Home Theatre systems

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by blueoval

I want to be at your house once this is all installed Jim. lol

AFF cruise to Jim's joint to watch movies and go skidding in his two GT's

[graphicgoose]

Minor upgrades to the home media system today, in the form of Sonos. I'm working from home this week and had the thought that it'd be great if I had music in the living area with me. Initial thought was that I could simply get a Sonos control unit for my theatre system and crank that up, so off I went to West Coast HiFi (I used to work there during uni). Ended up walking out not only with a control unit for the theatre system, but a Boost unit, a Playbar and a sub for the living area too...oops lol

I'm moving in with some friends in the coming weeks and thought the Playbar and sub would be a great little unit to put in my bedroom for watching tv and music in bed, but for now it's in my living room in the current house. Man, this thing cranks! For what it is I'm pretty impressed! That little sub is unreal for its size. Almost feels like it's louder than my Focal sub in the theatre haha. Not exactly a cheap setup, the Sonos gear, but so simple to use and the integration with Wi-Fi and streaming services like my Google Play Music and Pandora accounts is fantastic!

Excuse the makeshift setup in the living room haha.







Also bought a couple of new 24" Samsung computer monitors...ended up being a rather expensive day, especially given I needed a new alternator for the new daily roundabout car today too...hrmmm!

[graphicgoose]

So I moved house last week...don't ever do it, totally not worth it! I only want to move again now when I move into my own place!

But anyway, was setting up my theatre system in the new place and noticed there was no sound coming from my sub while it was doing the eq/correction/adjustments sweeps...oh dear. Had to go past the HiFi shop anyway so dropped in and tested the sub there to work out if it was the sub or the pre-out on my amp...turns out the sub was screwed. Lame.

A few minutes later I walked out having placed an order for one of the recently released REL S/5 subs. Bit more money than I originally intended to spend, but should compliment any theatre setup I'll have for the next 10 years.

Here's some more info for anyone interested:

http://rel.net/products/serie-s/s-5/

[graphicgoose]

Considering I haven't actually taken delivery of the sub yet, I'm curious to know what you guys with more experience and knowledge than me with high end gear think. If it were your money would you go with the REL S/5 or something like the SVS sb-13 Ultra?

[blueoval]

Subs are a personal thing. It depends on the room, what the current system sounds like, how it's tuned and what you want from the system.

With my system, I wanted subtlety. It need to be there when needed but not over powering to the point that it was all your heard. So I opted for a custom box with a Dayton 12" and it's own power supply. I know the gain is right down, but the system just works fantastic with the way I wanted it.

[duaned]

Originally Posted by graphicgoose

Considering I haven't actually taken delivery of the sub yet, I'm curious to know what you guys with more experience and knowledge than me with high end gear think. If it were your money would you go with the REL S/5 or something like the SVS sb-13 Ultra?

I had 2 SB13Ultras in my theatre room and they are a nice tight sounding sub. I like my sealed subs, but I wanted a little more depth. I got that from 2 Rythmic F12SE subs. Cheaper than the SB13Ultras and go deeper and even more musical due to their servo technology. REL subs are nice, great for music but lack a little oomph for theatre in my opinion.

But as mentioned room size is a factor in subwoofer decision.

[G6E Turbo 2]

Originally Posted by rednose

Another speaker I am looking at is the Krix Ecliptix.

Has anyone heard anything about these, good or bad?

http://www.krix.com.au/home-entertai.../ecliptix.html

Also what other flushmount speakers do you guys recommend?

.

Not sure if you have had much feedback

Krix speakers are sensational I have used
them for sometime and $ for $ they outperform anything

[graphicgoose]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Subs are a personal thing. It depends on the room, what the current system sounds like, how it's tuned and what you want from the system.

With my system, I wanted subtlety. It need to be there when needed but not over powering to the point that it was all your heard. So I opted for a custom box with a Dayton 12" and it's own power supply. I know the gain is right down, but the system just works fantastic with the way I wanted it.

Yeah, that's true. Bass is very much personal. For me, my system has always sounded pretty average for music, but fantastic for theatre...except for the rattley sub.

In my car I have 2x Hertz HX300 subs being run off a 1,000W RMS digital amp and that pumps...however, it's in a sealed box and is nice and tight and accurate. I had a really loud setup once with 2x Digital Designs DD3512 12" subs and my god it was loud...but it was loose and sloppy and not my thing.

I prefer nice tight bass, but also a really well balanced and wide soundstage.

