Home Theater/Surround Sound Recommendations?

[twa5786]

Thanks guys, this is awesome info. Definitely reinforces my thoughts about looking elsewhere following the original quote. I really appreciate it.

Since all the wiring is there, how easy is it to simply buy the equipment myself and hook it up? I’m a pretty decent DIY’er but no expert.

 

[dmclone]

I have a 15 year old 100+ pound subwoofer in my basement that I'm praying never breaks. Elemental Design's in Newton made some awesome subs and then they just went out of business about a decade ago. SO far it's holding up well.

 

[dmclone]

Thanks guys, this is awesome info. Definitely reinforces my thoughts about looking elsewhere following the original quote. I really appreciate it.

Since all the wiring is there, how easy is it to simply buy the equipment myself and hook it up? I’m a pretty decent DIY’er but no expert.

It's become very easy with HDMI/CEC. It starts getting a little harder if you start running two zones or something else. Basically you just run an HDMI cord from your TV to your A/V receiver and then hook up the speakers to the A/V receiver.

 

[enisthemenace]

Youtubetv has 5.1 now I believe.

It does, I know/have heard. It took me 2 years to get my wife comfortable with the move away from DirecTV

 

[alarson]

Thanks guys, this is awesome info. Definitely reinforces my thoughts about looking elsewhere following the original quote. I really appreciate it.

Since all the wiring is there, how easy is it to simply buy the equipment myself and hook it up? I’m a pretty decent DIY’er but no expert.

Do you mind sharing what they quoted you for pieces of equipment?

 

[dmclone]

When the time comes, just tell us what devices you want to use (i.e. PS5, Chromecast for YTTV, etc.) and it should be very simple to setup.

We went from DTV to YTTV and I was worried. The only thing she has ever mentioned not liking is the ability to mark a show as watched. You can do it online but not on the TV. Everything else she loves.

 

[Frak]

OK, here is what I'd do...forget the wiring and go all Sonos. You can get the Sonos Beam soundbar for $400. The sub is more like $750, but you don't need it unless you really want to thump the bass. IKEA makes a Sonos compatible bookshelf that you can get for around $150 each that you can use as surround. That should cover your TV room. But then you can add more speakers around your house. I have a bunch of the 1SL speakers (around $200 each) and you can play any or all of the speakers at once. So all of a sudden, you have whole home audio with no wires...all you need is an outlet.

I have the soundbar and bookshelfs in my basement, but then the 1SL in the kitchen, living room, office, bedroom and one hanging out on the patio. You can play different things on all of them at once or all the same music at once. It all goes through your wifi, and you play everything through their app, so you can play Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc.

 

[Gorm]

Remember, any wireless signal you put into a sound path WILL contribute negatively to that sounds quality.

Then again, I'm an old school guy who believes in speakers doing the work to reproduce sound. Not an overly engineering "small scale" solution.

 

[CloneFanInKC]

Remember, any wireless signal you put into a sound path WILL contribute negatively to that sounds quality.

Then again, I'm an old school guy who believes in speakers doing the work to reproduce sound. Not an overly engineering "small scale" solution.

If the goal is optimal sound output; always hardware IMO.

 

[dmclone]

OK, here is what I'd do...forget the wiring and go all Sonos. You can get the Sonos Beam soundbar for $400. The sub is more like $750, but you don't need it unless you really want to thump the bass. IKEA makes a Sonos compatible bookshelf that you can get for around $150 each that you can use as surround. That should cover your TV room. But then you can add more speakers around your house. I have a bunch of the 1SL speakers (around $200 each) and you can play any or all of the speakers at once. So all of a sudden, you have whole home audio with no wires...all you need is an outlet.

I have the soundbar and bookshelfs in my basement, but then the 1SL in the kitchen, living room, office, bedroom and one hanging out on the patio. You can play different things on all of them at once or all the same music at once. It all goes through your wifi, and you play everything through their app, so you can play Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc.

