most basic question

[pinfish]

Ive just started doing my research for my living room home theater setup. What is the most important component in giving the most surround sound. i.e.- separation of the different sounds. I assume its the receiver and speaker placement. Is there certain features in the receiver that deliver the signal to the speakers ( the way the blu ray intended it to be sent) that are most important. I know this is a most basic question- is there a thread or blog that I can be referred to for the most basic issues in setting up a system. I assume that you can buy the best speakers in the world but if the signal getting to each speaker is not separated correctly, the surround sound will not be there. Thanks

 

[pinfish]

BTW, I currently have a Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver, Sony BDP-bx57 blu ray, polk audio RM8 speaker set with polk audio psw110 subwoofer. I want to upgrade, and am trying to decided on starting all over with a new receiver or just start by upgrading speakers first. Will upgrading the receiver affect the quality of sound? This is for tv/movies 99% of the time. I just want more of a theater sound.

 

[Grador]

When your bluray player plays back the video, it simply sends a completely undecoded audio file over the HDMI cable to the receiver. This file, whether it be Dolby Digital, DTS MA HD, Dolby True HD, has all of the audio tracks (left, right, center....) as completely separate entities. That is, the receiver does not have to "separate" them from each-other, they are not combined together at all. When the receiver decodes the audio the separate channels are played back on their respective speakers exactly as they should be, every time, unlike old prologic where the receiver was required to split the center and mono surround channels off of a specially encoded stereo signal.

 

[zieglj01]

BTW, I currently have a Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver, Sony BDP-bx57 blu ray, polk audio RM8 speaker set with polk audio psw110 subwoofer. I want to upgrade, and am trying to decided on starting all over with a new receiver or just start by upgrading speakers first. Will upgrading the receiver affect the quality of sound? This is for tv/movies 99% of the time. I just want more of a theater sound.

My basic answer is, to fire the Polk speakers and the sub. Then get
some bigger speakers and a more powerful subwoofer.

What is the size of your room, and the budget you have to work with?

Also, read this about speaker set up.
Speaker Placement for Home Theater

 

[pinfish]

The room is 18 by 20 ft (9 ft vaulted ceiling), but it opens into the kitchen. the front and rear speakers would be separated by 20 ft. Im not sure of budget, maybe $2000 for speakers. Of course Id prefer to spend a lot less if i can get the same sort of sound. What size of speaker should I be looking at - even if I keep current amp or upgrade to more powering future?

 

[zieglj01]

One option >

KEF iQ70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882156011&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

Or, KEF iQ90
KEF IQ90 Black Ash Single 3-way black ash Q series floorstanding speaker | Vanns.com

KEF iQ60, for center
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882156010

KEF iQ10, for surrounds
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882156009

HSU sub
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-15h.html

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-3mk4.html

Or, SVS sub
http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb12-nsd

 

[sholling]

When your bluray player plays back the video, it simply sends a completely undecoded audio file over the HDMI cable to the receiver. This file, whether it be Dolby Digital, DTS MA HD, Dolby True HD, has all of the audio tracks (left, right, center....) as completely separate entities. That is, the receiver does not have to "separate" them from each-other, they are not combined together at all. When the receiver decodes the audio the separate channels are played back on their respective speakers exactly as they should be, every time, unlike old prologic where the receiver was required to split the center and mono surround channels off of a specially encoded stereo signal.

+1 this is exactly correct. Where I would start is speaker placement, better speakers and a much better subwoofer. There are several excellent articles on speaker placement and getting the most from a subwoofer on the main sight.

The cheapest large room solution, if you live near a Fry's, is a pair a Infinity P363 towers (regular $325ea on sale for $99ea today - in store only), a PC351 center, and 2-4 P153 bookshelves as surrounds. If you're not near a Frys you can get them for $200ea on online. So that's $700-900 for a decent 7.0 speaker system (plus sub).

A step up would be a system based on three Ascend Acoustics CMT-340SE up front and a single pair of HTM-200 surrounds. A 5.0 set would cost you roughly $1200 shipped and you can always add the back surrounds (to go 7.0) later but they really aren't necessary. I've owned the 340s and they are very good for the money.

Assuming a medium sized kitchen you have at least 5000-6000cuft for a subwoofer to pressurize and that's not trivial. I would contact Rythmik, Outlaw Audio and Hsu Research and have them spec you a sub or two based on total room volume but you're probably looking at a pair of $550-600 subs. FWIW subs make nice end tables for the sofa.

Hsu Research also has a couple of package deals on their speakers and subs. I prefer the Ascends but they cost more and the Hsu are pretty good. I'm just not sure about their speakers in a room that large - it might be a bit much for them. And being rear ported the surrounds will be a challenge to place since they need to be at least a few inches from the wall.

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