I would like to get a new HiFi for telly, PS4, music purposes.
My 9 year old Yamaha soundbar which had been performing this duty is bust.
I liked the soundbar because it was neat and tidy, but I had it in my head that the sound quality was not great.
I'm not going to go as far as 5 speakers, lifting carpet, drilling holes in walls etc, but I did think that an AV receiver with a pair of floorstanders might be a good, if unorthodox solution.
What do we think? Any views/expertise greatly appreciated.
I tried that but decided a 2.1 setup was better if you have space for a subwoofer. I'd go with smaller bookshelf speakers and a small sealed sub like a BK Gemini.
Still use my old 31 year old JVC separates system hooked up to the TV/media PC for music and films.
Wouldn't an AV receiver be set up for surround sound? If you don't need that a simple stereo amp will do. My telly goes through just such a setup.
Wouldn't an AV receiver be set up for surround sound? If you don't need that a simple stereo amp will do. My telly goes through just such a setup.
I thought I'd need an AV receiver for all the hdmi inputs and TV output. A stereo amp would not have all that connectivity?
A surround amp with 2 floorstanders and a centre speaker is great. You get great music, great TV and films are much better. Speech is fixed to the screen which sounds ace. You can get an amp for £200 which will do Bluetooth etc for streaming and another £200 will get you speakers. Far better than any soundbar.
£150 for this amp is a steal. https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/av-receivers/yamaha-rxv381.html
£99 speakers https://www.richersounds.com/tannoy-floorstanding-speakers.html
Plenty of centre speakers here. https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/centre-speakers.html
I thought I'd need an AV receiver for all the hdmi inputs and TV output. A stereo amp would not have all that connectivity?
You don't necessarily need that if all you are doing is passing sound to the amp. My telly has old school analogue RCA out sockets, so it just plugs into an aux in on the amp. Mind you, more recent telly seem to only have a digital out which is a bit more problematic i admit.
Yeh I bought an av amp many moons ago now, probably not a feature you see much any more but what sold it for me was its wealth of RCA/analog connectivity making it a very flexible bit of kit.
only have a digital out which is a bit more problematic
That is preferred, why rely on a cheap TV DAC. Digital out to an [url= http://www.audioappraisal.com/yamaha-s501-review/ ]integrated amp[/url] with a decent DAC is what to aim for.
Wouldn't an AV receiver be set up for surround sound?
It'll be set up for however you set it up.
Personally I'd get an AV receiver and I'd stick with Yamaha (oh wait, that's exactly what I did!). You can setup the speaker configuration on the amp, and mine at least has a neat feature where you can stick a (supplied) microphone in the middle of the room and run a test to set up the speaker levels and timings automatically.
Standalone DAC and good 2 channel amp should do you. Maybe brand new dac and speakers and a second hand amp to keep the cost down?
I got rid of my Yamaha soundbar, nothing wrong with it, but didn’t work with our new furniture. Decided to go with Yamaha HS5 active speakers. Excellent sounding, with both TV and music, don’t miss the 'surround' at all, sound quality overall is significantly better than the YSP600. Requires some thought regarding how you hook it all up, but I use a Sonos Connect, switches automatically between TV and audio sources.
Might add a sub at some point, but is not essential.
Might add a sub at some point, but is not essential.
Watch [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/interstellar-soundtrack ]Interstellar[/url] on a system with a good sub that's set up correctly and you'll be gripping the sofa in fear/awe as the ship takes off at the start of the film, just remember to breath every now and then.
A good sub is very essential in my opinion 😉 a good setup needn't be expensive either as i have a relatively cheap system of cambridge audio dacmagic+ to KRK 10 sub and KRK Rokit 5, same as youtube review below
I already have a good sub on my proper hifi, so I’m in no doubt what they add. The HS5s would definitely benefit from adding one, still not essential though. 😉
They were enough of a jump from the soundbar that I’m happy for the time being.
Theyre handy things, av amps.
I've got one pair of speakers placed far away, for listening to music and engage another, closer pair of speakers when I need to extract more detail from cd/ MP3, etc.
This set up is particularly useful when listening to Jeremy vines radio2 broadcast where the music is always FAR LOUDER than the spoken bits.
Though that applies to pretty much every BBC broadcast, with the exception of radio 3.
Haven't they heard of compression?
Apologies if that turned into a minor rant:)
Just get one of these and some speakers and a sub if needed.
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-n602/index.html#product-tabs
Firming up my notions.
Thinking of a Yamaha RXV683 receiver and Q Acoustics 3050 floorstanders.
Not going for a sub, live in a 1st floor flat and dont want to trouble the richter scale. Besides, the floorstanders are meant to be be beefy enough. Undecided on whether a centre speaker is needed though?
My WiFi and internet connection are shocking (thick walls + no cable broaband despite being 2km from Edinburgh city centre) so dont want to rely on that side of things.
Thinking of a Yamaha RXV683 receiver and Q Acoustics 3050 floorstanders.
Can't comment on the speakers, but that's the sort of amp I'd be looking at.
Undecided on whether a centre speaker is needed though?
Arguably the single most important component of a 5.1 setup. If you can and you like films, I would. Though in the Dolby Digital world you ideally want identical speakers. (Mine aren't as it's a throwback to the Pro Logic era, can't say as I care overly.)
hows the soundbar bust - the early ysp models had a common problem with a duff capacitor - replace capacitor for £1 - good as ever was. If want more details email me.
Soundbars and subs to make up for the tiny useless loudspeakers in modern flat TV's is a marketing con and useless for listening to music and are not and could never be described as "hifi"...
Get a good audio/hifi two-speaker system that prioritises music quality reproduction and hook your TV into it.
Arguably the single most important component of a 5.1 setup
OP isn't going 5.1, just a front pair.
Mr Woppit is correct. Don't be fooled by the trendy sound bar/ AV/ subwoofer route. Get a nice simple good quality 2 channel amplifier and bookshelf speakers and proper stands.
I'm not trendy to the point of not even knowing what a soundbar is, but I went with a sub because I live in a small suite. My Marantz AV amp has no tone control and at low volumes my old B&W DM100i speakers are light on bass, so having a sub with separate adjustments adds decent bass at lower volumes yet doesn't annoy the neighbours two streets away!