Home Theater Audio owners: stereo, or something more?

[streetfighter 2]

I spent time designing my 5.1 HT system. It's a budget build but it's still got around 500W of speakers + 160W of sub (everything RMS). Front two channels are full range and the center channel is almost full range. I never professionally tuned my system but I spent around 5 hours tuning it by ear. I'm quite pleased with the results and confident that when I do measure it with an SPL meter, it'll fair relatively well.

I'd have went with 7.1/7.2 but it's annoying enough to place 5 speakers, let alone placing 7!

 

[slyfox2151]

I spent time designing my 5.1 HT system. It's a budget build but it's still got around 500W of speakers + 160W of sub (everything RMS). Front two channels are full range and the center channel is almost full range. I never professionally tuned my system but I spent around 5 hours tuning it by ear. I'm quite pleased with the results and confident that when I do measure it with an SPL meter, it'll fair relatively well.

I'd have went with 7.1/7.2 but it's annoying enough to place 5 speakers, let alone placing 7!

side speakers/subs are easy to place... the rears are a pain in the ass..... mind sharing a picture of your setup?

 

[A Cheese Danish]

lol, did you ever fix the surrounds on those?

Nope On the to do list.
Once I start my new job here shortly, I will soon be buying a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

 

[Mussels]

technically you screwed up the question, its either 2.1/4.1/5.1/7.1 or 2/4/6/8 channel. we can see what you meant tho.



i used to (and enjoyed) running a 5.1 setup of my z5500's, but now i have no space for it so i had to drop back to stereo. stereo actually works better for MP3 music, although not as fun with games and movies now.

 

[streetfighter 2]

side speakers/subs are easy to place... the rears are a pain in the ass..... mind sharing a picture of your setup?

The difficulty in placing speakers is relative to the room.

I have my TV in the corner of a mostly square room facing an L shaped couch in the opposite corner. With the given room layout speaker placement is fundamentally suboptimal.

I also have aesthetic issues with running speaker wires. I suppose running wires to two more speakers isn't that much harder, but it is that much more work.

I haven't got around to posting pics of my setup in the HT thread yet because I still have some more work to do. When I finish up the final touches I'll post some pics.

technically you screwed up the question, its either 2.1/4.1/5.1/7.1 or 2/4/6/8 channel. we can see what you meant tho.

I was gonna call him on it, but I decided to play nice instead.

 

[Mussels]

i suppose the key is your room as street said.


If you can get the proper placement for surround sound with positional audio, by all means go for it. If you cant, get better quality stereo speakers instead.

 

[imperialreign]

I use 5.1 headphones for games . . . but my current stereo setup is quite custom.

Considering the number of drivers involved, I have no choice but to label it as "other."

So as to keep my sanity, I'll simply link the last post where I detailed my setup: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1353927&postcount=70

I've recently added a vintage Pioneer rack-mount 22-band EQ to the mix, too . . . one that I managed to get for free . . . and an additional 14" Pioneer subwoofer

So, in all, I guess it could be described as a 4.1 setup, but the total spatial range of this equipment is through the roof. The speaker units themselves are positioned in the corners of the room, facing inward at an angle, with the new sub addition discreetly positioned within the entertainment center with the speaker cone facing the wall . . .

I love vintage hardware.

 

[Easy Rhino]

my home theater is a 7.1 setup with a marantz receiver/amp. there are only a handful of good movies that include the 7.1 track but when they do it is worth having the setup.

my pc is hooked up to a 2.1 setup with an old kenwood receiver/amp.

 

[Sinzia]

5.1 on the home theater for bluray/hd tv

2.1 or cans for gaming on the PC.

 

[imperialreign]

Just got hold of an old Pioneer DT-540 audio digital timer for free . . . nice!

 

[Ra97oR]

Using headphones and only headphones. Too used to the clarity of headphones, it far too hard to get the same with speakers, alsoI am staying in uni dorm, so good room placement is impossible.

Unless I have over £20k to spare for a decent setup with room treated, I am not gonna get speakers. =/

Tried out some B&W 685 with some very decent class A mono blocks on a treated demo, very smooth and relaxing, but the clarity is pretty poor. The B&W 800 Diamond is better, but still unmatched.

