Need home theater help/advice

[crzyjournalist03]

With Circuit City's announcement that they're closing all their stores, I've been thinking about adding a surround sound system and figure that now is probably a great time to do so, but I really know nothing about

First off, I already have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player, satellite dish, Wii, and 50" Plasma TV, and I'd love to get surround sound to go with it. I see that a lot of systems come with DVD or Blu-Ray players, so I'm guessing I'd just need a system with a tuner.

My question is will a tuner or sound system hurt affect the sound quality or picture quality negatively in any way when I'm trying to watch TV via satellite (I'm actually switching to Fios next month) or a movie. I'm guessing that with the game console, I could just use the television's speakers still?

Another question that I have is whether wireless systems are any good, or if I really need the wires to make the sound authentic. My living room is quite large, so I'd hate to run wiring all around the ceiling if it could be avoided, but I've heard in the past that wireless systems get a lot of interference and sound pretty crappy.

Does anything that is 5.1 or 7.1 mean that it's surround sound, or does that only refer to the number of speakers? I see the terms used with surround sound a lot, but I wasn't sure if all home theater systems were surround sound or not.

Anybody who has any knowledge/advice on the subject at all is welcome to chime in, as I'm pretty clueless right now.

[Farmersfan]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
With Circuit City's announcement that they're closing all their stores, I've been thinking about adding a surround sound system and figure that now is probably a great time to do so, but I really know nothing about

First off, I already have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player, satellite dish, Wii, and 50" Plasma TV, and I'd love to get surround sound to go with it. I see that a lot of systems come with DVD or Blu-Ray players, so I'm guessing I'd just need a system with a tuner.

My question is will a tuner or sound system hurt affect the sound quality or picture quality negatively in any way when I'm trying to watch TV via satellite (I'm actually switching to Fios next month) or a movie. I'm guessing that with the game console, I could just use the television's speakers still?

Another question that I have is whether wireless systems are any good, or if I really need the wires to make the sound authentic. My living room is quite large, so I'd hate to run wiring all around the ceiling if it could be avoided, but I've heard in the past that wireless systems get a lot of interference and sound pretty crappy.

Does anything that is 5.1 or 7.1 mean that it's surround sound, or does that only refer to the number of speakers? I see the terms used with surround sound a lot, but I wasn't sure if all home theater systems were surround sound or not.

Anybody who has any knowledge/advice on the subject at all is welcome to chime in, as I'm pretty clueless right now.


My experience is that wireless will work well for you for TV and game play. Although they are getting much better wireless doesn't seem to provide the best quality for music playback. I prefer to eliminate as many remotes as possible in my system so I recommend you have a receiver that actually interprets HDMI signals instead of pass-thru. It will save soooooo much aggrevation....
5.1 or 7.1 referrs to the number of sound locations. Although 7.1 is considered a upgrade to 5.1 very few people actually have 7 speakers and a sub. 5.1 is fine for most.
One last hint: Always place your sub in the corner facing the wall.

[crzyjournalist03]

How do you know whether it interprets or has pass-through on HDMI? Is that in reference to audio signals/video signals or both?

Like I said earlier, I really have no clue about any of this, so I'm sorry if those questions sound retarded.

[Emerson1]

What is your budget?

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by Emerson1
What is your budget?

The cheaper the better. Under $500...so I know I'm not getting Bose or anything like that.

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
How do you know whether it interprets or has pass-through on HDMI? Is that in reference to audio signals/video signals or both?

Like I said earlier, I really have no clue about any of this, so I'm sorry if those questions sound retarded.
You should be able to run your video straight to the TV from all of your sources. Then either run sound from the source to the receiver or like I do, it all goes to the TV then to our receiver/speaker(we have a home theater in a box though not a receiver)

5.1 = 5 speakers + sub, google 5.1 sound diagram
7.1 = 7 speakers + sub

[crzyjournalist03]

I was going to post links to some of the systems I was looking at, but Circuit City's website just went down.

