speakers / sub separately.
Again I would be getting a $150-$200-ish receiver as mentioned above.
I'd wait for a sale on the dayton subwoofers from Partsexpress (discount + free shipping) and I'd buy one of them depending on my room size.
That would mean I'd have paid $250-$300 of my total leaving $200-ish for my 5 speakers.
There wouldn't be too many options to go with on that budget but I'd start looking at the Polk R-series from Outpost as a center + two pairs of bookshelf speakers would be about that much.

 

[imported_cinder]

TX-SR605 is an Onkyo stand alone receiver that will do Audio through HDMI.

I also found a little gadget on TigerDirect that can split the fiber optic connections for about 8 bucks. I think I may order it just to see if it actually works. Reviews say one item has to be off for the other to work, but thats what I normally do anyways. If I can't hear any difference in clarity I may just keep it like that until I can afford an even better receiver.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

There was a thread about optical switches recently
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...key=y&keyword1=optical

 

[TechnoSaint]

Thanks for the info guys, gives me a lot to ponder (and maybe a little time to increase my budget a little )

 

[spikespiegal]

Hey dude, I'm clearly in the 'Big Speaker' for 'Good HT' category. I'm sorry, but small speakers regardless of who makes them sound small. Sub/Sat combos are for wussies

I've turned a lot of friends on the Athena FS 2.2s, which I believe have been discontinued, but are still available from Audio Advisor and a few other places. They run about $400 a pair, have no bad habits to speak of, and have good low end yet clean bass.