Home theatre systems

[jkust]

Hi all, so I just replaced my 42" main lcd tv in the family room. I ended up replacing it with a new manufacturer on the block called Hisense. They historically have manufactured tv's for others to put their brand names on and made a huge splash at the 2012 CES show. I got their 55" smart tv and after a lot of comparing I'm surmising it is as good or better than every other smart LED tv with similar stats I could find and I compared several of them. Time will tell but I am thus far in awe at this thing. So now I'm looking to upgrade my home theatre system. I currently have about an 8 year old all-in-one philips home theatre system from SAms Club that had two subs, two rears, two fronts and a center. It was ok but nothing special and for DVD's you'd have to have the system all the way up to be loud enough. The first dvd I ever watched was on this machine to give you a sense of it's capabilities.
My plan is to put all the components of a new system in the next room and have nothing on the wall but the tv. So I am just confused by the choices. While Bose is a laughing stock to audiophiles sold to mainstream people who fall prey to marketing, I like the way the displays sound but would not pay the prices they charge for what seem to be pretty outdated hardware. I am out of the loop with home theatre stuff and want something with small speakers and a sub but puts out excellent sound for around $700.00 or less. Going to the stores they have countless displays of $500 all in one units that aren't even powered up. Wondering if anybody has some suggestions or advice.

 

[12vMan]

Re: Home theatre systems

I just built a new Media Center. I went to a 55" 3D smart TV and upgraded my surround since I needed one that was compatible with 3D. I did the research and I ended up with a Yamaha system. It's far less complicated than the Harmon Kardon system I had, and far less expensive. It has everything I need - plenty of inputs - and sounds great. Be sure you get one with HDMI CEC. The system I got also communicates wirelessly with iphones, ipads and droids. I've got everything run to it including 2 gaming systems, 3D bluray, std. DVD, Sat., etc.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Home theatre systems

I think you need to contact friscoboater he does this stuff for a living.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Home theatre systems

I would call crutchfields. They give you a 30 or 60 day money back no question pollicy. On top of that the advisors that they have really do know what they are talking about. I recently bought a car radio from them and a new recieaver for my livingroom. Technology has changed. The Onkyo I bought has an app I can put on my phone where I can stream the music from my phone directly to the recieaver in my livingroom. You should consider those things as-well.

 

[jkust]

Re: Home theatre systems

I would call crutchfields. They give you a 30 or 60 day money back no question pollicy. On top of that the advisors that they have really do know what they are talking about. I recently bought a car radio from them and a new recieaver for my livingroom. Technology has changed. The Onkyo I bought has an app I can put on my phone where I can stream the music from my phone directly to the recieaver in my livingroom. You should consider those things as-well.

Thanks for the responses. I've been poking around a bit and things have changed a lot. I think my struggle is going to be which speakers to get. There really isn't much out there that is really small (like the Bose) that I can mount on the wall but be not very noticable. I've seen some speakers that are only like 400$ that seem to get the 'way better than their price would indicate' reviews but they are too big. Given this is the main family room and my wife seems to hate all technology, I need to keep her in mind as well and large wall speakers would not make her happy.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Home theatre systems

Bose was never for the audiofile and yes they are harsh on it. However id doubt you find any spkr system that provides as big a sound stage in such a small package and with a good full range. Unless you listen to Mozart it should be a excellent choice.....If your over 45 most of us cant even hear the full audio spectrum anymore..

 

[jkust]

Re: Home theatre systems

Bose was never for the audiofile and yes they are harsh on it. However id doubt you find any spkr system that provides as big a sound stage in such a small package and with a good full range. Unless you listen to Mozart it should be a excellent choice.....If your over 45 most of us cant even hear the full audio spectrum anymore..

Thanks, I've got a half decade to get to 45 but I know my hearing is lacking from my last hearing test. It drops off completely at the high end. I stopped by Best Buy, which is really the only place around here since the competitor went out of business, and it is clear that speakers are just larger than i'd want. They seem to be aimed at the dedicated home theatre room so I can see how Bose has carved out a niche although the universal complaint seems to be that the bass isn't adequate from their sub.

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: Home theatre systems

Have you looked at Mirage speakers? Crutchfield has the Nanostat 5.1 system for $400. My nephew has a Mirage speaker sytem and they sound pretty dang good to me, and I consider myself fussy on sound You'd need a HT receiver to drive them, but your only other choice is a HT in a box system, and most of them do not sound as good as a dedicated receiver and good speaker set IMO. Well...none of them that I have listened to anyway.

The Mirage Nanostats are pretty small.

 

[12vMan]

Re: Home theatre systems

I have a set of Sony speakers mounted on the walls with the main TV room that sound awesome. You can see the center and the 2 front in my pic above. The sub is behind the TV. In our bar room I have HTD in-ceiling HD speakers which I'm very happy with as well. I was leery of the in-ceiling speakers at first until I heard them. The good thing about the in-ceiling speakers is that the wiring is easy if you have a single story with crawl space. Fish the wire up the wall and you're home free.

 

[jkust]

Re: Home theatre systems

Have you looked at Mirage speakers? Crutchfield has the Nanostat 5.1 system for $400. My nephew has a Mirage speaker sytem and they sound pretty dang good to me, and I consider myself fussy on sound You'd need a HT receiver to drive them, but your only other choice is a HT in a box system, and most of them do not sound as good as a dedicated receiver and good speaker set IMO. Well...none of them that I have listened to anyway.

The Mirage Nanostats are pretty small.

I have a set of Sony speakers mounted on the walls with the main TV room that sound awesome. You can see the center and the 2 front in my pic above. The sub is behind the TV. In our bar room I have HTD in-ceiling HD speakers which I'm very happy with as well. I was leery of the in-ceiling speakers at first until I heard them. The good thing about the in-ceiling speakers is that the wiring is easy if you have a single story with crawl space. Fish the wire up the wall and you're home free.

Will check out the Mirage set up today. I'd love in ceiling speakers but this room has 20+ foot ceilings but the attic has 15 foot ceilings as well so could install them I suppose at some point since it's unfinished up there. Probably good for music but too far for theatre effectiveness though.

My other issue is that tv is right next to a floor to ceiling window bank and so there isn't enough room to put the right side satelite next to the tv like it is supposed to be. I'll have to mount it above or below but the sound field won't be as wide as it should be. I should have mounted it a foot farther over darn it.

 

[Opnine99]

Re: Home theatre systems

Harman Kardon ....I have been designing and installing home theaters for over a decade and that is what I always recommend ...my $.02