Help needed...Please

[hodge913]

I am in desperate need of help in figuring out what I need for my new TV. I have no experience and have no idea what I need. The information at my fingertips is overwhelming.

I have an older system setup with the following components:
Receiver: Harman/Kardon AVR 225
Speakers: Polk Audio (center-RM1600S) (surround-RM1300) (sub-PSW250)
DVD: Sony 5 disc Progressive DVP-NC655P


I recently purchased the new Samsung LN46A850 (red trim) HD TV. Will these components work with the new HD TV or do I need to upgrade? Do I need to get rid of everything or only certain components?

I'm not real happy with the current components above on my older Sony TV because we have a terrible time with hearing people talk vs the surround noise. If we have the volume set to hear the voices clearly and a bomb goes off or a gun fires, our neighbors 2 houses down hear it...it's obnoxious. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the unit because I may not have set things up properly.

The other issue is that I'm on a budget and would like to stay in the $1,500.00 range or below. I have been reading some of the forums and realize I am not in the same league as most of you posting when it comes to the AV world. I'm just looking for rich, robust sound that won't break the bank.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Davemcc]

The issue of hearing dialogue clearly can be addressed in a number of ways, from speaker placement, simple room treatment, DSP modes, equalization or new speakers. A couple of quick photos of the room might help to give an idea of what's going on acoustically and lead to suggestions to improve dialogue quality.

Regarding setup, since you mention it, are you suing the digital audio sources or simply the red/white audio cables?

To get full use of that nice new display, you might want to consider an HD player as a source or a PS3 (which is a Blu-Ray player and a fine upconverting DVD player, music server, internet browser and game system all in one). With that, you might also want to consider a solid HDMI receiver with decent analog to digital transcoding if you want to use your other older components, since you didn't mention a cable/sat source, VCR, camcorder, etc. The new receiver can also provide you with useful functions like auto-level adjustment, internal channel eq functions and more DSP modes to help with the dialog issue. If all that doesn't work, you can still probably have enough left in the budget for a new center channel as a last resort.

If you decide that new speakers are your prefered course of action, try a post in the speaker forum to get ideas on what is best for your needs in your budget but from my perspective, you should look into the HD sources and a more modern receiver to get the system up to the functional level that the new display entails.

New speakers, IMHO, can be added down the road once your system is closer to the digital video needs of the display. But for now, it looks like you have quite a technology deficit to overcome.

 

[hodge913]

Thank you very much for the information.
Regarding the cables; my ex-brother-in-law set up the system for me. He is pretty good at this and laughed when I handed him the old cables I had. After a trip to the electronics store and about $180.00 later he said we had all the cables I needed...so I'm pretty sure it's not just the r/w audio cables.
As for the other items, we do have Comcast digital cable but no VCR/Camcorder.
What do you think about the Samsung HT-X810 to go with the new TV. Haven't seen too many reviews. I'm assuming that would be the only component I would need other than a sub. Is that correct?
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Midcow2]

Upgrade - new speakers , new AVR, satellite

Thank you very much for the information.
Regarding the cables; my ex-brother-in-law set up the system for me. He is pretty good at this and laughed when I handed him the old cables I had. After a trip to the electronics store and about $180.00 later he said we had all the cables I needed...so I'm pretty sure it's not just the r/w audio cables.
As for the other items, we do have Comcast digital cable but no VCR/Camcorder.
What do you think about the Samsung HT-X810 to go with the new TV. Haven't seen too many reviews. I'm assuming that would be the only component I would need other than a sub. Is that correct?
Thanks again for your help.

If you are willing to spend $1,500 you can get new front and center speakers and a new AVR. If you upgrade to HDMI 1.3 you have a simple clean connection, but you will have to buy threem ore HDMI cables.

You can gett a good reasonable priced AVr fro $500 and thta leaves $800 for sepakers. The front and cneter speakers ahould match to maitian timbre ( seamless sound). You Pok speakers could become your surround speakers.

