listening environment plays a big deal also. if your actual room is full of reflective wall or furniture most likely ur high and low will be tamed.
this is the challenge you are going to deal with. did you ask the shop why it sounded that way? was the speaker toe in?
For the calibration also, unless they just swap the speaker in else normally they will calibrate first before demo.

I dont own Jamo i cant comment much.. Jamo can be a good starting point as compare to those unbranded speakers. Style laser do carries other brand of speaker also maybe check with them and see if u can test other speaker under similar setup.

In Denon setup there's a Cinema EQ which you can enable it to soften the high for easier movie conversation listening.
yes.. a decent entry sub will cost >RM3k.. if u look for quality - start from minimum and build along ur way

Few years back I went to audition a bookshelf speaker, playing songs for a good while, 1 hour? I ask the seller do you have floor stand speaker with +- of my bookshelf speaker budget range, then he switch to Jamo floor stand, can't remember model, but with side firing woofer. He connect back to the same amplifier, after 5 mins I already cannot tahan the sharp and loud treble, feel like ear bleeding, not my taste.

Yes, your budget is too little for a decent 5.1.2 Atmos system and yes, you can do better if you decide to spend the same amount on a 2.1 system. You can do even better if you are willing to go used.
Cheap Atmos setup is too over-rated. Nowadays everyone is looking for atmos in soundbars, headphones, handphones, etc. In my experience, a good 2.1 system is always better than a cheap atmos system especially at the same price point (this is probably true until you get to a budget >20k). You can even start with 2.0 first and add the sub later. As kevinlim001 said, a good sub starts at >3k, so if RM6.5k is all you can spend now, can leave the sub for later. But if you go used, probably can get an AVR, front speakers and a sub within RM6.5k.

Here is my honest, no bullshit advice that no seller will dare to tell you; don't buy Atmos if you cannot do Atmos right.

What do I mean by that? Your room. Yes, your room is almost as important as the speakers (in fact, your room is ACTUALLY part of the system) and even more so for Atmos/DTSX/Auro3D.

If you do not have the means to place the height speakers in the correct locations, you're actually wasting money. If you do not want to use height speakers (in ceiling or high wall mounted), then you can use those trash Atmos modules to reflect the height effects. But in order for that to work, your ceiling has to be FLAT and it must also be quite low (no more than 10ft).

Auto EQ (calibration) helps, but they are very limited at the end of the day. It can NEVER fix your room if your room is not ideal to begin with.

So before you put all that money into Atmos, take a long hard look at your room first and see if you can actually do Atmos properly or not. If you cannot, there is nothing wrong with good ol' 5.1. If you ask me, I'd rather put money into a higher quality set for the front LCR speakers than stretch the budget thin just to have 5.1.2.

jamo >>>> never demo before. guess is normal kind
denon-marantz abang adik. no big diff honestly.

Ning select is good channel. tapi his set can use hdmi port? hdmi quite crucial nowadays
speaker vs amp. priority is always speaker.

may i know u from selangor which taman?

before suggesting, do u got how many equipment to connect.
include disc player, tv box, tv, radio, etc etc everythings

another query is existing what audio set do you have ?
takkan just proton speaker haha

laptop seldom got optical port. beside it dont support new codec like atmos dtsx.
so aim hdmi receiver among 5 common brand (yamaha denon marantz pioneer onkyo).

speaker quite hard to judge. if you aim for less sharp tuning, try wharfedale diamond serie

that Taiwanese is B&W and Accuphase kaki.. but he is more to music rather than home theater..

The set will be in my living room, left side is curtain, right side is dining area, so i think reflection is not an issue <-- same layout as mine and it does means that you do not have a proper listening area. assuming you are sitting in the middle of the room. TV placing at front wall and you are having rear wall.. those wall are going to reflect your sound. And your ceiling also..  if you place ur left front close to the curtain corner you will then found left speaker is more bloomy than right speaker

the question for you is whether u want to settle down with 2.0/2.1 OR you start with 2.0/2.1 and work your way up. if you are really into HT (surround channel) your 2.0 / 2.1 should start with AVR not stereo amp.

soundbar is still limited by the way it works. no matter how expensive it is, it cant fit it large driver and often tune equalizer with V shape setup to impress consumer.

For new speakers I would recommend Wharfedale Evo 4.2 Shopee
These are very good speakers for their price. Must also budget RM500-1,000 for good stands for them. Take note that these speakers will need some experimentation with positioning and toe-in, but once placed right, they are quite awesome.

For amplifier, I don't really have a preferred unit within your budget range but these Yamaha WXA-50 Shopee are pretty good for their low price. It comes with music streaming capabilities, has optical input as well as sub-woofer out. They have about 50 watts per channel at 8 Ohms (class-D Icepower modules) so quite decent.

The above recommendation assumes you want to stick with 2.0 or 2.1 and not aspiring to add centre, surround and height speakers later on. If you want to add more speakers later on, then should get an AV Receiver.