[Emerson1]

Find them on best buy, everyone is going to sell the same thing basically. I read that they aren't really "sells", a lot of the stuff is being raised to the MSRP then being discounted.

Does star power not having anything?

[Emerson1]

Advice I would give is to make sure to get something where the subwoofer has it's own independent power and settings. Our is connected to the receiver by 1 wire and it's not very powerful. TMer will know everything to tell you

[crzyjournalist03]

Haven't checked StarPower, but I'm guessing I couldn't get anything from there for under $500...

Here's a couple that are similar to the things I was looking at on Circuit City's website:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8796788&type=product&id=1205538061760

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8724339&type=product&id=1200703057742

[Emerson1]

There is also a lot of crap with sound decoding you need to look into. I know nothing about that though. TMer will probably be able to tell you exactly what to get.

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by Emerson1
There is also a lot of crap with sound decoding you need to look into. I know nothing about that though. TMer will probably be able to tell you exactly what to get.

Yeah...that's the kind of stuff that totally confuses me. I'm not looking to have a theater-quality experience, but I'd like to be able to hear the X-wings move across the room when I'm watching Star Wars. The fewer wires involved, the better, and other than that, I just need to keep it cheap.

[Emerson1]

Just run it up through the ceiling

[DU_stud04]

you should get a klipsch system, the sound range is awesome, bass is very good. ive got a klipsch speaker system hooked up to my desktop because i watch a lot of movies on it. great speakers, very true sound to them.

[Farmersfan]

A powered sub is a must for good sound. HDMI (High Def Multimedia Interface) is the #1 choice for video signal transmission. It also carries audio. If the receiver interpretes this audio signal and uses it for the surroundsound then no other audio connection is required. This will allow you to connect 3 or more sources to your receiver. Most people who sell these receivers can explain how to hook them up. There are numberous ways to do it but I prefer that everything runs through the receiver so I minimize the remotes that are lying all over the house.

[SWMustang]

As far as a receiver, I think the Onkyo TXSR 606 is a pretty good value to be had. It was selling for around 500 dollars before Thanksgiving but I saw it down to 299 during the holidays. I think it could be had for under 400 right now. They do sell it at Circuit City so maybe it will get back down to 300.

[DU_stud04]

you're in the metroplex.... run over to fry's. they've got about 5-6 different ones hooked up usually.

[TMer25]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
With Circuit City's announcement that they're closing all their stores, I've been thinking about adding a surround sound system and figure that now is probably a great time to do so, but I really know nothing about

First off, I already have a Panasonic Blu-Ray player, satellite dish, Wii, and 50" Plasma TV, and I'd love to get surround sound to go with it. I see that a lot of systems come with DVD or Blu-Ray players, so I'm guessing I'd just need a system with a tuner.

My question is will a tuner or sound system hurt affect the sound quality or picture quality negatively in any way when I'm trying to watch TV via satellite (I'm actually switching to Fios next month) or a movie. I'm guessing that with the game console, I could just use the television's speakers still?

Another question that I have is whether wireless systems are any good, or if I really need the wires to make the sound authentic. My living room is quite large, so I'd hate to run wiring all around the ceiling if it could be avoided, but I've heard in the past that wireless systems get a lot of interference and sound pretty crappy.

Does anything that is 5.1 or 7.1 mean that it's surround sound, or does that only refer to the number of speakers? I see the terms used with surround sound a lot, but I wasn't sure if all home theater systems were surround sound or not.

Anybody who has any knowledge/advice on the subject at all is welcome to chime in, as I'm pretty clueless right now.

You have the Panasonic BD 35 right?

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by TMer25
You have the Panasonic BD 35 right?
He does

[TMer25]

Originally posted by Emerson1
He does

Alright then, doesn't need a receiver with a DolbyTrueHD decoder or DTS HDMA decoder. Next question, what are the room dimensions and budget?

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
The cheaper the better. Under $500.

[TMer25]

Didn't catch that. Kind of limited to a home theater in a box then. Just going to need one with an HDMI input so he can take advantage of the Dolby TrueHD and DTS HDMA decoders in his Blu Ray player.

