King Heffy Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said: Good thread idea OP, here is my question: what are your thoughts on soundbars? We had a cheap onkyo setup but the amp bit the dust and with kid on the way the wife wanted to remove the wires and floor speakers and has suggested to me that we get a soundbar... so are they worth getting? How much you got to spend to get something decent? Wired or wireless connection? Compromise with bookshelf speakers and a sub somewhere unobtrusive. Beats the hell out of any soundbar. Current main setup: Source: PC running Plex server with FLAC library Denon AVR-3311 Jamo 606 5 speaker system Martin Logan Dyanamo sub Bedroom: Source: Roku running Plex Marantz 6007 AVR 2x KEF Q100 SVS SB1000 Edited January 20, 2021 by King Heffy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 53 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo said: If I had money to burn I would definitely be looking at the McIntosh Labs vacuum tube amplifiers to start. Just have to check my lottomax ticket from last night. Tube amps are great, try tubes from different factories and you will find different sound from the same amps. Some a little better on the high end, others with a larger soundstage etc. McIntosh has been made by Clarion for the last 20 years iirc, so the old stuff will sound different. I'm currently using 8, ECL 82 tubes for my Wave amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 21 minutes ago, aGENT said: Heck, even a decent quality 2.1 (or 3.1 if you watch a lot of TV/movies) system with minimal wires/floor space will be miles ahead of most sound bars and shouldn't cause a wife too much angst. But different wives have different acceptability for such things Ahh yes the dreaded WAF( Wife Acceptance Factor), must always be taken into account when doing anything to the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Man, some of you are really passionate about this stuff. It's impressive really. I've just got my three Sonos play 1's and a Sonos soundbar, I'd probably be in over my head with the stuff others have mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 6 minutes ago, gurn said: Ahh yes the dreaded WAF( Wife Acceptance Factor), must always be taken into account when doing anything to the room. I'm lucky enough there that my wife knows I'm not going to compromise on sound quality and does her best to work around my insistence for filling a couple rooms with speakers and audio gear 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 34 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said: Good thread idea OP, here is my question: what are your thoughts on soundbars? We had a cheap onkyo setup but the amp bit the dust and with kid on the way the wife wanted to remove the wires and floor speakers and has suggested to me that we get a soundbar... so are they worth getting? How much you got to spend to get something decent? Wired or wireless connection? Wireless will most likely cost more as each unit using wireless will have to be a receiver, and a transceiver, of the signal, with the exception of the speakers. Also as aGENT mentioned mounting things into walls can get pricey. Way back, Onkyo had some decent stuff. I'll mention that I've listened to some very expensive systems over the years and quality is not always directly linked to price. Heard a pair of Wilson Grand Slam speakers, at a store, @ $140,000 a pair. Came out of that sound room making excuses for it: "To Bad it wasn't a cement floor" It was "To bad the room wasn't treated" It was. "In that case why did the drummer move from the traditional behind the singer spot to 3 feet off the ceiling? If you are a carpenter, tools handy guy you can make your own speakers. A Canadian outfit called Totem actually published the design and instructions on how to build one of their models, a very nice sounding small speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 18 minutes ago, Coconuts said: Man, some of you are really passionate about this stuff. It's impressive really. I've just got my three Sonos play 1's and a Sonos soundbar, I'd probably be in over my head with the stuff others have mentioned. As long as you, and the family, are happy with it; that is all that matters. Many people will say they love music, yet few listen to it. Someone listening to a old Sony Walkman that enjoys that music is getting more than some rich dude with thousands into a system they don't listen to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 2 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said: Just in case this gets too serious.... This is an entire album side, but the pertinent portion is at the beginning...... Warning: NSFW language. Or there is this old Steve Martin bit: Also a bit rough language wise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 10 minutes ago, gurn said: Or there is this old Steve Martin bit: Also a bit rough language wise The National Lampoon album is called "That's Not Funny, That's Sick" and it has appearances from a bunch comedy mainstays, before they got huge. Bill Murray and Billy Crystal are the two that come to mind right away. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpn1 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Hey Gurn, interesting topic. I used to have the full surround sound stereo set up but I have moved into a condo with my wife, as the kids are grown and out of the house, and needed to down size so I began to think about my first stereo back in the late 70's. So I set out to build the same setup I had when I was younger. I have somewhere around 500 to 600 Albums and 200 CD's so I set out to find the components. I found a Yamaha CR-420 Natural Sound Stereo Receiver (made in 1978). The exact receiver I had before. I needed to do some work on it and got it working good. I then found my Turntable. A Technics SL-23 Frequency Generator Servo (Belt driven from 1979). I have a pair of 2 way Audio Polk speakers but I had a set of Altec Lancing speakers and am still trying to find them. A bit nostalgic but it has been fun trying to find all the right parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 35 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said: The National Lampoon album is called "That's Not Funny, That's Sick" and it has appearances from a bunch comedy mainstays, before they got huge. Bill Murray and Billy Crystal are the two that come to mind right away. The cover was a frog, on a small sled rolling himself out of the back kitchen, of a place that sells frog legs, iirc. May also have the "Get me my Orange Juice" skit, plus a play by play of Nadia Comaneci on the parrelel bars? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 1 minute ago, gurn said: The cover was a frog, on a small sled rolling himself out of the back kitchen, of a place that sells frog legs, iirc. May also have the "Get me my Orange Juice" skit, plus a play by play of Nadia Comaneci on the parrelel bars? That's the one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, dpn1 said: Hey Gurn, interesting topic. I used to have the full surround sound stereo set up but I have moved into a condo with my wife, as the kids are grown and out of the house, and needed to down size so I began to think about my first stereo back in the late 70's. So I set out to build the same setup I had when I was younger. I have somewhere around 500 to 600 Albums and 200 CD's so I set out to find the components. I found a Yamaha CR-420 Natural Sound Stereo Receiver (made in 1978). The exact receiver I had before. I needed to do some work on it and got it working good. I then found my Turntable. A Technics SL-23 Frequency Generator Servo (Belt driven from 1979). I have a pair of 2 way Audio Polk speakers but I had a set of Altec Lancing speakers and am still trying to find them. A bit nostalgic but it has been fun trying to find all the right parts. I have multiple pairs of the Altec Lansing Santanas, best mid range I've ever heard. 15 inch bi-flex drivers, so an 8 inch midrange driver in the middle of the 15 inch bass driver. I found the tweeters to be the weakest link and went with Hiel tweets instead. These ones Edited January 20, 2021 by gurn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86Viking Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 What does a decent setup cost...I have no idea!? Is it better and likely more expensive to buy your setup piece by piece versus a all in one box setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 11 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said: What does a decent setup cost...I have no idea!? Is it better and likely more expensive to buy your setup piece by piece versus a all in one box setup? I'd recommend reading this: http://www.uhfmag.com/book1.html The 5 links at the bottom of the page are a good start in learning. Generally speaking devote more money into the source than any other component. Doesn't matter how good anything else is if you start with lousy sound, everything else will just reproduce lousy sound. If you buy a receiver it will save a bit as the one box will combine an, amp, pre- amp and possibly a tuner in to one shell. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 28 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said: What does a decent setup cost...I have no idea!? Is it better and likely more expensive to buy your setup piece by piece versus a all in one box setup? Home Theater In a Box solutions usually have propriety connectors and poor quality speakers. You do want to buy speakers as a set though to ensure the timbre is matched properly. Personally I buy a lot of my stuff used, and look for heavily discounted B stock. Discontinued models can also be found for an absolute bargain very frequently. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 3 hours ago, Canuckster86 said: What does a decent setup cost...I have no idea!? Is it better and likely more expensive to buy your setup piece by piece versus a all in one box setup? There's no "one system for all". And budgets can vary widely depending on your goals, 2ch vs 5+ch etc. If you're in it for the long haul, I recommend separates. Amps don't particularly fall prey to obsolescence (I'm still using the same amps I bought 20 years ago). Buy a good one (or more than one) and you're set. Though even then, you can start off with 'just' a decent receiver and as long as you shop smartly and buy a model with pre outs, can always add a seperate amplifier(s) later. Same with my speakers (and sub). Buy a good set of speakers and they can last you a lifetime. And yes, make sure they match as per King (there's loads of good Canadian speaker companies to choose from FWIW... BUY "LOCAL"). Gurn's advice on the source is solid as well. Garbage in, garbage out. That's going to depend a lot on what you intend to play though (digital audio files, records, Blu-ray etc). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86Viking Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Appreciate your feedback, due to house layout only way I see a home receiver set up working for us is with wireless speakers. Unsure how many speakers would be needed, 2 at front of tv and 2 on side tables by seating area? Anyone have links to a decent set of wireless speakers they believe is good quality and fair price? Same goes for amplifier. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 8 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said: Appreciate your feedback, due to house layout only way I see a home receiver set up working for us is with wireless speakers. Unsure how many speakers would be needed, 2 at front of tv and 2 on side tables by seating area? Anyone have links to a decent set of wireless speakers they believe is good quality and fair price? Same goes for amplifier. Thanks If you are going for a home theater, 2 beside the tv, 2 behind your listening chairs and a center/bass channel is a nice touch. This main forum page has multiple thread on stereo /video/home theater; https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/ Including this one https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Upstairs I have a Yamaha receiver...... front are 2 PSB Canadian made tower speakers ..... Klipsch subwoofer .....back speakers are Klipsch bookshelf Downstairs an older Onkyo receiver which is amazing for it's age.....front speakers are Klipch towers....back speakers are also Kliptch (no need for a subwoofer in that room) Outside in my garage I have a Onkyo receiver with PSB bookshelf speakers.. Also a turntable set up with it and CD player. I have a set of vintage Bose 201 speakers that are about 30+ years old back when Bose made quality speakers. They sound as good as any other speaker I own. Debating whether to sell them as they can fetch a pretty decent price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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