Any 2.1 or 3.1 setups

[bdogfish]

Are there any 3.1 setups that can blow a 5.1 setup out of the water? I am thinking of starting a game room/gym but do not want a full 5.1. What do you guys think? This room will have a wide screen but be mostly used for music but at time (rarely) have a movie playing. Please recomend a A/V with speakers. $2000 budget max Thanks...

 

[3db]

ummmm

Are there any 3.1 setups that can blow a 5.1 setup out of the water? I am thinking of starting a game room/gym but do not want a full 5.1. What do you guys think? This room will have a wide screen but be mostly used for music but at time (rarely) have a movie playing. Please recomend a A/V with speakers. $2000 budget max Thanks...

Short answer is no. Nothing can substitute surround speakers as far as I'm concerned so if you really want quality 5.1, your better buying the receiver and speakers to support it. It doesn't mean that you have to purchase all at once either.

For 3.1, your looking for left/right from or main speakers and a center channel? Or is it left/right from or main speakers and a sub?

More details are needed.

 

[bdogfish]

Thanks for the reply, I kinda thought that. 3.1 I am thinking left/center/right and sub. I think I will setup a 5.1 but start at 3.1 until i can get some more funds.

 

[no. 5]

I must disagree; for I feel the phrase "blows X out out of the water" relates to sound quality, and number of channels does not relate to sound quality.

However, well implemented surround channels can increase how immersive a movie experience is, and multiple channels do provide directionality that two or three front channels cannot provide.

 

[zildjian]

If one is patient, I think piecing a system together with quality components is a great way to go. If you buy a matching 5 channel system that you don't like as much as say what you could buy just focusing on nicer 2 or 3 front channels, I vote for the latter, however, I'd also then spend less than $200 for surround speakers that would do fine until you got the $$ together for better ones.

Just make sure you love your main front speakers since most of the sound comes from them anyhow!

 

[j_garcia]

I do think a 2.1 or 3.1 system can be excellent, but there is no way it will give you the same feel as a full multichannel system.

Zildjian hit the hi-hat on the head... If it comes down to a very average 5.1 or a good quality 2.1, I will take the 2.1 any day of the week.

 

[agarwalro]

If one is patient, I think piecing a system together with quality components is a great way to go. If you buy a matching 5 channel system that you don't like as much as say what you could buy just focusing on nicer 2 or 3 front channels, I vote for the latter, however, I'd also then spend less than $200 for surround speakers that would do fine until you got the $$ together for better ones.

Just make sure you love your main front speakers since most of the sound comes from them anyhow!

Very good advise. I second.

 

[Seth=L]

If it where me I would start with the best 2.1 system you can afford now (possibly even just the best 2.0 system you can afford) then later on add each additional part. I would buy the subwoofer next (assuming you went with 2.0 only) then the surrounds, and the last thing I would get would be the center channel. You could do this in any order you see best, it is personal preference after all.

 

[davidtwotrees]

Spend $1600 on two front speakers, and the rest on a Oppo and a used 5.1 Denon receiver off ebay or agon. If you're into games, sounds like the PS3 will do everything regarding playing of discs......
Heck, if you have an old dvd player around, use that and put more money into the speakers. $1800 will get you some awse speaks that will last a LONG time...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Are there any 3.1 setups that can blow a 5.1 setup out of the water? I am thinking of starting a game room/gym but do not want a full 5.1. What do you guys think? This room will have a wide screen but be mostly used for music but at time (rarely) have a movie playing. Please recomend a A/V with speakers. $2000 budget max Thanks...

Sounds like you want the fewest possible number of great sounding components on a budget.

My recommendation: Onkyo SR605 for $386 & a pair of Definitive Technology BP7002s for $1,600.

Rationale: The Onkyo has all the essentials: 2 HDMI 1.3 inputs, TrueHD, DTS-HD MA. The pair of BP7002s are 3-way big SuperTowers. Each speaker has four 5-1/4" midrange/upper bass drivers, two 1" tweeters, & one 12" 300-watts RMS subwoofer. Overall Freq Resp is 15 Hz - 30 kHz (25 Hz -20 kHz +/- 3dB @ 90dB). This is essentially a 2.2 System: Two Towers + Two Subwoofers.

 

[bdogfish]

Davidtwotrees,
Thanks for your recomendations I will look into the speakers. I do however have a soft spot for Denon A/V's. Do you or anyone else have experiences of any Denon A/V's being as good or better than the Onkyo compared to performance and price?

My old setup consited of a Denon 3803, I loved that thing but I swear I could never get the center speaker to perform optimal. I also had Definetive pro monitors all around. Anyways thanks for all the input and keep them coming.

 

[Hi Ho]

Another product to consider would be the Yamaha YSP-4000. It is the successor to the YSP-1100 and It is truly amazing what it can do when properly setup. I have yet to find any other product that recreates a surround field from a single unit as well as the YSP. You can literally walk around a room and hear sound coming from different places where speakers *would* be. All you would need to add is a sub. The YSP-3000 and 900 are cheaper and smaller alternatives that also do a wonderful job.

 

[MDS]

Forgive me because I haven't really read this entire old thread, but at various times I have had 3.0 and 3.1. As far as 'blowing 5.1 out of the water', I don't know about that but I do think that 3.0/3.1 can be perfectly acceptable.

It depends alot on your room and acoustics. I currently don't have the surround speakers connected because in my new house there is just no way to mount large bookshelves as surrounds...yet I do still get a sense of 'surround', depending on the soundtrack, simply because of the way sound reflects off my walls in my current living room.

