Matching units?

[Laro]

I am looking to purchase a Denon AVR-S960H Receiver and the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 speaker system presently on Amazon for around $1900. 1. May I ask the pros here if this is a good match and would this be a reliable system. 2. I've read that customer service is excellent with SVS, but not so much with Denon . . . any advice here? 3. Would this new system sound better when playing my CD music collection than on my current Bose 321? I have very much enjoyed the Bose for music, but not so much when playing movies on my projector as the music is often loud while the voices can barely be heard . . . . so its back and forth with the volume on the remote control. This Receiver may be more than I need, but I am wanting the 2 HDMI outputs for TV & projector! Thanks so much!

 

[lovinthehd]

Are you buying the avr direct from Denon or a retailer? SVS customer service is above most. The SVS 5.1 set should be a very good performer. Are you anticipating a lot of customer service issues? Mostly it's buy, setup and forget with relatively few exceptions. I'd definitely prefer the SVS setup over anything from Bose, tho.

 

[Laro]

As I mentioned, I plan to buy both products from Amazon for the 5% points ($100). Would it be better to buy from Denon? I am not anticipating issues, but if there were to be a problem with the Denon, $700 is a lot of cash if their service was poor. I appreciate your opinion of the SVS over Bose as that is what I have been reading from folks. Thanks for your reply and I would appreciate any other advice the members here could give me!

 

[lovinthehd]

Your return options are based on the selling terms and the company you purchase from. Believe most would likely only offer 30 day (altho in covid Amazon has extended return times that I've seen). We have a thread going on non-response from Denon from an avr purchased directly from them. Amazon in a return situation may be better than Denon....

 

[Mr._Clark]

I am looking to purchase a Denon AVR-S960H Receiver and the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 speaker system presently on Amazon for around $1900. 1. May I ask the pros here if this is a good match and would this be a reliable system. 2. I've read that customer service is excellent with SVS, but not so much with Denon . . . any advice here? 3. Would this new system sound better when playing my CD music collection than on my current Bose 321? I have very much enjoyed the Bose for music, but not so much when playing movies on my projector as the music is often loud while the voices can barely be heard . . . . so its back and forth with the volume on the remote control. This Receiver may be more than I need, but I am wanting the 2 HDMI outputs for TV & projector! Thanks so much!

I'm not a pro here and I do not have personal experience with the SVS Prime satellites or the Bose 321, but I'll comment in case it's helpful. I think @Pogre has quite a bit of experience with SVS speakers so he may be able to provide better insight.

I have three Denon AVRs and I have not had any reliability problems with them. In my experience, Denons throw a lot of heat though, so I'd make sure they yours has room for air circulation (I suspect that a lot of reliability issues with AVRs in general are related to overheating, but that's a topic for another day and thread)(I know you didn't ask, but take care putting a Blu Ray player above a Denon so as not to cook it)

The SVS Primes seem like decent speakers so I don't think you'll be disappointed. Having said that, you might be able to do a little better by adjusting your spending.

First, do you need 8k capability in the AVR? If not, you might be able to save a few bucks with a refurbished 4K receiver such as the S950H:

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs950h/denon-avr-s950h-7.2-ch-x-90-watts-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

I have not bought anything from accessories4less but quite a few people here seem to have had good luck with them.

The SVS Ultra bookshelves get great reviews:

SVS Ultra Bookshelf Speakers Review

Review: The SVS Ultra is a two-way ported bookshelf loudspeaker designed with impeccable build quality and aesthetics and grounded science. Do they live up to the SVS name? Read on to find out.

www.audioholics.com

The Primes also get good reviews, so they're not cr*p by any means:

Our Top Five $500 Bookshelf Speaker Picks for 2021

Looking for a pair of bookshelf speakers in the $500 price range? We have compiled a list of our top choices for bookshelf speakers at that price point for 2021.

www.audioholics.com

I bought a pair of the Ultra bookshelf speakers (piano black) from the SVS outlet a couple years ago for $299.99 each. The description said they had blemishes in the finish, but I was barely able to find the blemishes. The problem, of course, is that even at $299.99 each you wouldn't have any budget left for surrounds or a sub, unless you get a lower priced AVR. Assuming your budget can't be stretched, the outlet Ultra bookshelves would probably not be a good option unless you wanted to buy a sub and possibly surrounds later.