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
Haven't checked StarPower, but I'm guessing I couldn't get anything from there for under $500...

Here's a couple that are similar to the things I was looking at on Circuit City's website:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8796788&type=product&id=1205538061760

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8724339&type=product&id=1200703057742
Out of those two I would go with the second one. Sub has 250w of earth moving power compared to 144w on the other. Ours is only 100w and you can't really feel it unless it gets super intense.

[TMer25]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Out of those two I would go with the second one. Sub has 250w of earth moving power compared to 144w on the other. Ours is only 100w and you can't really feel it unless it gets super intense.

Actually the sub on the first one is going should sound better as it has a lower THD. The 2nd one is going to be a little louder.

There is a Sony Bravia 5.1 system that is around the $400 price range which is pretty much the top of the HTIB heap right now.

[CelinaCatFan]

I'm running a Denon receiver with a 7.1 Bose surround system and I have been very pleased with it.

You can run the wires through the walls and ceiling for the ceiling mounted speakers (in the back) and use tower stands (in the front).

[TMer25]

Originally posted by Farmersfan
A powered sub is a must for good sound. HDMI (High Def Multimedia Interface) is the #1 choice for video signal transmission. It also carries audio. If the receiver interpretes this audio signal and uses it for the surroundsound then no other audio connection is required. This will allow you to connect 3 or more sources to your receiver. Most people who sell these receivers can explain how to hook them up. There are numberous ways to do it but I prefer that everything runs through the receiver so I minimize the remotes that are lying all over the house.

Not always the best option as lots of budget receivers still introduce interference on the HDMI output side for video.

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by TMer25
Didn't catch that. Kind of limited to a home theater in a box then. Just going to need one with an HDMI input so he can take advantage of the Dolby TrueHD and DTS HDMA decoders in his Blu Ray player.

So by home theater in a box, are you talking about the type of things I was looking at?

When you say I don't need a receiver, does that mean that the BD-35 can act as the main source of the system?

[TMer25]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
So by home theater in a box, are you talking about the type of things I was looking at?

When you say I don't need a receiver, does that mean that the BD-35 can act as the main source of the system?

Yeah, Home Theater in a Box is what you were looking at. Includes the receivers and speakers all together.

You will still need a receiver with an HDMI input to fully take advantage of your BD 35. You don't need a receiver with the latest surround sound decoders because your BD 35 has those built in. So basically your BD 35 will decode the audio, transcode it to what is referred to as PCM, send it to the receiver over HDMI and your receiver will then reproduce it.

[crzyjournalist03]

Cool...so a receiver with an HDMI input is the main thing I need to look at and the BR will take care of the sound. I'm sure that the theater experts at the stores can point me in the right direction now that I've got the basics down.


Thanks!

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
Cool...so a receiver with an HDMI input is the main thing I need to look at and the BR will take care of the sound. I'm sure that the theater experts at the stores can point me in the right direction now that I've got the basics down.


Thanks!
Just don't let them convince you to buy a $80 HDMI Monster cable.

[TMer25]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
Cool...so a receiver with an HDMI input is the main thing I need to look at and the BR will take care of the sound. I'm sure that the theater experts at the stores can point me in the right direction now that I've got the basics down.


Thanks!

Just don't let them talk you into something you don't need.

[TMer25]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Just don't let them convince you to buy a $80 HDMI Monster cable.

Very well said.

[Emerson1]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/

[TMer25]

Monster and Bose are the two highest profit margin brands for retailers. That's why they are both pushed so heavily.

[crzyjournalist03]

Hey TMer,

thoughts on this system?

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HT-SS2300-Component-Theater-System/dp/B00180MQWG/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238272418&sr=8-3

[SintonFan]

crzy, I have used trianglescables to buy many of my cables cheap. They are among the highest quality.
Here's the link: Trianglecables (http://www.trianglecables.com/hdmi-to-hdmi-cables.html)
Good luck!