I've also gone without a sub for a long period of time. If your front speakers can handle a reasonably low level of bass, you can still get a decent effect.

In the near future, I will personally remedy all of those 'defects' as I will purchase surround speakers that can be hung on the wall and a new subwoofer...but in the meantime I wouldn't worry too much about having the ideal 5.1 setup as the effect can still be quite good without surrounds and/or a sub. All things equal, the full setup is best, but you can get by and still be satisfied until the time comes that you complete the full setup.

 

[Thaedium]

I'm running a 3.1 setup right now actually.

It came down to budget, and what I liked. I knew I liked the Paradigms, and the Def Techs. I used to run some Monitor 9's before I blew'em a year ago, and I knew the Studio 100's V.4's were a definite imrpovement especially since Paradigm trickled down some goodness from the Signature series. So I went with that. The two fronts and the centre ended up costing me close to $3,400 CAD, so I was fairly pleased. I dropped $3300 on the Velodyne DD-15 as well, because I knew I wanted a dedicated sub and the Paradigm's though great would not provide the umph I needed.

So now I'm quite handily broke, but all in all I'm quite pleased. When I get the money together, I'll invest in the ADP-590 surrounds to match my system equally. In the meantime, the 3.1 is fantastic, and though I don't get true surround sound when I watch movies like Saving Private Ryan I definently feel as though the bullets are flying past my head.

Time is your friend, haste is your enemy. Invest in the best possible initial setup and work your way up to 5.1, it'll be worth the wait.

 

[fmw]

You're comparing a quality to a capability. Sound quality depends primarily on the room acoustics and secondarily on the speakers you choose. Surround sound is the ability to play 5 or more discrete channels for a surround experience. It can be of low or high quality. Different things.

If the question is "can I enjoy great sounding television and video with a two channel system" the answer is of course you can. But it isn't the same as a 5 channel surround system. It may be better or worse sounding but never same thing.

 

[3db]

I must disagree; for I feel the phrase "blows X out out of the water" relates to sound quality, and number of channels does not relate to sound quality.

However, well implemented surround channels can increase how immersive a movie experience is, and multiple channels do provide directionality that two or three front channels cannot provide.

I used quality in the wrong context here. What I meant by quality is being emersed in sound as opposed to having more speakers giving one better sound. Thankyou for pointing that out.

I think he should spend the majority of his budget on a good pair of main speakers, left/right and addthe other componets as funds become available. Wether he buys the sub before the surrounds or visa versa is a personal choice. The last thing I would buy especially given that my main speakers image really well is a center channel.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Davidtwotrees,
Thanks for your recomendations I will look into the speakers. I do however have a soft spot for Denon A/V's. Do you or anyone else have experiences of any Denon A/V's being as good or better than the Onkyo compared to performance and price?

My old setup consited of a Denon 3803, I loved that thing but I swear I could never get the center speaker to perform optimal. I also had Definetive pro monitors all around. Anyways thanks for all the input and keep them coming.

I was checking out the Denon 4308, 3808, 2808, the Onkyo 605 & 805, some Pioneer & Yamaha the other day. In my experience, they all kind of sound the same. I thought the 4308 would sound the best because it was the most expensive of the bunch, but they all sounded the same. The last receiver I own was the $500 Harman Kardon 247, which does not have all these new features. But for some reasons, I prefer the sound of the HK. Some people might consider the sound of the HK receiver as "bright", but I think it's more "neutral" or "natural". I guess personal preference.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I'm running a 3.1 setup right now actually.

It came down to budget, and what I liked. I knew I liked the Paradigms, and the Def Techs. I used to run some Monitor 9's before I blew'em a year ago, and I knew the Studio 100's V.4's were a definite imrpovement especially since Paradigm trickled down some goodness from the Signature series. So I went with that. The two fronts and the centre ended up costing me close to $3,400 CAD, so I was fairly pleased. I dropped $3300 on the Velodyne DD-15 as well, because I knew I wanted a dedicated sub and the Paradigm's though great would not provide the umph I needed.

So now I'm quite handily broke, but all in all I'm quite pleased. When I get the money together, I'll invest in the ADP-590 surrounds to match my system equally. In the meantime, the 3.1 is fantastic, and though I don't get true surround sound when I watch movies like Saving Private Ryan I definently feel as though the bullets are flying past my head.

Time is your friend, haste is your enemy. Invest in the best possible initial setup and work your way up to 5.1, it'll be worth the wait.

I agree that you can enjoy your set-up as a 3.1 but another option is to just use some cheap surrounds until you get the ADPs. You have to run the wires anyway and there is a good chance you have some cheap speakers in the spare bedroom closet.

When I first put together my system I was uncertain what I was going to do for surrounds so I put some 40 buck sony speakers back there and to tell you the truth; they did a decent job for movies. Now if you listen to multi-ch music; it will probably sound like crap but with my little test; the cheap surround provided an improvement over the 3.1 set-up.

 

[no. 5]

I used quality in the wrong context here. What I meant by quality is being emersed in sound as opposed to having more speakers giving one better sound.

No problem, it happens to the best of us.

 

[wire]

If the question is "can I enjoy great sounding television and video with a two channel system" the answer is of course you can. But it isn't the same as a 5 channel surround system. It may be better or worse sounding but never same thing.

Yes
You can look at a 2 Channel system , that can sound great . If its for music , 2 channel is simple and can sound great . ( to add a sub to a 2 channel system , not always make an improvment in sound quality , depending how much you like detailed soundstage ) .