Sonos and other wireless speakers are great for certain situations, like the example you give above. I'm finding it hard to understand why someone would build a home theater using Sonos when everything is wired and ready to go. I could put together a system for $1,500 that would blow away $3,000 in Sonos speakers.

 

[aeroclone]

Thanks guys, this is awesome info. Definitely reinforces my thoughts about looking elsewhere following the original quote. I really appreciate it.

Since all the wiring is there, how easy is it to simply buy the equipment myself and hook it up? I’m a pretty decent DIY’er but no expert.

When you say it is wired, what exactly do you have in place today? Do you have loose wires at each potential speaker location? Or do you have panels in place with speaker plug ins ready to connect a banana plug? Or do you have wires behind drywall somewhere?

Same question for your TV. Is there an HDMI cable run through the wall from the TV mounting location to wherever you would put the receiver? Or is there conduit in place to run that cable through?

Finally, is there a panel near the receiver location to connect all the speakers on that end? Or at least loose wires that are labeled for location?

For the surround speakers, are you looking at doing an in ceiling or in wall speaker? Hanging a traditional speaker? Or just setting them on stands or a table or whatever?

These are the factors that will drive the ease of install. If all the wiring is accessible and clearly labeled, this becomes largely plug and play. Sort of like connecting monitors and accessories and firing up a new PC. Speaker wires to the appropriately labeled ports for your sound, then HDMI to the proper inputs for you sources, then an HDMI out to the TV. Done.

 

[Frak]

Sonos and other wireless speakers are great for certain situations, like the example you give above. I'm finding it hard to understand why someone would build a home theater using Sonos when everything is wired and ready to go. I could put together a system for $1,500 that would blow away $3,000 in Sonos speakers.

I guess. It depends on what you're looking for. For $1,800, you could have a Sonos surround that would hang with pretty much any $1,500 home theater setup. The Sonos soundbar ranks pretty highly in all the comparisons. And then you can build on that throughout the house. I've had the big box receiver and wired surround. But how often are you blasting TV audio watching a movie? I find that MUCH more often, I'm playing music. And going from the basement to the living room to the patio all with the same music playing is pretty cool.

You're right though, if it's all wired, buying a receiver and 5 speakers plus a sub is probably the best way to go. But if you would rather avoid the wires and TV stand and just hang the TV and sound bar, Sonos is a great option. It's just a really flexible system that you can add on a piece at at time through your house, garage, patio, etc.

 

[twa5786]

Do you mind sharing what they quoted you for pieces of equipment?

Absolutely! Happy to share what they quoted (this was after I told him I didn’t want top of the line):

1) Denon AVR S960H Receiver $750
2) Definitive Technology High Perf Bookshelf Speakers $600
3) Definitive Technology CS-9060 Center Speaker w/ 8” subwoofer $600
4) Bowers & Wilkins 4” 100W Satellite Speakers $300
5) SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer $700

 

[twa5786]

When you say it is wired, what exactly do you have in place today? Do you have loose wires at each potential speaker location? Or do you have panels in place with speaker plug ins ready to connect a banana plug? Or do you have wires behind drywall somewhere?

Same question for your TV. Is there an HDMI cable run through the wall from the TV mounting location to wherever you would put the receiver? Or is there conduit in place to run that cable through?

Finally, is there a panel near the receiver location to connect all the speakers on that end? Or at least loose wires that are labeled for location?

For the surround speakers, are you looking at doing an in ceiling or in wall speaker? Hanging a traditional speaker? Or just setting them on stands or a table or whatever?

These are the factors that will drive the ease of install. If all the wiring is accessible and clearly labeled, this becomes largely plug and play. Sort of like connecting monitors and accessories and firing up a new PC. Speaker wires to the appropriately labeled ports for your sound, then HDMI to the proper inputs for you sources, then an HDMI out to the TV. Done.