Originally Posted by duaned

I had 2 SB13Ultras in my theatre room and they are a nice tight sounding sub. I like my sealed subs, but I wanted a little more depth. I got that from 2 Rythmic F12SE subs. Cheaper than the SB13Ultras and go deeper and even more musical due to their servo technology. REL subs are nice, great for music but lack a little oomph for theatre in my opinion.

But as mentioned room size is a factor in subwoofer decision.

Which REL subs have you heard man? The model I'm looking at is a 12" active driver with a passive 12" downward firing cone running off 550W RMS. I'm just wondering if that's enough power? Maybe car stereos are different?

My room, currently, is around 4x6m and I'm running older Focal 700 series speakers off a Yamaha RX-V1600, with the front speakers bi-amped. The house is a rental and I want to but a sub that will serve me well both in this rental and when I get my own place in the hopefully somewhat near future.

[rednose]

Originally Posted by G6E Turbo 2

Not sure if you have had much feedback

Krix speakers are sensational I have used
them for sometime and $ for $ they outperform anything

Ended up sticking with floorstanders...

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showpos...&postcount=134

Will end up mounting the tv on the wall soon for normal tv duties and will install an in-ceiling projector screen for movies.

Already used to the 70" TV and find it a bit small for movies.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by graphicgoose

Yeah, that's true. Bass is very much personal. For me, my system has always sounded pretty average for music, but fantastic for theatre...except for the rattley sub.

Well with my speakers they play music amazingly well and movies really well. So yeah it comes down to what you prefer. But I know I can stick a cd in and know the SQ will be a hum dinger if I just chill in the HT with a glass of wine.

Dont get me wrong, movies are great but I can tell the SQ difference when dialog comes on as opposed to when they movie plays music. It's not noticeable to the lay person, but I can just tell.

The sub in my opinion 'ties in' the sound and compliments the system. A poorly setup/quality sub will just sound average in comparison.

[maat1985]

some absolutely awesome systems some of you guys have... could only wish to have the kinda money i want to spend on the system i need....
i have a pretty decent set up (certainly not ausiophile grade but dos a pretty damn good job)
Integra 30.2 7.2ch amp...
Sony Turntable (waiting on my vintage marantz to come)
Denon 5dsc CD changer
Denon Dual Cassette Player
Samsung 48" LCD HDTV
Samsung Blu-Ray Player
LG DVD-R VHS-R Combo
all connected to my home router with 3TB media HDD

speakers are
12" downfiring Infinity Sub
2 x floor speakers with 10" super woofer, horn tweeter, 6" midrange
centre speaker with 3 x 4" midrange drivers
2 x side surround speakers with 2 x 6" midrange drivers
2 x rear surround speakers with 5.5" midrange drivers

will get wattage on speakers and model numbers on equipmet up here soon.
sounds absolutely fantastic. thumps real hard down low and keeps real good clarity high end. certainly worth alot more than i have paid for it. is still not as good as i would dream of having but does kick *** none the less....

[raised by monkeys]

I have not got a great understanding of home stereo equipment. August 2011 I bought a Yamaha 5.1 rxv371b receiver and jbl jbcinema500 5.1 sub sat system. Recently, I lost a hdmi input in the receiver, was annoyed, but only used 3 of 4 anyways. I have now lost all power functions to it. POS. The receiver only came with a 2 year warranty.

One JBL rear surround speaker has become crackled, probably the cone was knocked when one of my dogs decided to be a clown in the house. This came with a 3 year warranty and is about 8 months out. Hoping to see if they'll help.

Ive always used and loved jbl speakers and Klipsch headphones; and like the quality

My query is, What is a better 5.1 receiver option? Im hoping that worst case scenario I have to replace the receiver. I don't have a huge budget and I don't exactly know what that is, but lets say a receiver at the $500 mark would be ok.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by raised by monkeys

I have not got a great understanding of home stereo equipment. August 2011 I bought a Yamaha 5.1 rxv371b receiver and jbl jbcinema500 5.1 sub sat system. Recently, I lost a hdmi input in the receiver, was annoyed, but only used 3 of 4 anyways. I have now lost all power functions to it. POS. The receiver only came with a 2 year warranty.

One JBL rear surround speaker has become crackled, probably the cone was knocked when one of my dogs decided to be a clown in the house. This came with a 3 year warranty and is about 8 months out. Hoping to see if they'll help.

Ive always used and loved jbl speakers and Klipsch headphones; and like the quality

My query is, What is a better 5.1 receiver option? Im hoping that worst case scenario I have to replace the receiver. I don't have a huge budget and I don't exactly know what that is, but lets say a receiver at the $500 mark would be ok.

