Surround sound

[Goth]

I'll never go back, it will always be surround sound for me. Oh yeah, Karaya's suggestions rock, I have faith in him.

[dhaus]

It really depends on your budget, future plans, etc. etc.  Try the Home Theater Forum, or the AV forum if you want help from people who discuss home theater the way we discuss aircraft.  Warning, they look down on Home Theater in a Box.  (HTIB)  Their advice is much like Nilson's - look to spend as much as you can on a superb receiver with 7.1 capability and two awesome front speakers.  Then add the center, surrounds and subwoofer as you scrape up the cash.  For my budget (nil) and future plans (3 kids, college, etc. etc.) I went for an HTIB from Onkyo.  I listened to many before I bought and that - to me - was the best bang for the buck.  For my purposes and budget, it was perfect.  You really need to listen to the speakers and receiver before you buy, whether you go high end, or an HTIB.  Some think Bose is the best, others prefer JBL.  You need to listen for yourself.

[Nilsen]

Onkyo is a good brand. I used to have a stereo system 10-15 years ago with components from the Integra series with B&W and Mission speakers. It sounded great so I would trust that brand to deliver good in the home cinema deparment as well. Pioneer also has some good components if you go abit beyond the budget choises. Harman Kardon and Maranz should also be good. Never liked Sony or Yamaha for some reason.


I may hook up my next PC to a surround system in my office for gaming purposes but i wont spend 10k $ ++ for a setup for my livingroom. Im not that big on movies anymore so it would be wasted.

[Saintaw]

Originally posted by Jackal1
For the gadget geeks.
What is the best solution for setting up speakers for surround sound?

Just because it's you Jack, I propose you put your head in a bucket

[storch]

Originally posted by Saintaw
Just because it's you Jack, I propose you put your head in a bucket

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by Saintaw
Just because it's you Jack, I propose you put your head in a bucket

Tryed that, but the new fangled buckets are all made of plastic now and have very poor acoustic ratings.

[Dago]

In my experience, setting a system to "surround sound" tends to boost the background noise and music to a level that makes dialog harder to hear.

[indy007]

On my gaming PC, I'm running a good old Sound Blaster Audigy, and a Creative 5.1 system. It's pretty much overkill for what I use it for (Aces High/WoW/CoH/CS).. rolling buffs can make your guts vibrate.

On top of that, I have a creative labs speaker stand that I believe is out of production. It's a base plate that sits under your monitor, and has 2 adjustable arms that hold the rear channel speakers behind your head.

Here's an older pic of my setup, quite a bit has changed... except for the arms holding the speakers.





I dig it.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

When building a surround set it's imperative to get 5-7 matching high quality speakers and a good surround amp to run them.

Expect to pay in excess of $2500 for a decent amp and $5000 for 5 decent speakers. Even better solution is to get a non-integrated surround amp in which case the price is up to $5000 for the amp alone.

Or you could just buy a Red Rose Audio clone from china for $650 (suggested retail price $5000 in the US).

In any case as long as the amp is half decent, the emphasis should be put to speakers. They will define the overall quality of any audio system.

For anyone interested, high quality speakers can be found at http://www.martinlogan.com for example. They sell ht sets too.

The speaker positioning has to be symmetrical, usually 3-4ft clearance should be left to all walls (including the sub) and the adjustment is best made by calibrating with a handheld sound pressure meter ($40 radioshack will do).

Also listening room acoustics is really important especially with smaller rooms. Lots of heavy furniture, wooden construction etc. are beneficial for listening room acoustics. Concrete walls, hard surfaces in general are very bad.

[x0847Marine]

Originally posted by Jackal1
For the gadget geeks.
What is the best solution for setting up speakers for surround sound?

If you're investing in a surround sound set up, be sure your sound card has SPDIF... having SPDIF will allow you to use your 5.1 PC speakers with a cable / dish / direct TV box. I have these, the speakers sound pretty good for being cheap.
Turtle Beach Roadie 5.1 or 7.1 with SPDIF in/out $79.00, and Logitech X-540 speakers $99

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by Dago
In my experience, setting a system to "surround sound" tends to boost the background noise and music to a level that makes dialog harder to hear.

Dialog comes from the Center channel, and even less from the Mains (r/l).   My guess are the speakers are not calibrated properly.  I.E. the rear channels are driven improperly by an increase of db.   Surround channels are meant to "enhance", that is it.

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by dhaus
It really depends on your budget, future plans, etc. etc.  Try the Home Theater Forum, or the AV forum if you want help from people who discuss home theater the way we discuss aircraft.  Warning, they look down on Home Theater in a Box.  (HTIB)  Their advice is much like Nilson's - look to spend as much as you can on a superb receiver with 7.1 capability and two awesome front speakers.  Then add the center, surrounds and subwoofer as you scrape up the cash.  For my budget (nil) and future plans (3 kids, college, etc. etc.) I went for an HTIB from Onkyo.  I listened to many before I bought and that - to me - was the best bang for the buck.  For my purposes and budget, it was perfect.  You really need to listen to the speakers and receiver before you buy, whether you go high end, or an HTIB.  Some think Bose is the best, others prefer JBL.  You need to listen for yourself.

HTIB are good for "More Movies, Less Music".

I will never buy a Bose product, they are inferior by many lengths and are pure "marketing hype".   They don't use subwoofers, as their "bass module" is marketed as just that, because it only has two 5 1/4" drivers inside it.   Not to mention the frequncy response holes, or the fact that NO Bose literature, mentions the Frequency Response.  

Out of 15 buddies, only Goth is the one that listened, and was happy.   Why?  The 14 others "sought to prove me wrong".    They gripe about their systems to this very day, past and present.  

Mr. Ripley's post is superb, but Martin Logan's are setting you back more than $5000.  

I love my KEF's.

[Jackal1]

Some great input and info. I appreciate it gents.

Indy....that setup is awesome.

[indy007]

Originally posted by Jackal1
Some great input and info. I appreciate it gents.

Indy....that setup is awesome.

ty There is one drawback to the audio bubble. Somebody can sit right next to me, and I have absolutely no clue wtf they're saying. The house could burn down, and I'll still be trying to win the merge.

[Gh0stFT]

Originally posted by Dago
In my experience, setting a system to "surround sound" tends to boost the background noise and music to a level that makes dialog harder to hear.

You have to setup the Surround System first, make the Center box louder
and decrease the loudnes of the rest box'es. Every DVD comes with a different
Sound print, some movies tend to have background sound louder then
others.

Look at your DVD Player Manual for "Dynamic Range",
you can manually set it up or if you have a more modern DVD player,
you can let the player do the Dynamic Range Setup on the fly,
some call it the "Midnight Mode".

Look on the web for more infor about this mode.