For Christmas, Mr. Ruby and I are planning to upgrade our home theater surround sound system. We are looking to spend less than $700. We currently have a component system with a Denon receiver and Jbl speakers. We’ve looked at numerous HTB systems and frankly, the whole mess is confusing.
What’s the difference between 5.1 and 7.1?
Is there any new technology in the offing that would alter our buying decision?
Any experiences with particular brands?
We have a Sony WEGA TV. Any benefit to purchasing a Sony system?
I’m not an expert. I’ve been trying to get up to speed on this in the last week though. We also just purchased a 50" Sony and now I’m thinking we need to update our surround system. Sound familiar?
I think 5.1 and 7.1 is just the number of sound channels. 5.1 is five channels plus a sub, so a total of six channels. I don’t think there is a home audio/video format that uses 7.1 at the moment. Wiki info on surround sound
The thing that is a sticking point for me right now is video inputs and outputs. Our current Yamaha system only has composite video inputs and outputs. That’s the worst way to send video. For now I’m bypassing the surround system and sending the video straight to the TV from the DVR and the DVD player. This is ok, but it means that I have to use two remotes to switch from DVR to DVD (ie. switch the video signal on the TV and the sound signal on the surround system). I could probably live with it, but the digital audio input from the DVR doesn’t seem to be working on the surround system either. I want that extra sound that comes with a high def signal. I’m rambling. Oh yes, I was talking about video inputs and outputs.
Regarding video cabling an inputs from worst to best, it goes composite, s-video, component, and DVI/HDMI. Composite is the old video cabling that’s been in use since color TV’s came around fifty years ago or so. S-video is better, since it separates the blacks from the colors. Component video is even better, since the colors have two channels. It’s still an analog signal though. To get a digital signal, you need to go to DVI or HDMI (basically DVI with sound). One thing of note is that S-video and composite will not carry a high definition signal (at least from what I can tell). Wiki also has a wealth of information on all of this. Searching Wiki with any of the terms I used will get you there.
Many of the current HTiaB (Home Theater in a Box) systems don’t seem to support much more than our current system regarding video inputs and outputs. Right now I’m seeing component video inputs and outputs as being the sweet spot on most available mid-range home theater systems, although many systems don’t even support that. I’m asking myself if that’s good enough? Why have a digital signal in the DVD player and DVR and a TV that can process a digital signal, but then send it analog?
The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be many systems with HDMI inputs or outputs. In fact, I found one for under $1000. It’s a Samsung HT-HDP40. It’s actually close to being a low end system with a street price of about $399. It comes with a built in 5 DVD player. The subwoofer is not powered. It also is rather limited on other inputs and outputs, but it has the one HDMI input I need to get my DVR signal and the HDMI output I need to go to my TV. It might be good enough.
As far as purchasing a Sony surround system, I’m sure it would help limit the remote control confusion. I’m honestly not that keen on their systems though from what I’ve been seeing and reading. Some of their systems get bad reviews. Others get fine reviews but I’m still stuck sending analog video signals if I want to go through the surround.
Anyway, I hope this helps a little and I also hope others post to give me some more guidance too.
As mentioned, the 5.1 system is the most common currently. Both DTS and Dolby Digital are formated for the 5.1 set up.
Going to 6.1 or 7.1 may be nice but the source material is not that plentiful.
The other problem is actaully having a big enough room for a 7.1 setup. As it is most people already have rear speakers as rear/side speakers since their seating is normally up against a wall. Placing 2 rear speakers AND an additional 2 side speakers without having a listener too close to one of them is pretty tough in most home applications.
if you do not need a reciever, and just some good speakers, the logitech 5500’s are excellent. they have the standard 6ch input, along with an optical and digital cable input. they also sound amazing, and the sub is crazy. looking around you can find them for about 250 and its worth every dollar.
Going from a Denon component setup to an HTiB would definitely be a step in the wrong direction. Separate components are better for many reasons. The biggest being that you can upgrade your home theater bit-by-bit, and if one piece of the system breaks or becomes obsolete, you don’t have to throw it all out. For example, DVD players are generally less reliable than amplifiers, and they also tend to go obsolete faster (for example, HD-DVD will be here in a year or two, and you may want to upgrade). If you buy a DVD player integrated into one box, you’ve just lowered the reliabilty of your entire system to that of the weakest link, and ensured that once you want to upgrade anything, you have to upgrade it all.
If your Denon receiver already supports Dolby Digital (not Pro-Logic, but at least 6 discrete channels), then I would start by upgrading the speakers. $700 doesn’t get you much when you’re buying all six speakers at the same time, unfortunately. You could get something like the Paradigm cinema series, which are in that price range and pretty nice.
If your Denon receiver doesn’t support Dolby Digital, then the first thing you should do is upgrade your receiver. In your price range, the best bet might be one of the new all-digital receivers, like the Panasonic SA-XR70. This receiver is fully loaded - HDMI inputs, 7.1 outputs, Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, etc. There’s not a DVD out there that this receiver can’t decode in all channels. The Panasonic XR55 is also a good choice, and can be had for under $275.
To give you better advice, we really need to know more about the equipment you have now. What kind of JBL speakers are they? How many? Do you have a subwoofer? How big is the room? What is the brand and model number of the DVD player you currently have? What’s the model number of your receiver?
If you can post that info, we can find the ‘weak link’ in your system and help you upgrade.