Help with first home audio set-up, please.

[johnnyTheMac]

Hello,

 

I am new to home audio, so I do not even know where to begin. The last thing that I have to set up in my media room is the sound system. I am looking for a 5.1 system that will be great for games/movies/music. I have been researching and noticed that it can get very expensive fast. I have looked at everything from a system in a box to piecing it together. I don't know what would work better for a novice such as myself. I don't know what brand, model or anything, really.

 

I need something that I can run through my PC and gaming consoles. I think that I would like to have a central receiver that I can plug in HDMI cables into and then have one HDMI run from the receiver to the TV...if that makes any sense. 

 

I do have a bit of a budget, I would say around $300-400. If there is any other information that you need to help me out, please let me know.

 

Thank you in advance for any and all help, suggestions and advice that you can offer.

 

Johny

[WolfStrong]

Funny you should bring that up; there is a very similar thread here.

 

Someone asked me what component setups meant, and I think my answer may actually answer yours as far as what you should actually do:

 

Well the simple answer is that instead of having one unit take care of the DAC/preamp/power amp/radio/ect, you have dedicated pieces of hardware taking care of each task. An example of this would be going back in time a bit and looking at receiver of the past. You use to have your tape deck/record player, radio, preamp, and power amp.  That would be at least 4 pieces of hardware to get the sound from the source, to the speakers. The record player and radio would feed into the preamp; the preamp is what you would use to select what you wanted to listen to and adjust the volume; the preamp would then feed into a power amp, which had nothing but a power button on it, and would power the unamped signal to the speakers.

 

People then decided the preamp was simple enough that it could just be combined with the power amp, so the integrated amp was born. In this you could plug your radio, tape player, cd player, and any other stereo analog signal into it, and just select which one you wanted to listen to, and adjust the volume through the integrated amp. After this though, the receiver was born. A receiver gained its name when people simply just added the radio to the integrated amp. Essentially what a receiver is, or rather was, is an integrated amp with one of the audio sources (radio) built into the unit, making it an all-in-one solution.

 

As technology progressed though, obviously CD's, radios, and tape decks kind of went to the waste side, and now all people really use their receivers for is to plug in all their sources (usually via HDMI), so that they can select which one they want to play, and gain 'surround sound' through it (which is a joke-in-and-of itself, which is an entirely different discussion). What receiver means now is a unit that will take different digital sources, process the information with all the 'tech' built into it to get it through all the channels depending on how you set it up, and amplify that signal to all the speakers that you think you need, while processing and sending the video signal to the source.

 

An integrated amp now, is simply defined as a unit that lets you select an audio source (no video), whether that is digital or analog, and send it out a stereo signal. Because they don't need to have all the extra crap on them that 'sells' receivers like video processing with 3d and upscaling, Dolby, surround 'simulation', room correction, and whatever else they can throw in there, they can focus on what really makes stuff sound better. This means for the same amount of money you spend on a 'high end' receiver that does 100watts/channel (which is really MUCH less in the real world; again, entirely different discussion) that sounds like crap, and fails after a few years of use, you can get an entry level integrated amp that does 45watts/channel that will sound just amazing and last a lifetime.

 

You really only need a full blown component setup if you are spending a LOT more money on speakers, because typically component setups cost a LOT of money themselves. The advantage of them is that you do get higher quality parts that last longer, and the only thing you will ever need to change for the rest of your life is your source. To me, the perfect middle ground is getting the best possible 2.1 speaker system you can afford, getting the best integrated amp you can afford, and then just upgrade your source (bluray player/AppleTV/TV) as needed. Honestly one of the best solutions I've come up with is to either just plug everything into the TV, then using the TOSLINK out on the TV to the integrated amp (or a cheap DAC to the integrated amp if yours doesn't have a DAC). The other solution if you don't want tons of wires running to your TV, if you have it wall-mounted or something, would be to buy an HDMI source switcher. Some of these even have an digital audio out that can run to the integrated amp/DAC so you only have a single HDMI cable running to your TV. 

 

Again, the idea is to separate to keep the highest quality components in the system for the best possible sound quality. The other solution of course is to buy a half-decent receiver like the Marantz SR series which honestly do a fairly good job, but most 'decent' receivers like this cost $600+. The worst downside to this will be that it will become obsolete once the next new feature, HDMI standard, 3d tech, DRM validation, 8k, or whatever comes out, requiring you to upgrade the receiver, hoping that the next generation of receivers sound just as good as your last one, and the resale value on your old receiver drops down next-to-nothing (while the integrated amps often retain their value, or even go up in some rare cases).

 

 

I know it's a bit long, but it is the truth. Truth is $400 is not a good budget for surround, and what you want can be achieved in that budget if you are willing to forgo the idea of surround, which honestly will sound like crap compared to what I will suggest. 

 

First, go buy a good HDMI switcher that supports the HDMI standard you need. Monoprice sells some for cheap that will work just fine, and look for one with DIGITAL (not analog) audio outputs. Now, from here there are two different routes you can take. You can either, A) Go buy 2 tower speakers with some nice bass response, or B) 2 really good bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer. Considering it sounds like you are mostly doing games/movies, the subwoofer may help if you like that 'boomy' effect, though if not, 2 towers may surprise you in how bassy they can get with the right amp. The problem you are going to run into is price: you can find decent tower speakers for $110/piece like the Infinity P363's when they go on sale which will take up $220+switcher, or two bookshelves can be had for $150 plus a sub for maybe another $80, leaving you at around the same. This really only leaves you with $150 for a integrated amp, which is not a lot, but fear not, I have a solution.

 

The reality is you do NOT need the latest and greatest receiver, and most of the features in receivers are nothing more than gimmicks that most people don't use anyways. Honestly, if you are willing to forgo the remote, vintage stuff can give you a LOT of sound for your money, just be sure to stay away from 99% of the stuff from the mid 80s-2000. 90s was a dark era in the audio world with a lot of crap being produced. Now with that said, there are some GREAT deals to be had on high end receivers from 2000-206. Remember how I said the price on receivers drops like lead compared to integrated audio, well we are going to use that to your advantage. The advantage here is that this hit the receiver market REALLY hard during this time, simply because they didn't have HDMI, though they still have some nice DAC's built right into them (see why I suggested the HDMI switcher with digital out now?), meaning you can get a high end receiver that may have cost a few thousand dollars, for 10% of the price...yet still sounds like an expensive receiver. My personal favorite are Marantz, as they made some REALLY nice receivers during this time that still works really well for DAC/preamp/amp stages. An example would be the I just looked on Craigslist, and saw a Marantz SR5500, a really good receiver that was $600 new, for $50. Or how about the Marantz SR8200; a $2300 receiver new 12 years ago that has 3 optical inputs, 3 coaxial, full surround preamp outs, and as many analog connections as the highest end receivers of today...for $280 on eBay, maybe less if a good offer is made.

 

The best part about this setup, is the only thing you would ever need to upgrade is the HDMI switcher, which costs pennies in comparison, and your TV. Those high end receivers will still sound amazing 20 years down the road as sound doesn't change. The point is that this is the power of having a component system.