 

[Frick]

Unless I have over £20k to spare for a decent setup with room treated, I am not gonna get speakers. =/

Yes, because it's impossible to get anything decent for a lower price.

 

[Ra97oR]

Unless I am gonna get a really good deal on some used Quads and amps, and someone treating rooms for free, I guess not. I am just not a big fan of speakers, need more clarity.

Tried some cheaper speakers with ribbon tweeters, still not a big fan of them. You have to remember companies rip people off on speakers more than headphones, as their trend is more expensive is better and company mark up their products as such to get a sense of higher quality.

 

[cadaveca]

. You have to remember companies rip people off on speakers more than headphones, as their trend is more expensive is better and company mark up their products as such to get a sense of higher quality.

You hit this nail right on the head. There have been comanies that have had really fantastic speakers for low cost, but they get bought up by the bigger guys pretty damn quickly.

The company that makes my speakers, Athena, doesn't exist any more, for just that reason. The bookshelf speakers I've got can really put alot of pressure on some very expensive, and even larger, speakers, yet I paid only a bit over $250 a pair.

This thread prompted me to set my HT rig back up...been using just stereo for quite a few months now...you know, I kinda like stereo better.

 

[niko084]

Depends on what you want...

I like high impact, high volume, so I started with a stereo setup, large refference amplifiers, preamps, DSP, active crossovers, eqs.

I have JBL towers front and rear, bookshelfs front and rear, center.
I then have 2 polk audio 10" subs and 1 jbl 12" sub.

This is what I use for AV..

I'm in the middle of figuring out and planning my listening room.
Probably go with some VMPS mains and subwoofers.

Want great speakers at a low cost... Get Athena's they are Klipsch made in China. Finish isn't as nice, speaker isn't of "quite" the same quality probably due to crossover matching or components, but they are very close and I am yet to find something under 2x the cost that's better to be totally honest.

 

[Easy Rhino]

You hit this nail right on the head. There have been comanies that have had really fantastic speakers for low cost, but they get bought up by the bigger guys pretty damn quickly.

The company that makes my speakers, Athena, doesn't exist any more, for just that reason. The bookshelf speakers I've got can really put alot of pressure on some very expensive, and even larger, speakers, yet I paid only a bit over $250 a pair.

This thread prompted me to set my HT rig back up...been using just stereo for quite a few months now...you know, I kinda like stereo better.

hey i've heard of athena. when did you buy them?

 

[cadaveca]

hey i've heard of athena. when did you buy them?

Geez...maybe 8 years ago? I only found out they were bought because I went to go buy more specifically for my PC, and couldn't find any. I do beleive, if I remember right, they were bought by Mission, who just completely dropped the product line.


I have a high-end set of Athenas as well, but they won't get used until I move into my own house; they really require a proper setup as they are far too big for the room spaces I have now. But htey cost a good amount, so I expect more from them...however, the smaller ones I have do just as good of a job, if not better, as they a much better suited for the space they are in.

Get Athena's they are Klipsch made in China.

Um, no. The orginal Athena brand(and the speakers I own) were made in Ontario, Canada. Current Athena brand is garbage, IMHO, as it's not even the same products(speakers in the box are very different from what I bought).

These are what I have:

http://www.athenaspeakers.com/

The Audition series is what I am talking about for bookshelfs, the "high-end" are the SCT Series 5x S3 and 5x P2 mated together to create full-size speakers.

But you are right, bought by klipsch:

In August of 2006, Klipsch Group, Inc. makers of the Klipsch® and Jamo® brands acquired Audio Products International Corp.

 

[niko084]

http://www.athenaspeakers.com/
Athena very well still exists.

The new Athena is far from garbage on a technical standpoint.
Yes the company is no longer the same.

On another note, nearly nobody makes larger footprint speakers anymore, not in the lower price ranges, not quality ones.
People just don't want them anymore as a general market. Just changing times. I miss some of the good older speakers though, technically less accurate however had a great full sound all in one.

 

[cadaveca]

You missed my point though, sry if I wasn't clear.

The actual quality of the drivers dropped before Athena was ever bought, when they introduced the Audition2 series, and current models(I've only seen 2 recently, in a boutique shop) do not have the same clarity as the ones I own.