For that sort of budget Shaun, I would stick with a Yamaha. You can get last years models in a 5.1 for that. Sherwood do them too. About 75w x 5 system. Harmon Kardon are a tad more but seem to have a lot of fruit.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/tv-home-en...ceiver/429579/

It just depends on what you are looking for. But something like these would do the job for the next 3+ years

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by raised by monkeys

I have not got a great understanding of home stereo equipment. August 2011 I bought a Yamaha 5.1 rxv371b receiver and jbl jbcinema500 5.1 sub sat system. Recently, I lost a hdmi input in the receiver, was annoyed, but only used 3 of 4 anyways. I have now lost all power functions to it. POS. The receiver only came with a 2 year warranty.

One JBL rear surround speaker has become crackled, probably the cone was knocked when one of my dogs decided to be a clown in the house. This came with a 3 year warranty and is about 8 months out. Hoping to see if they'll help.

Ive always used and loved jbl speakers and Klipsch headphones; and like the quality

My query is, What is a better 5.1 receiver option? Im hoping that worst case scenario I have to replace the receiver. I don't have a huge budget and I don't exactly know what that is, but lets say a receiver at the $500 mark would be ok.

Never had an issue with my Yamaha Aventage RX-A820. I've had issues with Onkyo. I bought my speakers online from an internet direct company called Ascend Acoustics. Best speakers I have heard for the $

[raised by monkeys]

Originally Posted by blueoval

For that sort of budget Shaun, I would stick with a Yamaha. You can get last years models in a 5.1 for that. Sherwood do them too. About 75w x 5 system. Harmon Kardon are a tad more but seem to have a lot of fruit.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/tv-home-en...ceiver/429579/

It just depends on what you are looking for. But something like these would do the job for the next 3+ years

It really is just to add a bit of balls to sound when watching blu rays or playing video games. BUT, I don't want to be replacing equipment every 3 years, so if this means that I need to spend a little more, I will, but will just have to wait.

The speakers are great and if it comes to (worst case scenario) I may just have to buy another speaker - I paid a bit of the genuine JBL speaker stands as well so I don't want to be replacing all of this for the sake of one speaker.

[blueoval]

Well I paid $750 for my Yamaha receiver on special. Brilliant bit of kit and I bought it for the same reasons. To ensure I dont replace it within a silly time frame. I mentioned 3 years because in theory you cannot guarantee anything these days. But yeah you should get many more years from Yamaha equipment.

[rednose]

My yamaha amp is 8 years old and has never missed a beat.

Onkyo's seem to suffer from HDMI issues.

My advice would be to look for a 1 or 2 year old amp in the higher range and it should provide you with many years of enjoyment.

[raised by monkeys]

I emailed them and said I was disappointed that in under 3 1/2 years of use it is now pretty much useless. Their reply was if you want to repair it, here is the link. Wont be giving them money again. Wouldn't have minded so much if there was more of empathic response. Might see if I can find a local repair guy. If its going to cost a bit I'll search for a new unit. Hopefully jb hi fi have some good eofy sales.

[maat1985]

my amp is an integra which is onkyo premium commercial brand (higher quality than onkyo) and i have had absolutely 0 issues with it in the 5 years i have owned it. everything runs as perfect as the day i bought it. it was $3000 and i got it as a steal at $1550 due to a runout sale... it has 4 or 5 HDMI and all work perfectly.....

[rednose]

Originally Posted by maat1985

my amp is an integra which is onkyo premium commercial brand (higher quality than onkyo) and i have had absolutely 0 issues with it in the 5 years i have owned it. everything runs as perfect as the day i bought it. it was $3000 and i got it as a steal at $1550 due to a runout sale... it has 4 or 5 HDMI and all work perfectly.....

Integra are much better units than Onkyo.

Don't get me wrong I'm not bagging Onkyo, in fact I used to own an Onkyo TX DS656 which was a little ripper.

It just seems as though the newer ones have suffered from poor HDMI boards.

I have 2 relatives that have had their Onkyo's fail in less than a year (both covered by warranty thankfully).

In the end you need to feel comfortable with your purchase and everyone has their own preference.

[duaned]

Personally Shaun I would stick to Yamaha. You can get the superseded RX-V377 for around 400 ponies at the moment. The new RX-V379 seems to have the only addition of internal Bluetooth at around $550. Harman Kardon are unreliable pieces of junk these days. Pioneer is OK but a bright sounding signature to it's sound.
Onkyo, well.................

