Get a pair of Wharfedale Evo 4.2 and a SVS sub (PB3000 perhaps if you can afford that route) and call it a day.

Parasound HINT 6. I'm using it and it's amazingly well suited to my Evo 4.2 also.

If you want convenience, I don't see the issue with going for a receiver either. Indeed you won't get the same quality as you would with an integrated amp, but I doubt you'll be able to hear the difference if your usage is just movies and gaming.

More or less yes. But you didn't specify a budget so I assumed you want something on the higher end side.

If 2k max is your budget, then an int.amp the Yamaha A-S501 is about the best you can hope for around this price range without looking into the used market.

Alternatively you could also look into entry level receivers.

Yes with int.amps, you need to use an optical cable out from the TV since you're using it as your source hub.

V385 is a passable receiver, not great though. You're mainly paying for the convenience and the licensing on it (Dolby and DTS).

The int.amp is of course better. Higher quality components in there, way better circuit design and the DAC board is implemented better. You're paying for more meat instead of packaging, is what I'm saying.

If you don't intend to ever go for 5.1, then the receiver is indeed a waste of money outside of convenience concerns.

Yes Q-Acoustics 3030 are like the standard recommendations for anyone starting out, reason for that is because they do no wrong and is generally very easy to listen to. They however do not have any exceptional qualities other than the price.

Compromise is such a vague and pointless term. Yes, you aren't going to get the best out of the 4.2 with the S501 but IMO there are bigger problems that would overshadow that amp and speaker "compromise". That problem is your room. You mentioned it's a big hall and I don't know how big that is or how well it is treated, so it's all assumption on my part. Fact of the matter is though is that in a big space, you're going to deal with a lot of flutter echos and thus you're likely to be hearing your room more than actually the speakers.

The shape of the room is also vital if and when you eventually get a sub, as how it performs is almost entirely down to where you place it and how it interacts with the room.

It's an odd shaped room, but not impossible to work with. You're gonna have to start somewhere eventually.

Get a pair of bookshelves and the int.amp for now.

Top middle position would be ideal if only 2 height speakers are to be used. However if you're going to be doing 7.1.2, you should consider changing that to 5.1.4 instead - it's still 9 channels after all. 4 height channels is a pretty significant difference to just 2 height channels.

You're mistaken and confused.

If you are using your AVR to digitally bass manage (i.e setting crossover), then you "disable" the crossover on the sub's plate amp by setting it to LFE or the highest setting it would go (usually 240hz if there is no LFE setting).

Then within your AVR, you select whatever crossover best fits your room and your other speakers. 80hz is a good starting point, but feel free to experiment.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Nov 30 2020, 10:31 PM

You forgot about tax? It's not that simple.

Better you ask Max for second hand Prime center instead.

I was one of those selling it. You didn't mentioned you want, otherwise I'd keep for you.


Yeah sold it beginning of the year when moving into new house. Ultra center is significantly better.

I think I sold mine for 1.3k IIRC.

Depends on the encoding, not all encodes are equal. Some groups use extremely high quality encodes (and VERY slow also), they are to my eyes pretty much 99% identical to remux/untouched BD yet is only 50-60% of the size. But then there are encodes where errors occur, particularly those with high bitrate Atmos streams. Many groups forget to demux them properly (probably don't notice it either since they don't have an Atmos setup to test) and the results are random audio skips throughout the movie.

Not gonna say too much more on this for obvious reasons but yeah, encoding techniques are quite complex and extremely good now a days.


LYN and H4S only.

FB market... lol, too many haters there la.

Remux means untouched, it's bit perfect to the original source disc. There will be no difference in audio quality.

HOWEVER there exists a few movies where the bit rate of the audio stream is very high and many players struggle to bitstream them properly. So a proper demuxing of these streams are required so that there will be no random audio skips.

You can't downgrade a firmware on a Yamaha receiver unfortunately.

From my scene sources, usually the rips (encodes) do not alter the audio stream. They put the highest source audio stream with the rip. Only thing that's changed is the video bitrate, not the audio. Of course there are certain groups that put in multiple audio tracks too even if it's a rip.

But I do know what you're saying because I have seen plenty of rips opting for the lossy audio streams over the lossless ones.

We are still a century away from Matrix.

But what was described by skyline can already be achieved now. So as far as perfection is concerned for the time being, that's about the best you can get.

Look for Chong @ actcessory SS14, he's Maxx reseller.

He does install also.

I disagree.

The only way to choose speakers is to bring it back home, put it in your room and sit in your spot and listen. What you hear in the demo room has very little semblance of what you hear in your room.

How is your center channel placed?

Everyone talked about receiver settings, but didn't mention how the center channel is placed which is the number 1 most important thing before anything else.