You have to understand something very fundamental to audio; what you hear at stores IS NOT what you hear at home.

I don't know why this has to keep being repeated. Sound is a wave that you cannot see, it interacts with surfaces and objects. Unless you're telling me your home is modeled EXACTLY the same as the store, you CANNOT make a conclusion or judgment on how one speaker really sound like. In fact, just the distance from where you sit at home vs where you sat in the store would already change the perception of how a pair of speaker would sound.

As for that Taiwanese guy, no offense to him but he doesn't know jack shit about what he's talking about. He's using emotions to relay his experience, which again means nothing because what he hears is only relevant to him in his own room.

@bolded
Audio is not rocket science, it's just logic and common sense. It only sounds like rocket science because the audio industry is the ONLY industry in the world that gets away with bullshitting and daylight robbery. Not even drugs could get away with the amount of bullshit that surrounds the audio industry, let that sink in. 

speaker how many ohm. watt. dbm
price about 1k 2k choose common brand will not spoil one. they are cater for beginner very friendly

denon x1600 good to go. since you have listen denon avr before.
the next demo shall use pure direct mode to learn each spk character

after choosen the one u like. baru request for calibrate (may improve or worsen depend room vs sensor position)

Yes, always decide on the speakers before choosing the amp/pre-pro/receiver/dac.

If a pair of speakers can play music well, it can do anything well. In fact, speakers are agnostic to what you're feeding it. The drivers just reproduce the sound that is being asked by the crossover, up till its limits. The whole myth of x speaker is only good for movies and not good for music is such a overused lie that again, only this industry has.

To be frank, I don't think you know what "sharp" sound actually means. It's sibilance and I'll tell you right away, sibilance exists in all types of tweeters. I have the Wharfedale Evo 4.2 also and I can make it as "sharp" sounding as the Jamo you heard if I want to.

Having too much power CAN potentially damage the voice coil, in theory. Because to have so much power where your voice coil explodes, your eardrums and possibly other internal organs in your body would first explode before they do. What I'm trying to say is, you need to feed 1000w into a speaker with a sensitivity of 105db/m for that to happen. First, you won't find such a speaker in the consumer space and EVEN if you do, in the real world you won't do that because that defies logic. So don't worry about how much power you need or want.

Ohm is resistance, that's a whole other topic where one single post won't be enough to explain. For what it relates to with amps, as long as the amp is supplying sufficient power at 8ohms and doesn't shut down at 4ohms, then it's fine.

What if I told you the room at style laser is not perfect in the first place? Want to know another truth? There are no perfect rooms, because such a room only exists - outside, in the middle of no where. Do you sleep outside?

ironcrowz
If you worry about too much power damaging your speaker, get a speaker with high sensitivity. Less watt is needed to produce the desired loudness (sound pressure level). I normally give this advice to people who are new to home theater.

Here is an example of a wrong setup:
Use hard to drive speakers with poor amp. To achieve the desired listening level, the user cranks up the volume knob. The poor amp tries so bad and distorts. With electronic eq, you will be surprised that a lot of power is actually needed.

It is hard to go wrong with a powerful amp, but it's not cheap. Too much power is better than too little power. Your ear hits the limit first before the speaker hits its limit. If you ignore the distortion, the danger to the speaker becomes real.

i hope this calculator (link below) will help you. if you are going towards reference level (i normally play my movies at -10 to -7 dB), the AVR actually hits the limit before your ears. speaker sensitivity of 88dB @ 2.83 volts / 1 meter (as an example) is actually hard to drive.
https://www.crownaudio.com/en-US/tools/calc..._power_required

just buy within your current budget. no point of topping up slightly. if you keep on digging the rabbit hole, upgraditis is always there until you hit the pro level. by the time you have learned enough, you might wanna get external amplification and advance eq. i will always prefer an AVR with pre-outs. however, the budget increase is a lot.

ur ear still ok wor.
play so loud my ear sure spoil ady

btw, newbie dunno what is ref level 0db. can u teachs him

rock music is fun. do you have specifically fav instrument in a rock music?
example e-guitar, bass guitar, percussion+ drum set, keyboards

see if this helps
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=5046218&hl=

had revised my reply to your post.. i put in some details for you to understand better.. hope that helps.

Custom.

I have mine set to 2160p 59.94hz YUV422 12-bit REC2020.
Rock music usually has a lot of kick drums and bass guitar, preferably you'd want to look for a speaker that doesn't shit the bed below 60hz. Unfortunately, most bookshelves below the RM2k mark can't overcome this limitation - at least not in this market. Wharfedale Diamond 12.2 and ELAC Debut B6 are the only ones I can think of in the NEW-unused market that plays alright below 60hz. If you're willing to search in the USED market, you may be able to snag a pair of Klipsch RP600m for around the RM2k mark.

If you aren't talking about sibilance, then you're talking about the often mis-used term of "brightness and harshness". It's common for people to have hearing fatigue between 2khz and 8khz, this is where the "brightness" or hence "sharpness" of the sound resides in. This can be tamed in many ways, buying speakers that aren't overly "bright" is obvious, but the other thing you can do is EQ out some of the highs.