[raised by monkeys]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[ANGEL#3]

Hi all about to start build on my new house and looking for some ideas with the Theatre Room

Room Size is 4410x5570

I will be getting it per wired before the plasterboard/gyprock goes up.
Wonder what I should go for?
Been looking at the Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 http://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/dol...-4-setups.html there is only hand full of movies made with Atmos just wondering if its worth getting?

I really want a Bose Lifestyle 535 but after hearing it i wasnt sold and though for that price im sure i could find something that sounded better.

The room will be a multi purpose room for general TV watch including Foxtel, gaming and movies.

Also on a different note im undecided about what i should pant the room. Leave it the same as the rest of the house (off white) or go with a dark colour.

New lounges arrived last week (now in storage) are in Red Leather.

[rednose]

Future proofing for Dolby Atmos is what I would do.

I'm going to be redoing my living/media room next year and will definately be provisioning for Atmos.

My room is only 3.6 x 5 so a 5.1.2 Atmos should be plenty.

With regards to paint if it was a dedicated theatre room then I would say the darker the better, but if like me you use it as your normal living room then match it with the rest of the house.

[graphicgoose]

Well I ended up going with the REL S/5 in gloss black. Not enough room for a second sub in this house (rental that I'm sharing with other people), but once I move into my own place I'll probably add a second S/5.

Have to admit, this sub sounds amazing so far. Got a lot more run-in time to go, but it's incredibly accurate and responsive. It's not big and boomy, it's nice and tight and integrates incredibly well with the rest of my system, while lifting the entire soundstage. I've never really been happy with the 2ch sound from my system when running Pure Direct, but with the way the REL integrates and actually runs when the rest of the theatre circuitry is shut down has completely changed that. VERY happy with my 2ch sound now! I initially used the microphone that came with the amp to dial in the room settings...then quickly ditched the eq settings it gave me, ew!

It'd been a few years and house moves since I last chopped and re-split my speaker cables (and I was having some dramas with my centre speaker the other night), so bought some proper wire splitters and did it all properly, just to be thorough.

Spent many hours (still currently sitting on the sofa with 2ch mode engaged) listening to music of all sorts and am so glad I finally bought a decent sub, it's completely lifted the musical experience of my system.

Also decided to test the sub out with a movie last night and found one of the Transformers blurays on my shelf, so threw that in...impressive! Again, probably more so because it's not massively in your face, yelling at you that it's a sub and it's here to **** **** up! It blends really nicely but vibrates through the room and adds massive impact to the movie effects and soundtrack. I could feel it through the sofa and my Xbox One remote kept lighting up when the sub kicked (it lights up when you touch it, but it was sitting on my sofa) haha, was rad!

Early days yet, but call me impressed by the REL S/5.

It's a piece of artwork too...not a great photo, should have taken some before I put it in place...but ah well.

[jimt3te50]

Enjoying a scotch and thought I'd take a really crappy photo of the setup which is still mostly in boxes still functional as is but I have so many goodies still packaged from 9 months ago... But, love my home theatre

[blueoval]

Love your work Jim. We had friends kids over last night watching movies and playing playstation all night. They basically slept in there, so my HT is getting a good work out too.

Been doing Star Wars movie nights leading up to the new movie. As well as Hunger Games nights too.

[graphicgoose]

Originally Posted by jimt3te50

Enjoying a scotch and thought I'd take a really crappy photo of the setup which is still mostly in boxes still functional as is but I have so many goodies still packaged from 9 months ago... But, love my home theatre

image

I remember last time I was there Jim, all these boxes of goodies hidden behind the screen...it made me sad that they were hidden away, not being used

[jimt3te50]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Love your work Jim. We had friends kids over last night watching movies and playing playstation all night. They basically slept in there, so my HT is getting a good work out too.

Been doing Star Wars movie nights leading up to the new movie. As well as Hunger Games nights too.

Thanks man- interesting you say about the Star Wars thing as I've been planning to do that with my young bloke before the new one comes out. I've actually been googling which is the best order to show someone who hasn't seen it, but decided in going to go with the order in which they were released, which is the way is always intended though wasn't sure my kids would understand the idea of a prequel, especially one that had two movies in between it.

And we won't get into the quality of those movies and the complex political storylines ...

[Yellow_Festiva]

Got a general question about speaker connection. What's better, running speaker wire up to the ceiling for the 2 rear surround sound speakers or just providing a power supply and have them wireless?

Should these speakers be flush ceiling mounted or boxed and pointing down from the corners?

will have 3 separate living areas so wondering if wireless speakers will interfere with each other?

Thanks!