7.1 Surround

[joshfrog]

Hi There

 

I'm looking at getting a 7.1 surround setup probably in the new year and am looking for some good recommendations.

 

Is must not be a Sonos or need the internet/network to function, It will never touch a network so no apps based shit.

I also rent so nothing that need to be mounted to walls or anything like that, I'm perfectly happy to buy stands for the speakers.

This may be hard but id rather not have anything that connects via blue tooth or wireless i would like it to use cables/wires.

I would also need an AV receiver to connect everything up to.

 

Any help would be great.

Thanks 

[ChrisLoudon]

7 hours ago, joshfrog said:

Any help would be great.

Thanks 

More info would be handy.

 

Budget?

Use Case? Games / Movies / Both

Room Layout / Size

Active Speakers or AVR + Passive Speakers

Bookshelf / Floor Standers

Sub Size / Neighbours

 

C

[Psittac]

It took me about 10 years to build a proper HT setup because I maximized my purchasing power by getting it one piece at a time.  I started with a very old AVR that didn't even have HDMI support so it allowed me to get that later down the line allowing me to get the most current features at the time.

 

Start with a pair of main channel speakers either bookshelf or floor standing, this is the crucial choice because it'll set up the rest of the system.  You want to get all the same brand and if possible family of speakers, subwoofers being the exception.  Then get a center channel speaker.  From there I'd get a subwoofer followed by satellite speakers.  Figure out when you're going to throw in the AVR and put that off as long as possible.

 

Choices to be made:

Receiver: Do you want atmos?  you can bounce sound off the ceiling so no need to mount them.  Pick the number of channels and configuration.

Main L&R Channel:  Brand and family, also whether you're going bookshelf or floor standing.

Center channel: This is going to do the heavy lifting in movies so you want to pick a good speaker family from the get go.

Subwoofer:  Do you want a room shaker or something more sound quality for bass? Or do you want one of each?

Overall layout: Atmos has made speaker placement far easier instead of being stuck to a specific layout coded into the movie.  The audio is a spatial object and your AVR knows where the speakers are located so it can generate the surround based on your setup.

[SansVarnic]

Is this for a tv setup or pc setup?

[joshfrog]

2 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Budget?

Use Case? Games / Movies / Both

Room Layout / Size

Active Speakers or AVR + Passive Speakers

Bookshelf / Floor Standers

Sub Size / Neighbours

Budget is not crazy money but not cheap and im in australia

mostly movies but do have a ps4, steam deck and a computer i use on my tv at times

room and layout unsure as i plan on moving soon

not sure about speakers im new to speaker of this sort

speakers i would look at both and see what works once i move

neighbors most likely as I'l be looking to move to an apartment   

 

this is research so i can get a good setup once i move i have an LG UHD TV from 2018 not OLED i would like something that can be used for many years to come so I'm after quality stuff but i have seen stuff for $20,000+ I'm not wanting to spend that sort of money but will spend where it matters.

[ChrisLoudon]

33 minutes ago, joshfrog said:

this is research so i can get a good setup once i move i have an LG UHD TV from 2018 not OLED i would like something that can be used for many years to come so I'm after quality stuff but i have seen stuff for $20,000+ I'm not wanting to spend that sort of money but will spend where it matters.

The good news, is AV tech doesn't move nearly as quickly as PC stuff does. I've upgraded my PC almost every year for the past 3 decades but only ever had 4 AVRs and speaker combos in the same amount of time.

 

I'd say, hit the 2nd hand market as a first port of call. at least for an AVR. You'll get a tasty Yamaha RX-A10 or even 20 series for under 400 bucks. If you're not interested in Atmos then you can go even lower with the RX-Vxxx series. Oh, and yes, I'm a Yammy man. DSP-A1 - RX-V1700 - RX-A2060 and RX-A6A spans the last 30 years of my AV life so I'm very happy with Yamaha. I did try and defect to Marantz but build quality issues forced me back to Yamaha.

 

For speakers, you need to pair correctly. Yamaha are a 'Natural Sound' so pair well with some and not well with others. Over the years I've found Kef and B&W to be my 'go-to's' with B&W pairing best with Yamaha amps and Kefs with Marantz.

 

5.1 vs 7.1. If you are swithering overing which to invest money on, I'd say spend more on a 5.1 setup rather than scrimp and scrape to a 7.1. Just my opinion but if the additional budget of losing 2 side / rear channels allowed you a better centre or sub then I'd go for that.

 

And on the subject of centres and subs, don't cheap out on these and these 2 channels are probably the most important. Now, if you have neighbours either side or worse, underneath then probably not much you can do but a good sub really adds to the sound stage.

 

Now, this is where I need to go back to your point about not wanting a Sonos system. If you look at my sig, you see my living room setup is a 5.1.4 discrete system and is probably worth about £20k. My extension setup has a relatively simple Sonos Arc + Sub setup and costs around £2k.

 

While I love watching movies on my main home cinema setup I can say categorically, its not 10x better than the Sonos, in fact, I'd say the Sonos (while not cheap) is fantastic and worth every penny.

 

The only real issue I have with sound-bars is the lack of any rear or height sound even when they tout 7.1 + atmos. Its all a nonsense really but as far as front soundstage is concerned, the Arc + Sub packs a real punch.

[ender23]

I agree.

 

If it were me, I'd buy a 7.1 capable AVR (from Yamaha) but focus on quality for speakers-- even if that means starting with a 2.1 or 5.1 now and growing it to 7.1 later.

[QuantumRand]

If you're looking for something with impressive sound quality that's basically plug-n-play, I highly recommend checking out the Sony HT-A9 (plus optional sub).

 

I have one myself, and it was a massive step up from my (admittedly quite old) 5.1 discrete setup, a Yamaha RX-V373 with somewhat underpowered speakers. The surround feature is rock solid, and the height channels are convincing enough. I have the smaller sub, and it has been more than enough for me, but my home theater space is pretty small.

 

Word of warning though, don't get the Sony Theater Quad (the successor to the HT-A9). It requires a Sony account and accompanying app to work. The app won't even work without an internet connection, so unless you have internet, you can't change your settings. Such a massive step backwards from the HT-A9, ugh...