Great questions. I’ll take some pics tonight and post them. Long story short, there are loose wires coming out of the wall at each speaker location but no plug ins. There is an HDMI cable ran to the TV location already. I’m confident the previous homeowner have hardware connected and was using the system.

For the surround speakers, it looks like they must have had some kind of shelves/stands on the wall previously that they sat on, but they took those with them.

 

[dmclone]

Absolutely! Happy to share what they quoted (this was after I told him I didn’t want top of the line):

1) Denon AVR S960H Receiver $750
2) Definitive Technology High Perf Bookshelf Speakers $600
3) Definitive Technology CS-9060 Center Speaker w/ 8” subwoofer $600
4) Bowers & Wilkins 4” 100W Satellite Speakers $300
5) SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer $700

I expected a lot worse. SVS makes good subs and the Denon would be fine.

 

[alarson]

I expected a lot worse. SVS makes good subs and the Denon would be fine.

I'd probably either look at the S-760h or the X1700h if looking at denon though.

 

[aeroclone]

There has been some good advice here about buying in phases to help split up the cost. I would also suggest possibly waiting a big if you aren't in a rush. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up there could be some nice sales out there. I feel like I have seen 50% off deals on Klipsche or Polk Audio gear at places like Best Buy, Amazon, and New Egg. There will likely be some nice receiver discounts too. This stuff seems to have pretty healthy margins for the retailers so there is certainly room there for them to discount.

 

[alarson]

There has been some good advice here about buying in phases to help split up the cost. I would also suggest possibly waiting a big if you aren't in a rush. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up there could be some nice sales out there. I feel like I have seen 50% off deals on Klipsche or Polk Audio gear at places like Best Buy, Amazon, and New Egg. There will likely be some nice receiver discounts too. This stuff seems to have pretty healthy margins for the retailers so there is certainly room there for them to discount.

I'd add costco to the list as well. Good deals plus if something goes bad they've pretty much got a forever return policy on receivers/speakers.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I have a basic Pioneer receiver with inexpensive Klipsch speakers (Quintet II and Sub-12). The sub is way more than I need for the setup I have. I have been a real fan of Klipsch but the cost can add up in a hurry. I recommend putting a lot more money in the speakers than the receiver. About any receiver (that has the inputs/decoders you want are the same to me so I wouldn't pour my money into that. I think getting front towers by Klipsch that have Atmos speakers built into the top would be the route I would go if I were going to upgrade. The center channel is probably the most bang for the buck as far as speakers go since almost all the voices come out of it.

I myself love Klipsch speakers, but for many its either a love or hate relationship. They are great for home theater sound, but many prefer other brands if they are listening to music.

Spend the majority on speakers, with the mains and center being the most important for HT, all speakers should be timber matched, so you are going to want to get the same speakers, no matter the brand, from the same series.

The OP can also save money by purchasing any HDMI cables plus speaker wire through monoprice. com, whatever you do, do not purchase any of the Best Buy cables, over priced and over rated.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Absolutely! Happy to share what they quoted (this was after I told him I didn’t want top of the line):

1) Denon AVR S960H Receiver $750
2) Definitive Technology High Perf Bookshelf Speakers $600
3) Definitive Technology CS-9060 Center Speaker w/ 8” subwoofer $600
4) Bowers & Wilkins 4” 100W Satellite Speakers $300
5) SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer $700

Go to the SVS website, you can purchase that exact sub for $449 from their outlet store, brand new and factory sealed, you could move up to the SB-200 for $599.

SVS Outlet Store | Best Deals on SVS Speakers and Subwoofers

Deals and discounts on top-rated SVS speakers and subwoofers. Lowest prices, fully warrantied.

www.svsound.com

The receiver they quoted you, can be purchased as B stock for $499. This site here, is where Denon sells a lot of their B Stock equipment, comes with a limited factory warranty.

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs960h/denon-avr-s960h-7.2-ch-x-90-watts-8k-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

Never purchase HT items from Best Buy.