I wouldn't get the Samsung HT-X810 but would instead go with two front toweres and a center.
The Def Tech BP6B speakers would be great fronts ( retail $399 each) with a Procenter 1000 ($220 retail) You can typically get 15-30% off retail prices. There are some other less expensive choices: (1) Cambridge Audio S30 pair of speakers $220 plus shipping, leave out center or use the Def Tech center or (2) Audioholics EMP speakers This system is EMP EF30T 5.1 Speaker System$899 and is out of stock so a free upgrade to EMP EF50T 5.1 Speaker System; great price!

A good AVR would be Yamaha 663 or Onkyo 606. around $500

Your sound improvment would be phenomenal.

Now if you want to improve PQ (Picture Quality) go to DishNetwork or DirecTV and dump Comcast.

 

[GlocksRock]

For $600 shipped you can get the Onkyo TX-SR805 from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR805-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000OBJW1S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1212007440&sr=8-1

It's THX Ultra 2 certified, so it should be able to push anything you put on it, but it will need plenty of ventilation as it runs pretty hot from what I hear.

 

[jcPanny]

HT system upgrades

It sounds like you have up to $1500 to spend to improve your system but you might not NEED to spend it.

1. First, purchase an SPL meter at Radio Shack ($50) and an Avia calibration disc ($30-40) so you can setup your current equipment properly. This includes setting the size, distance, and (volume) level properly for each of your speakers. If you still aren't happy, pursue one or more of the upgrades below.

2. Upgrade the front L/C/R channels. Check out this deal on the RBH on wall speakers: http://store.audioholics.com/section/66209/1/xs_pricelh/on-wall-speakers
They would look nice mounted on the sides and below your new display and provide a performance upgrade for the front channels. Some nice bookshelf speakers in the $200-400/pair price range would also be a good upgrade option. For $900-1000 you can get a good quality 5.1 speaker package.

3. Upgrade the sub: Check out the SVS and HSU models with 10"-12" woofers. You will get the LFE information down to 20 Hz which is lacking from your current sub.

4. DVD player: I would recommend one of the Oppo digital upscalling DVD players for $150-200. If you are ready for BluRay, the PS3 is $400.

5. Receiver?: I don't see any reason to upgrade the receiver unless you want to take advantage of the latest audio formats on BluRay movies. If you get BluRay, then receiver in the $4-500 price range like the Yamaha RX-V663 offer HDMI audio processing.

 

[hodge913]

Thanks for all your help!

Thank you all so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge. I have a good idea of what I need to do.
Sound like no one likes the Samsung HT-X810 even though it looks cool. I would have made that mistake as well without your guidance.

Thanks again

 

[Midcow2]

I agree another approach also good recommendations

It sounds like you have up to $1500 to spend to improve your system but you might not NEED to spend it.

1. First, purchase an SPL meter at Radio Shack ($50) and an Avia calibration disc ($30-40) so you can setup your current equipment properly. This includes setting the size, distance, and (volume) level properly for each of your speakers. If you still aren't happy, pursue one or more of the upgrades below.

2. Upgrade the front L/C/R channels. Check out this deal on the RBH on wall speakers: http://store.audioholics.com/section/66209/1/xs_pricelh/on-wall-speakers
They would look nice mounted on the sides and below your new display and provide a performance upgrade for the front channels. Some nice bookshelf speakers in the $200-400/pair price range would also be a good upgrade option. For $900-1000 you can get a good quality 5.1 speaker package.

3. Upgrade the sub: Check out the SVS and HSU models with 10"-12" woofers. You will get the LFE information down to 20 Hz which is lacking from your current sub.

4. DVD player: I would recommend one of the Oppo digital upscalling DVD players for $150-200. If you are ready for BluRay, the PS3 is $400.

5. Receiver?: I don't see any reason to upgrade the receiver unless you want to take advantage of the latest audio formats on BluRay movies. If you get BluRay, then receiver in the $4-500 price range like the Yamaha RX-V663 offer HDMI audio processing.

I agree these are also another way to go and good recommendations.