Some people would say mixing speaker brands is like breeding cats with dogs, but, at $350 per pair (and a little assembly time) the Philharmonic Affordable Accuracy Monitors would probably make decent surrounds to go with Ultra bookshelf speakers:

The New Affordable Accuracy Plus Monitor

I have not heard the Affordable Accuracy Monitors, but they appear to be quite neutral so I'd think they'd pair reasonably well with Ultra bookshelf speakers (mixing speaker brands is a never ending point of contention, so my post will likely trigger someone to post that speaker brands should never be mixed due to "voicing" concerns)(I tend to think it depends on the specific speakers in question, but that's just my opinion).

 

[Pogre]

I'm not a pro here and I do not have personal experience with the SVS Prime satellites or the Bose 321, but I'll comment in case it's helpful. I think @Pogre has quite a bit of experience with SVS speakers so he may be able to provide better insight.

I have three Denon AVRs and I have not had any reliability problems with them. In my experience, Denons throw a lot of heat though, so I'd make sure they yours has room for air circulation (I suspect that a lot of reliability issues with AVRs in general are related to overheating, but that's a topic for another day and thread)(I know you didn't ask, but take care putting a Blu Ray player above a Denon so as not to cook it)

The SVS Primes seem like decent speakers so I don't think you'll be disappointed. Having said that, you might be able to do a little better by adjusting your spending.

First, do you need 8k capability in the AVR? If not, you might be able to save a few bucks with a refurbished 4K receiver such as the S950H:

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs950h/denon-avr-s950h-7.2-ch-x-90-watts-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

I have not bought anything from accessories4less but quite a few people here seem to have had good luck with them.

The SVS Ultra bookshelves get great reviews:

SVS Ultra Bookshelf Speakers Review

Review: The SVS Ultra is a two-way ported bookshelf loudspeaker designed with impeccable build quality and aesthetics and grounded science. Do they live up to the SVS name? Read on to find out.

www.audioholics.com

The Primes also get good reviews, so they're not cr*p by any means:

Our Top Five $500 Bookshelf Speaker Picks for 2021

Looking for a pair of bookshelf speakers in the $500 price range? We have compiled a list of our top choices for bookshelf speakers at that price point for 2021.

www.audioholics.com

I bought a pair of the Ultra bookshelf speakers (piano black) from the SVS outlet a couple years ago for $299.99 each. The description said they had blemishes in the finish, but I was barely able to find the blemishes. The problem, of course, is that even at $299.99 each you wouldn't have any budget left for surrounds or a sub, unless you get a lower priced AVR. Assuming your budget can't be stretched, the outlet Ultra bookshelves would probably not be a good option unless you wanted to buy a sub and possibly surrounds later.

Some people would say mixing speaker brands is like breeding cats with dogs, but, at $350 per pair (and a little assembly time) the Philharmonic Affordable Accuracy Monitors would probably make decent surrounds to go with Ultra bookshelf speakers:

The New Affordable Accuracy Plus Monitor

I have not heard the Affordable Accuracy Monitors, but they appear to be quite neutral so I'd think they'd pair reasonably well with Ultra bookshelf speakers (mixing speaker brands is a never ending point of contention, so my post will likely trigger someone to post that speaker brands should never be mixed due to "voicing" concerns)(I tend to think it depends on the specific speakers in question, but that's just my opinion).

Good stuff Clark. I totally agree with pinching from the receiver budget to put some more funds into speakers and subwoofage. FWIW I think the Ultras are totally worth saving a little extra for, or just start out with a stereo pair or 2.1 and get the surrounds as funds allow. Nothing wrong with using Primes for surround duty and having Ultras up front. For that matter the AAs are really nice too and not a bad suggestion either. I absolutely loved my Ultra books tho. Very nice and neutral. They can handle some power too. I've never heard them bottom out or misbehave.

