Hi all

I have 3 kids so not wise to get a 5.1

I just helped fix up my mum's 3.1 Harman Kardon AVR15 (which has been dormant few years) with 36W 6ohms Pioneer bookshelf speakers and it sounded really good vs my current Kuro 17W 6ohm TV speakers with Boston 10" Sub. And my mum's AVR is >10 years old

People been telling me to use PC speakers instead for my TV (as I am minimalist) but it never really sounded incredible to me (I am not into loud but clarity), and I have been a PC user for >20 years. But I was surprised that a >10 year old system still sounded so good but I think the main difference is that she has a good solid centre speaker.

So now I am thinking of looking for a good 3.1 system that can downsample 5.1 without losing the back surround audio or has a reasonably good 5.1 virtual. Any suggestion which system to start my search?

Thanks much

This post has been edited by specuvestor: Mar 1 2011, 10:39 AM

soundbar from yamaha & sony seems decent enuf...

why not just getting 5.1 speakers.. but just put the rear speakers on the top of the front speakers.. so, the speaker placement is still looks neat and exactly like 3.1. And anytime in the future you think you want to enjoy 5.1, you don't need to buy speakers anymore. All you do is just rearrange the speaker replacements.

I see most people who use HTIB (and don't actually care about the surround) setup their speakers like that..

get the sonnee ct150

???? What advise is this? May as well say put all the 5 speakers in a store room. How do u integrate the rear surround if u put it in front? It's called rear surround for a reason.

TS was asking for HT3.1 setup because he want to save space.. because he got childrens...
So, I suggest, go ahead and buy HT5.1 but set it up as 3.1, rather than buy 3.1 system.
That way, later in the future, he has the option to rearrange the configuration either 3.1 (stereo) or 5.1 (surround).

This post has been edited by zeese: Mar 2 2011, 09:18 AM

Thanks all for your suggestions. I was originally looking for a 3.1 AVR but I will check out the Sony Soundbar.

I am also thinking of outputting the monitor audio from my kuro to a decent Centre Speaker. Would this work as well? Does the monitor output 5.1 or stereo?

Thanks

This post has been edited by specuvestor: Mar 1 2011, 10:52 PM

Hmmnn..

Children can always be trained to not touch spkrs..
anyway, u can always leave de dustcvrs on..
Surrs can be wall mounted..

All gud reasons to go for 5.1 instead of a 3.1.. althou' a LCR is alrdy loads better than de tv spkrs..
A set of 5 bk shlvs make a veri decent system if u can garner in a decent sub.. of cos u can always go 2 way 1st if budget restricts..

D

Of course lar...age is not an issue when it comes to sound...my Yamaha AVR...8 or 9 years old....still rocks....beat any PC speakers. I think you should just stick with your Harmon Kardon. But if you want minimilistic, you can opt for sound bar or just put all 5.1 speakers in front. I do that in my bedroom as well. It's a Samsung HTIB.

^^^Yes want to avoid clutter as much as possible. The Harman Kardon (it's my mum's in another house, sorry if I miscomm) actually has an option for 3.1 so I was hoping if there is a reasonable AVR now with such option. PC HT setup via 35mm jack hasn't been able to impress me but I was pleasantly surprised by a >10 year old AVR system.

Yes they will not touch when instructed but when the THREE of them play together....

Frankly I find the Kuro 17W (instead of the usual 10W) TV speakers pretty decent and sounds ok with my 10" Boston subwoofer (the kuro has a dedicated LFE out). Only gripe is the mid-range doesn't sound as full as the Harmon Kardon 3.1.

Mid range budget is not an issue. Any advise in just adding a centre speaker (what brand?) via the Monitor out from the kuro would makes sense?

This post has been edited by specuvestor: Mar 2 2011, 06:26 PM

Like tat..

Wall mountin is an option or put a small spkr on ur tv cabinet wif blu tac - its pretty stable tat way..

If wan to meld a ctr spkr wif d kuro.. ya .. a decent soundbar shld suffice .. it ll please d wife too..
but if its me a stereo setup beats even tat [ at d sweet spot, tat is ] plus I dont tink a decent sound bar is tat much cheaper, is it??

D

This post has been edited by dirtrun: Mar 3 2011, 05:06 PM

Hi all

Was looking to get a Pio AVR with Boston LCR bookshelves for 3.1 setup and then the pio salesman say Blu Ray through HDMI cannot downmix 7.1 or 5.1 to 3.1 ie I will lose the surround instead of being virtual from the L&R speakers. This is due to HDCP protection for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA.

Can anyone confirm if this is true? Thanks much

TS - you amp - can it process DTs / DD or just plain old analog Pro-Logic? If it's old technology pro-logic, use the 3-stereo function ... coz it's twaeked for front 3 speaker system + sub, without rear speakers. But if you're ok with no surround in Pro-logic, it won't sound too bad as long as you have decent sounding subs.

And I believe a soundbar needs a squarish room to get the soundwaves to be reflected properly in order to get decent surround sound. If you ahve too big a space that can't bounce sound, you won't feel surround...

just my 2-sen

wow serious? This means I got to find old non HDMI AVR to get 3-stereo Or can I just use optical connect from player to AVR and get 3.1 downmix?

The implication is also that even those using 5.1 amp will lose 2 surround channels if the BD is encoded in 7.1