music vs. movies

[STRONGBADF1]

I'm hung up on music vs. movies. Can an entry to mid level complete system ($2500 for speakers receiver, dvd/cd and cables) built for music sound just as good for movies and vise versa? Or is there going to be trade offs? My gut tells me the sub would be the biggest difference. I have never heard an entry level system that does both equally well, and I've just about gave up on store demos!!! Circut City's displays never work, Bestbuy does not give you the option of listening to a your own cd and Tweeter is headquartered in my area and still can't get it right!!! (one would think if corparate hq was a couple blocks away people would straighten up and fly right) I just want to know if at the price level I'm at can nirvana be obtained on more than just a cd.(was that a pun?)

BTW, Yes I'm greedy. I want the best of both worlds.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Absolutely. That's a perfect budget for a great system. First off, what are your requirements for speakers? Towers, 7.1, sub size, type of music, etc... Help us out here.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Buckeyefan1,

Can I trust you? I am from Penn state country ya know !!!
(and yes I know theirs no teeth in that lion any more)

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Buckeyefan1,
Can I trust you? I am from Penn state county ya know !!!
(and yes I know theirs no teeth in that lion any more)

Happy Valley? Awesome place! I used to work in State College - managed a loan office on N. Atherton. Rented a place in Milesburg, as well as Tyrone. Also worked in Pittsburgh prior to that. Was always a loyal Buckeye fan (grew up in NE Ohio), but all my buddies were Nittany boys. Had season tickets the year they shared the championship. Some great bars on that campus.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I live closer to Philadelphia. I'm not sure state collage considers us a part of Pennsylvania.

But any way you didn't answer my question. Can I trust you.("Keep your freinds close but your enemies closer")

Well here it goes any how! Music must sound great. I will put up with a lesser movie experience if I have to, but do i have to? I love metal and hard rock but don't want to compromise on the soft stuff. I love all music. I have owned horned tweetered "LOUD" speakers for years. They do have their up side but at some expense. I still want loud, but I want accurate. Metal sounds good on accurate speakers too right? I wany a 7.1 system. My wife is a movie nut and besides if the receiver can do it why not!

Almost positive that the Yamaha HTR5890 is the one for me, but whats all this "brightness" talk about. I owned a Harmon Kardon hk6500 for years. That died and know i have a sony. I liked my hk but I have heard of quality issues. Any thoughts?

 

[Rob Babcock]

Yes, for $2500 you should be able to assemble a rig that will perform equally well for both. There's tons of options, depending upon your room size, etc.

 

[Nick250]

My limited personal experience is that if speakers that are good for music then are good for movies as well. I could speculate that if one's speakers are "dark" as cotrasted with "bright" then dialogue may not be as clear with the dark sounding speakers. My main and center speakers are Paradigm Studio 20s which are on the bright side, and for me, they work eqaually as well for music and movies.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

But any way you didn't answer my question. Can I trust you.("Keep your freinds close but your enemies closer")

I'll try and earn your trust, but I don't trust anyone off the bat, if you know what I mean.

Almost positive that the Yamaha HTR5890 is the one for me, but whats all this "brightness" talk about. I owned a Harmon Kardon hk6500 for years. That died and know i have a sony. I liked my hk but I have heard of quality issues. Any thoughts?

The 5890 is a great choice. The Pioneer 1015tx may be even better - under $400 and THX certified. Both are beefy units at 33lbs. Older, lower end Yamaha and Pioneer units were sometimes labelled as "bright", but the new units don't suffer that stereotype. With the flexibility of todays units, any harsh highs can be tweaked to smooth levels. A "hard" room is more a culprit of brightness than the amp itself. Horn loaded tweeters aren't as soft as silk domes, but handle more power and are more robust (the reason 99% of dj's use them), and some say better for rock. Harman Kardon's are nice units, and definitely put out some current. The two units I've recommended in the past were the HK7200 and the HK7300, but only if you can grab them up under $600 and $900 respectively at Harman Kardon Direct on ebay.
http://stores.ebay.com/Harman-Audio_Harman-Kardon_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

[markw]

sure. when listening around, use music as your test, not movies.

I'd concentrate more on the speakers than the receivers for this.

Movies sound dramatic and enticing out of almost any HTIB. Music takes more to sound good.

In fact, tey listening to whatever you're looking at in two channel (stereo) mode for the best idea of what's real. Those DSP modes do, let's just say, muck around with the sound somewhat.

But hey, I'm from jersey. Nobody believes us anyway.

 

[9f9c7z]

My (limited) experience has been that you shop for a ‘music’ system then enjoy it for 'home theater' applications, like what Mark said above. It seems there may be more room for considerations of theater applications with the woofer. Depending on your speakers, you may want to cross the sub over at a lower freq for music and a higher freq for theater to get a little umph out of the low end of movies. Don’t know if pre/pros in your price range allow for saving diff woofer crossover freqs/listening scenarios but that might be something you will want to consider.

 

[Tomorrow]

My limited experience forces me to agree with all the replies here, with one exception.

A single system (speakers in particular) setup will end up being a trade-off for better HT or better 2 channel music, depending upon your choice. (I think fortunately your musical tastes run to the side of the spectrum most closely allied with HT audio requirements, however.) As a caveat, if you want to triple your investment, you may get equal performance. But at the price point you're interested in, you will get performance issues with one side or the other... vis a vis HT or music.

My exception has to do with the Paradigms mentioned. They aren't as musical as quite a few others in your price range, IMHO. (But I REALLY like them for HT!)

Happy shopping.