 

[lovinthehd]

FWIW saw Dennis post at ASR that he's sold out of the AA kits but trying to make arrangements to carry on with someone else https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/philharmonic-aa-plus-monitor-my-notes.21852/#post-725926

 

[Laro]

Thank you both for all the advice as I will take a peek at the speakers suggested. I still have doubts that whatever speakers I use will be working for my projector when its plugged into the Zone 2 Sub HDMI on the Denon AVR-S960H Receiver while the TV is plugged into the ARC or first HDMI? Why do they have speaker connections labeled "Zone 2" ???

 

[lovinthehd]

Thank you both for all the advice as I will take a peek at the speakers suggested. I still have doubts that whatever speakers I use will be working for my projector when its plugged into the Zone 2 Sub HDMI on the Denon AVR-S960H Receiver while the TV is plugged into the ARC or first HDMI? Why do they have speaker connections labeled "Zone 2" ???

Glancing at your manual I see two hdmi outputs (and the second one I don't see as associated with zone use) for I assume a situation like yours. Zones are generally about audio for a second separate set of speakers/room (and usually don't even provide for a sub).

 

[Mr._Clark]

Thank you both for all the advice as I will take a peek at the speakers suggested. I still have doubts that whatever speakers I use will be working for my projector when its plugged into the Zone 2 Sub HDMI on the Denon AVR-S960H Receiver while the TV is plugged into the ARC or first HDMI? Why do they have speaker connections labeled "Zone 2" ???

I'm not sure I understand how you're planning to set this up. You might already know the following (don't take it as an insult).

Are you planning to use ARC, or did you mention it just as a way to identify the HDMI port? In theory, when it's actually working, ARC sends audio from the TV to the AVR (I've had lots of problems with ARC, but it works for some people). ARC (and eARC) is primarily a way to get surround sound from your TV to your AVR while using a streaming app on a TV. If you plug a cable box and a Blu Ray player into two of the HDMI inputs on the AVR you don't need ARC when using cable or watching Blu Rays. ARC has very limited audio capability (compressed 5.1). eARC has more capability, but it requires, of course, that both your TV and AVR have eARC capability (the AVR-S960H has eARC, but I don't know if your TV does)

When you do the initial setup on the AVR an on screen menu will ask you to select the speaker setup you have. With 7.2 AVR you have capability for 7 "regular" speakers and 2 subs. If you set up all of these for a 7.2 zone 1 you don't have any channels "left" for zone 2. The thing to keep in mind is that the audio signals sent to some of the speaker outlets is determined by the initial zone setups. I don't have the AVR-S960H, but I believe you should be able to select 5.1 during the initial setup for zone 1 (assuming this is your plan) and 2.1 for zone 2 (the setup menu will step you through this so it's not that difficult). When using zone 1 (5.1) a video signal would go to the 1st video out HDMI (the ARC port) and an audio signal will go to all of the speaker outputs except the zone 2 sub and the surround back outputs (the surround backs and the second sub out would be assigned to zone 2 in this example). In this example, for zone 2, whatever source you select for zone 2 will send video to the 2nd HDMI video port and audio will go to the surround back outlets (which would really be the 2 front speakers in zone 2) and any sub signal will go to the second sub out.