Really, I love the brand, and the speakers I own...if I really could find something with similar performance for similar pricing, I'd be buying in a heartbeat, but alas, this is just not possible.

Keep in mind I'm a musician of 25 years, and my ear has been trained musically, so I am VERY critical of audio reproduction. I'm also the sort of guy that takes my own speakers into a store to test out new ones.

 

[theJesus]

I wish I had some cash and a larger room. I walked to the goodwill the other day and saw an old pair of 4-way speakers with 15" woofers for $50. Surrounds were intact too. Would have been nice to grab 'em just to play around with, but I don't even have room for to mess with the other random speakers I've grabbed from there over the past year or so lol

 

[Frederik S]

I have a good quality stereo setup that I use for pretty much everything around. I think that 5 ch is over rated to some extent because all it really adds is a more directional experience. And since I do not have enough money to buy a half decent 5.1 system I decided to go for a good quality 2 ch setup.

I have to say I mainly listen to music (and have limited funds) so that had a heavy influence on how I choose to build my sound system.

 

[imperialreign]

I have a good quality stereo setup that I use for pretty much everything around. I think that 5 ch is over rated to some extent because all it really adds is a more directional experience. And since I do not have enough money to buy a half decent 5.1 system I decided to go for a good quality 2 ch setup.

I have to say I mainly listen to music (and have limited funds) so that had a heavy influence on how I choose to build my sound system.

You have a hidden point here that most tend to overlook . . .

90% of all audio is still 2-channel source, which has to be upmixed for multi-channel setups. Whether one is actually using a true form of upmixing, or simply splitting channels, it doesn't negate the fact that the original source audio was originally intended for 2-channel playback.

The only forms of audio that are true 5.1 multi-channel is found on DVDs - if the source is encoded in multi-channel - as DVD-A is really the only primary format that supports 5.1 (IIRC, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support true 7.1). Some DVD audio disks are, but not all (most are simply "re-mastered" to DVD's playback rates), most DVD films have true multi-channel support . . . but, again, not all. Even still, in regards to DVD-A, unless the source was recorded, mixed and mastered with release to DVD-A in mind, typically it's the original 2-channel that's been upmixed "at the factory" and slapped on the disk.

So, at it's basic, all we're really getting is 2-channel audio playback that's simply been split, filtered, boosted and panned to numerous channels by our recievers.

 

[Easy Rhino]

90% of all audio is still 2-channel source

huh? any dvd movie and any bluray disc have native 5.1/7.1 tracks on them. they are actually recorded in a studio and then mixed afterward.

sure, music is still 2 channel but that is obvious.

so having a 5.1 setup with strong R/L speakers is beneficial because then you get great surround out of movies and still have quality 2 channel music.

 

[imperialreign]

huh? any dvd movie and any bluray disc have native 5.1/7.1 tracks on them. they are actually recorded in a studio and then mixed afterward.

sure, music is still 2 channel but that is obvious.

so having a 5.1 setup with strong R/L speakers is beneficial because then you get great surround out of movies and still have quality 2 channel music.

Sorry, I shoulda clarified a little more . . .

90% of music audio media is still 2-channel. I'm not counting DVD movie audio, as you're right, it's mixed at the studio - most dialouge is added seperately from the film, music is added seperately, most sound effects are added seperately, additional effects and sweeteners are dubbed in as well; so there's a lot finer control over the number of channel sources.

Pure DVD-Audio disks, though (DVDs that are only audio albums) are 90% of the time simply "remastered" versions of the original recording, with no real re-mixing for multi-channel.

I'm not trying to say having a multi-channel setup is gonna sound worse than 2-channel, far from it . . . you'll still get more depth and surround to the audio . . . but, until the industry starts supporting multi-channel during recording/mixing, we're not gonna get the absolute most of what are multi-channel setups are capable of.

 

[Easy Rhino]

yea, if you mainly listen to music then perhaps a 5.1 setup would not be worth the investment. the Inception bluray includes a separate 5.1 soundtrack in dts-hd ma and it sounds godly. now, i wouldnt buy a 5.1 setup just to hear it but im sure some audiophiles would. also, im not sure yet if we will see a trend to music being 5.1 in the future. it is hard to tell.