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Home Theater

Mark_UK

Mark_UK

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Looking to get some ideas as I keep flip flopping.
As I put in the home renovation thread, I’m lucky to have moved into a house that has more space, and a nice square room that’s crying out to get a decent set up installed.
We have a decent sized family off the kitchen, so whereas this isn’t going to be a home cinema type room, as it still will be used as a living room, I wasn’t to put in a nice sounding set up.
I keep changing my mind about a sound bar and AVR and speakers. I really like the idea of the home theater set up, but it does have some draw backs. The extra power consumption, having to fire everything up each time I turn on the tv (most of my viewing is just regular tv), and trying to get the rear speakers in place without wires running everywhere (we are going for laminate in the room, soI’m struggling to come up with a way of getting those wires fairly hidden.
The sound bar I’m considering is the Sonos Arc with sub and rear speakers. I know the sound is never going to match separate speakers, but this thing gets some decent reviews. Also less wires to the rear, just power cables, and I have outlets at the back of the room. The cost is ridiculous, but I’m willing to pay for the right set up.
I’m not an audiophile, but I want a good set up. I know a sound bar won’t compete, but I can go on to YouTube if I want to read sound bars are **** type comments. So looking for some balanced help, and reviews of the stuff you have. Is home theater more trouble than its worth is basically what I want to know.
 
Is the house drywall? If so, cutting access to pull speaker wire is easy. Also you can go in wall or in ceiling and the speakers aren’t even seen. You can even get in wall subwoofers. This is what I did in the basement and family room. When tuned properly, it’s as subtle as just using the TV speakers, but becomes a jaw dropping experience at higher volumes.

if you are plaster, well that’s a different story.
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Yeah, it’s drywall. I can run cables down the wall fairly easily, but getting a cable from the front wall to the back wall is a little daunting. In fact, for my skills, a disaster waiting to happen LOL.
How user friendly is your system? Ok for day to day viewing ie, not a hassle to keep firing everything up each time you turn the tv on? Also, calibrating the system when you install it?
 
Mark_UK said:
Yeah, it’s drywall. I can run cables down the wall fairly easily, but getting a cable from the front wall to the back wall is a little daunting. In fact, for my skills, a disaster waiting to happen LOL.
How user friendly is your system? Ok for day to day viewing ie, not a hassle to keep firing everything up each time you turn the tv on? Also, calibrating the system when you install it?
Click to expand...
It’s extremely user friendly with the Harmony Elite remote I use. I also have it accessible on my iPad and iPhone via the harmony app. If I want to watch tv I hit one button and it all happens. Harmony is very user friendly to set up. I control all of this stuff with it.
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Doing a TV, an AV receiver and a few other sources like cable, appletv, etc is very straight forward.
 
Holy ****! Is that your set up??? I can see why you didn’t try and tell me to just get a sound bar LOL
 
I was contemplating the move to a sound bar as well; have had a home theatre type set-up for years. I very much like the separate speakers and how simple it is to swap out components if I need/want.

Shape of the room also plays into my thought process. I don’t think I’d get the intended sound bounce where I need to place things, whereas I can place and aim the speakers however I want and will still get pretty good sound.

I don’t mind firing up components each time I want to watch something. My smart TV actually controls the basic power on/off and volume... actually, even my AppleTV remote can control volume.
 
14 x 18 room with 12 foot ceiling... love our Sonos PlayBar, One L/R surrounds and wireless sub. We have Ones around the house. Great sound, easy to use app, ability to link rooms for music choices (group or individual). I just wish it wasn't as $$ to integrate the turntable.
 
I'm a separates guy, but if you want simplicity you can't discount some of the soundbars out there. Sonos is definitely very high on the list in this category.
 
I guess I should really put my options down, I assume the actual stuff I’m looking at is even compatible.
So the room is approx 15’ across and 18’ deep. The choices are
Sonus ARC, Gen 3 sub and 2 one sl rear speakers.
Or Sony STR-DH790 receiver with SVS prime center and satellite speakers, and pb1000 woofer. I’ll also be adding some Atmos compatible updating speakers at some point.
https://www.sony.com/electronics/av-receivers/str-dh790
www.svsound.com

SVS Speakers

Shop SVS home audio speaker solutions for crystal clear sound at any volume.
www.svsound.com www.svsound.com
www.svsound.com

PB-1000

Ported box home theater subwoofer delivers ground-shaking SPLs and subterranean low frequency extension without sacrificing detail and accuracy.
www.svsound.com www.svsound.com
 
As a pseudo audiophile since my early 20’s I’d have a hard time going with a soundbar for a main system but I do own a few soundbars for bedrooms or secondary TVs. SVS sells a 5.1 speaker system including a sub for $1000 and a decent receiver can be had for less than that. For less than two grand you will have a system that blows away any soundbar.

I’m a big fan of SVS subs and paired mine with front and center speaker from Elac. IMO, their UniFi UB51’s will beat any other $600 bookshelf speakers and hang with many speakers costing twice as much.
 
I second SVS!
 
Harmony remotes really do simplify things when you are putting multiple components together. I have a couple TV/Theather setups in the house of varying complexity and each has a Harmony remote driving them. Super easy to setup.
 
It’s frustrating. I upgraded to 126” Cinegrey 5D screen and the motor is seizing up.

I have had nothing but problems with Elite Screens.

View attachment FullSizeRender.MOV
 
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