If 4k is sufficient, I noticed that a refurbished S750H is $399.00 at the Denon website:

AVR-S750H-R

7.2 Channel 75W AV Receiver Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization 6 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI outputs, including eARC HDMI, Audyssey MultEQ, Dynamic Volume/EQ, Voice control with Amazon Alexa, Siri (via AirPlay 2) and Google Assistant, AirPlay 2 / Bluetooth / Network...

www.denon.com

Going back to your original question about the Bose 321 speakers compared to the SVS Prime satellites, I couldn't find any serious reviews with measurements of the Bose 321 speakers. Basically, no one is going to take the time to do full review of these because they are relatively cheap speakers. It would be a little like Car and Driver doing a full road test on a riding mower. Okay, there are exceptions:

Honda Mean Mower: A 109-hp, 130-mph Lawn Tractor

It's absolutely terrifying. And we mean that in the best way possible.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[Laro]

Very much appreciate everyone's time for your links and explanations! Having spent 1k on the Bose 321 back in 2004, I've always thought it had a pretty decent sound as I was coming from a 1k Kenwood Bookshelf Component Set that had a great sound as well. I originally bought the Bose for music, but later a dedicated home theater in a basement. I realize true audiophiles do not have much love for Bose and quite understand. It must be kinda like PC loving IT's not fond of Apple products? Love your analogy with the riding mower! LOL! Unfortunately at 77, I'm more of a plug and play type of guy and not much on tech! Much of this is over my head, so I hope I would be able to figure things out should I finally purchase and begin to set up the Denon receiver with the SVS 5.1 speakers to my flat screen and projector. If there is anything out there that would be more "all in one" and simple, plus sound almost as good and connect both my large flat screen TV and Sanyo projector without using a splitter, please let me know!

 

[Laro]

Let me add a simple question here. If I were to place my order, remove the Denon and SVS speakers from the box, connect my Samsung smart 65" tv, Sony Blu-Ray player, Cox cable box, Karaoke, and SVS speakers to the Denon . . . will everything work by default beit not finely tuned or will it require lots of time setting things up with the AV remote on the tv screen for it to work? DAABOR (Dumb as a box of rocks) Perhaps one of you live in the SE Phoenix area that I could pay to set this up?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

As I mentioned, I plan to buy both products from Amazon for the 5% points ($100). Would it be better to buy from Denon? I am not anticipating issues, but if there were to be a problem with the Denon, $700 is a lot of cash if their service was poor. I appreciate your opinion of the SVS over Bose as that is what I have been reading from folks. Thanks for your reply and I would appreciate any other advice the members here could give me!

Last I checked Amazon is an authorized Denon reseller, so you should expect to get that sweet 3-year warranty on AVR (if Denon covers that model for 3 years)

 

[lovinthehd]

Let me add a simple question here. If I were to place my order, remove the Denon and SVS speakers from the box, connect my Samsung smart 65" tv, Sony Blu-Ray player, Cox cable box, Karaoke, and SVS speakers to the Denon . . . will everything work by default beit not finely tuned or will it require lots of time setting things up with the AV remote on the tv screen for it to work? DAABOR (Dumb as a box of rocks) Perhaps one of you live in the SE Phoenix area that I could pay to set this up?

Well you would need to calibrate the system, but Denon with their auto setup/Audyssey routine can make that fairly simple but takes some time/effort to do also. Some hdmi interconnections between components of different brands sometimes do still have communication issues (handshake issues) and while generally it works well, some combos can yield issues but not very predictable. The user interface via the tv isn't that hard to follow, tho. Another speaker set of speakers/subs from a single vendor you might consider RSL, they also have very good customer service and generous in-home trial with return shipping if needed.

As to being in your area, we do have a coupla members you might entice....

 

[Mr._Clark]

Let me add a simple question here. If I were to place my order, remove the Denon and SVS speakers from the box, connect my Samsung smart 65" tv, Sony Blu-Ray player, Cox cable box, Karaoke, and SVS speakers to the Denon . . . will everything work by default beit not finely tuned or will it require lots of time setting things up with the AV remote on the tv screen for it to work? DAABOR (Dumb as a box of rocks) Perhaps one of you live in the SE Phoenix area that I could pay to set this up?

For the most part it's a relatively easy setup but you will need to connect all the wires/lines first (plug in the power lines last on everything!) then go through the setup menu using the AVR remote. A series of yes and no questions will pop up on the TV. It's relatively straightforward.

