Upgrading Audio for Entertainment Space

[I Hendrycks I]

Hey so I've been using a set of $150 5.1 surround sound speakers from Logitech for about 5/6 years ish. They were originally made for a desktop scenario as opposed to home theater so I'm only connecting them to my TV through a single cable as my TV obviously doesn't have the normal I/O for audio that a desktop has. I was looking at finally upgrading this as the audio is good but not great and there's cables running across my entertainment room and it's a pain. The speakers don't have a remote but instead have a wired hub that attaches to the sub that everything connects to so I need to have the sub next to the couch and then have the "remote"/hub on top which makes all speaker cables run across the room to where they're placed.

 

My question is what would be a good investment in audio? I was looking at just getting a soundbar, specifically the Sonos Playbar but it is rather pricey and the sub seems to be a necessity to "complete" the experience and it's the same price as the bar itself. Is there anything cheaper that I could grab that would be an upgrade from my current speakers? I was also looking at the various Yamaha soundbars but then if I ever want to upgrade it later it's a pain/impossible meanwhile Sonos would let me buy one Play 1, 3, or 5 as I want to add to it with ease. I kind of want to avoid the whole home theater setup with a receiver and individual speakers as It seems that you need to have a huge budget just to get a decent setup.

 

I'd say my budget is around $800 tops and I'm also in Canada so for instance the Sonos Playbar is $750 before tax.

 

Thanks!

[Stagea]

800 CAD would let you build a basic setup that will sound much better. A receiver, 2 bookshelf speakers and a sub will sound much better than a sound bar.

 

http://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=139&productId=23562&sku=RXV377

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=160&productId=21219&sku=TSX110

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=9&productId=27843&sku=BF24B

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=162&productId=9633&sku=PSW108

 

The items above will likely do if you have a small room and don't play very loud. It's not gonna be a reference setup, but it should be a lot better than the Logitech speakers. You can always upgrade to surround later on (add-on center speaker and surround speakers).

[I Hendrycks I]

800 CAD would let you build a basic setup that will sound much better. A receiver, 2 bookshelf speakers and a sub will sound much better than a sound bar.

 

http://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=139&productId=23562&sku=RXV377

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=160&productId=21219&sku=TSX110

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=9&productId=27843&sku=BF24B

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=162&productId=9633&sku=PSW108

 

The items above will likely do if you have a small room and don't play very loud. It's not gonna be a reference setup, but it should be a lot better than the Logitech speakers. You can always upgrade to surround later on (add-on center speaker and surround speakers).

That looks great but what about wire? I've never dealt with a home theater setup before.

[Stagea]

That looks great but what about wire? I've never dealt with a home theater setup before.

You can buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.ca/RCA-AH16100SN-Feet-16-Gauge-Speaker/dp/B0029HHIDY

The roll would have some excess, which can be used for your center and surrounds in the future.

16 gauge lamp cord will do just as well, depending on the aesthetic that you are after.

If you prefer using terminated cables, you can put these on the tips:

http://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-109436-High-Quality-Speaker-Plugs-5-Pair/dp/B0097JLQVC

For the receiver to subwoofer cable, you can use any phono jack like this:

http://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-100621-25-Feet-Subwoofer-Composite/dp/B001V4UM6Q

[Stagea]

You'd be connecting your sources to the AV receiver instead of the TV, moving forward. This way, the receiver gets to decode the audio signal from HDMI.

 

If you use your TV's tuner for Over-the-Air or Cable viewing, then we'd need to know if your TV supports the Audio Return Channel feature. If not, then you'd need to hookup a cable (usually optical digital) from the TV going back to the receiver for audio.

 

If you want network playback and control (from your mobile devices or computer), you can move up to a network receiver like this:

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=143&productId=23688&sku=RXV477

 

[I Hendrycks I]

You can buy something like this:

http://www.amazon.ca/RCA-AH16100SN-Feet-16-Gauge-Speaker/dp/B0029HHIDY

The roll would have some excess, which can be used for your center and surrounds in the future.

16 gauge lamp cord will do just as well, depending on the aesthetic that you are after.

If you prefer using terminated cables, you can put these on the tips:

http://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-109436-High-Quality-Speaker-Plugs-5-Pair/dp/B0097JLQVC

For the receiver to subwoofer cable, you can use any phono jack like this:

http://www.amazon.ca/Monoprice-100621-25-Feet-Subwoofer-Composite/dp/B001V4UM6Q

 

 

You'd be connecting your sources to the AV receiver instead of the TV, moving forward. This way, the receiver gets to decode the audio signal from HDMI.

 

If you use your TV's tuner for Over-the-Air or Cable viewing, then we'd need to know if your TV supports the Audio Return Channel feature. If not, then you'd need to hookup a cable (usually optical digital) from the TV going back to the receiver for audio.

 

If you want network playback and control (from your mobile devices or computer), you can move up to a network receiver like this:

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=143&productId=23688&sku=RXV477

Sweet, ya my TV is a new Samsung 4K it's got ARC and all that jazz. Does connecting some HDMI devices to the receiver and some not a problem? I need more than 4 like the RXV377 has as I use up 5 atm but I'd rather not pay a premium for a higher end receiver just so I can get a few extra inputs lol

 

EDIT: Ya I'll probably grab the 477 for the few extra inputs and the added app features and everything. Have you ordered from Visions.ca before? How's their service?

[Stagea]

Sweet, ya my TV is a new Samsung 4K it's got ARC and all that jazz. Does connecting some HDMI devices to the receiver and some not a problem? I need more than 4 like the RXV377 has as I use up 5 atm but I'd rather not pay a premium for a higher end receiver just so I can get a few extra inputs lol

 

Yup, connecting to the receiver should not be a problem. One model up gives you those nice jazzy mobile controls though (HDMI 2.0 starts at 3 models up).