Any personal advice?

E

evjp

Audiophyte
Hello,

I'm moved to a new home, which is now far better in terms of room disposition to have a home cinema. While the new home is great news, it also means the end of my old hardware (20 years old!). Therefore, I need to upgrade, or at least think of a better solution: I won't continue to watch with only the speakers of the television...

I've got 5 small speakers, which are not great (but they were good enough), an A/V amp that I can't plug to anything digital (ready to go in a garbage bag), no subwoofer, no sound bar.

I don't care about switching with x inputs, I guess I'll send all my audio from my TV directly.

For you information (to have a complete view of my audio needs), I'm also listening to digital radio on the morning in another room (the kitchen). The previous owner has put speaker cables from the kitchen to the TV room. I'm not looking for audiophile quality for my morning listenings (the digital radio is a 128kb MP3...), and I have a good enough "volumio" system for that need. However, if I can spare a raspberry pi, it's always a win.

Last but not least, I need to reach the WAF (wife acceptance factor), which also means that it's better if my surround speakers are wireless. (I have cables for the surround rear L/R, but not for the surround L/R, a pity!)

I'm not looking for perfect audio, I'm just looking for the bang for the buck (I'm not sure it's the correct expression, english is not my mother language!)

What would you (as experts) do to improve audio experience in this case?
1) Would you buy something like the Onkyo TX-NR636, reuse my old speakers at first, then buy a correct subwoofer, and in a later timing buy better speakers/amp?
Pros: - Reuse the raspberry pi, as the onkyo has the "2 zones" feature, although I'm not sure if the onkyo can output tunein on zone2...
- Seems a good way to achieve a correct sound experience and spreading expenses over time.
Cons:
- The old surround speakers would be wrongly placed at first: They will be positionned as surround rear while plugged in surround position...
- I have the feeling the TCO (total cost of ownership) is gonna be really high with a cascade effect (I read that there was correct packs)
2) Would you buy a really good sound bar with subwoofer, drop my old speakers, and keep the 2 zones unrelated?
Pros:
- Lower TCO
- Better WAF
Cons:
- Not as good as a 5.1 system, right?
3) Buy something like Sonos
Pros:
- Best WAF
Cons:
- More expensive solution ?
- Proprietary, I don't know what'll happen when sonos go bankrupt (all the system go down at once)
4) Buy a good 2.1 system ?
Pros: - better than a sound bar ?
Cons: - not as good as a real 5.1?
5) Another idea?
 
E

evjp

Audiophyte
For the "another idea", I was thinking to some kind of correct sound bar system that allows to plug wired (my old ones) and/or wireless speakers (for the surrounds ?)

I was trying to edit my post, but I exceeded the 10 minutes. Sorry for the double post.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Welcome to the forum!

In terms of your options, I'm a fan of surround sound myself. Sound bars are okay, but I like the speakers behind me. So, I'd vote for keeping your old speakers for now and setting them up in a 5.1 system.

If you're going to do a 5.1 system, at least to start, then the wires that are already run will work great. So, WAF is on the rise. :)

You mentioned the Onkyo 636. Are you wanting to do Dolby Atmos, or any of the features that the 636 adds over the 626? If not, then you should be able to save some money and get the 626, which is last year's model. I own that one and think it's a good receiver. Based on the Amazon reviews, it looks like there are still some reliability concerns with that model, though, so while I have a good one - I'm not going to try and push it on you.
 
E

evjp

Audiophyte
I don't expect to run Atmos, but the 636 is less expensive than the 626 for now on my local store (450$ for the 636...)

I guess the next step would be to buy good subwoofer. I'll look on this forum for that :)

Thanks for your help!
 

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