The karaoke might be a little more difficult. I have karaoke set up on one of my Denons, but I honestly don't remember right now how it's hooked up. My impression (based on my experience with one karaoke machine) is that they tend to be rather clunky (for lack of a better term) with regards to integrating with other home theater equipment. I seem to recall that that I had to run one HDMI line from the karaoke machine to a second HDMI port on the TV and a second HDMI line from the karaoke to an HDMI input on the AVR, and I also had to separately connect the mics to the audio inputs on the AVR (as I type this it sounds ridiculous. I'll check it when I get a chance, my memory may be incorrect). To use karaoke I need to select the correct HDMI port on the TV (using the TV remote) and the correct audio inputs on the AVR (using the AVR remote).

This may or may not apply to your situation, but rule number 1 at my house with regards to karaoke is that I'm the one who switches on karaoke. When my wife tries to do it, she tends to get frustrated and she starts pushing buttons randomly on the remotes and ends up resetting everything on the TV, the AVR, the xBox, and the Blu Ray player. The end result is the home theater equivalent of a bird's nest in a fishing reel. When I see her reaching for the remote it's a little like a scene from a movie with me running and diving in slow motion while yelling "Nnnooooooooo!"

I take it you're planning to have the TV and projector on at the same time, showing the same TV shows, etc.? I have never tried that, and it's not somethign I've ever looked into. I would guess most of the newer Denons probably have an option to send the same video signal to both HDMI out ports, but that's just a guess. Some of these things require spending time going through an owner's manual for the AVR model you're interested in.

 

[Laro]

Very helpful, thanks! No, we watch the flat screen tv during the day and early evening, then at 7 pm or so we bring down the big screen (120") located in front of the TV by remote and stream Netflix or Prime movies . . . so never at the same time would we watch the Samsung flat screen and Sanyo projector!

 

[Laro]

I guess I just have a slight fear of the unknown, especially when I'm getting ready to shell out $1900 and I'm not a techi. I am thinking that Both the Denon and SVS speaker set is returnable for 30 days on Amazon if I'm not able to get it working along with all my other plug-in gear, would that be accurate? Maybe a restocking fee and shipping? My biggest fear is that the SVS speakers may not work when I switch from my TV (HDMI 1) to the projector (HDMI 2), but these threads appear to say it will?

 

[lovinthehd]

I would buy SVS directly from SVS, 45 day in home trial with round trip shipping is normal terms. Check out their "bill of rights" for customers https://www.svsound.com/pages/bill-of-rights

Amazon for the avr is as good a return policy for changing your mind as is out there.

 

[Trebdp83]

Hello and welcome! I had a couple of questions for you. Will you be using the Smart apps on your Samsung TV and does it support eARC? From which of your devices will you stream Netflix and the like to the projector? I can think of a few issues you may encounter if HDMI-CEC and ARC are enabled in your new setup. Do not concern yourself with ZONE 2. The second(Monitor 2) HDMI output could be for a screen in a different room and that is when a second zone for speakers in that other room would matter. There are many knowledgeable gentlemen frequenting this forum and they are all very generous with their time and input. If you like some sass with your help, there are a few cusses such as myself around here as well.

 

[Mr._Clark]

Hello and welcome! I had a couple of questions for you. Will you be using the Smart apps on your Samsung TV and does it support eARC? From which of your devices will you stream Netflix and the like to the projector? I can think of a few issues you may encounter if HDMI-CEC and ARC are enabled in your new setup. Do not concern yourself with ZONE 2. The second(Monitor 2) HDMI output could be for a screen in a different room and that is when a second zone for speakers in that other room would matter. There are many knowledgeable gentlemen frequenting this forum and they are all very generous with their time and input. If you like some sass with your help, there are a few cusses such as myself around here as well.

Glad you responded. I've been posting in part to keep this thread alive in hope that others respond to the OP and provide additional input. @shadyJ might have some useful insight.

I suspect a lot of people are skipping over this thread because the title of it is rather generic (nothing against the OP of course).