The term "warm" is also often mis-used, it does not mean what you think it means. Warm IS NOT rolled off highs. Warm actually means a lot of mid bass until the point where the room is taking over to MASK the brightness of a tweeter. Bet no seller will ever tell you that.

You are misunderstanding how power works.

Volume is LOGARITHMIC, it is not linear. What does this mean for power? It means that power is dynamic in relevance to the volume you're trying to achieve with the speaker. Simply because the receiver is outputting 90w over 2 channels, it DOES NOT mean it is feeding 90w from 20db to 75db (as an example).

Let's take the Wharfedale D12.2 as an example, its sensitivity is 88db @ 2.83v over a 1 meter distance. This means it takes ONE watt, yes ONE watt to reach 88db of volume if you're standing 1m away from the speaker with no reflections (this is why specification numbers SHOULD NEVER be taken as a real world indication because speakers are spec'd in an anechoic chamber).

Ok i can understand this part... 2.83v @ 1m is equivalent to 1w@1m, so i can just focus on the dB...

Trust me, your ears will give up first long before you even reach 90w of usage from the receiver.

So why do people want 500w per channel for a single speaker then? What's the point of mono blocks? Because in the real world, you don't sit 1m from your speaker unless you're doing a desktop setup. Then there are considerations of other drivers within a speaker. Bookshelves are usually 2 ways (tweeter - woofer), so not much needs to be said about them. But towers which are 3 way (tweeter - mid woofer - sub woofer)? Those need power and that's why towers are usually more efficient than their bookshelves counterparts due to coupling of drivers and crossover networks.

Hmm not much to be said about bookshelf speakers cuz they do not need that much power? Tower speakers usually has 3 drivers so make sense to need more power ok ok... But what you mean by the towers are more efficient than bookshelves?

You should also understand that the higher the frequency, the less power is needed. This is because the human ears are most sensitive between the 800hz to 10khz region. Reaching 75db around these frequencies requires much less power than reaching 75db at say low bass frequencies in the 20hz region.

Power is a very long and complicated topic. As a beginner, all you need to know is that you shouldn't get caught up with all the hype around power. It's easy to get loss in it because humans always relate to bigger numbers = better.

Hmm I'm learning not to think that way in the audio world... I also just learned that AVR shows volume from -80 to 0 instead of starting from 0 and up... Anyway all I concern with power is the potential of damaging (is it called clipping?) the system unknowingly after spending RM6k 

My opinion is always try and get a sub (well multi subs actually) to couple them with the bookshelves. Let the sub handle the bass and let the bookshelves handle the mids and upper frequencies.

Haven't budgeted for a sub so far... AVR RM3.5k, speakers RM2k, cables RM300 ady RM6k, what a scary amount for a beginner setup 
I see the cheaper subs are around RM1.5k, are those good enough for newbie? Since they only make the vibration and "boom", not other sounds


I've never liked to use the audiophile terms of describing sound. To me, it sounds very stupid. "Warm" for example is such a vague term because bass is from 0hz to 300hz. Which part of it is warm lol? It's more straight forward to describe the issue in the round number octaves of frequency range, rather than blanket it with a single term.

I see, it really make sense

The frequency range of a bookshelf is often much more limited than their tower counterpart, so you'd run into physics limitation before you run out of power anyways. That's why I said there's not much more that needs to be said about them in regards to power.

Tower speakers are more efficient than bookshelves because often times, they have MORE drivers than a bookshelf. Let's take the Diamond series as an example again. The Diamond 12.2 is a bookshelf, 2 ways. The Diamond 12.4 is a tower, 3 ways. Because the 12.4 doesn't need to have just ONE single woofer doing all the work from 35hz to 1khz, that eases out the load between 2 woofers instead. The 12.4 also has much larger cabinet to move air and thus it's easier to reproduce higher volumes. That is the reason why it is more efficient than a bookshelf.

I'll have to emphasize again, the bass region is what eats up power the most. Very, very few speakers can do full range 20hz-20khz. That's why individual subs are essential. Earlier you mention you're afraid that your receiver may longer cope with multiple amount of speakers when you move up the multi channel chain. That could be an issue yes. But active subs will take care of that, it will ease your receiver from having to deal with the bass region (which again is where the majority of the power goes to).
So you see, subs aren't just for the boom-boom factor, not at all. Subs are the FOUNDATION of your system. If you have good bass, you are already more than half way there to good music.

You don't have to buy everything at once if budget is an issue. This is a journey, not a buy once and forget it hobby. So it's fine to have your AVR, pair of bookshelfs, and some cables to start off with. What the others and I have been telling here is just knowledge. But you need to experience everything yourself first in order to move further, otherwise it's always just a guessing game.

your pattern might similar to mine.
aim speaker that remain 4khz (more high is even better) and drop 8khz slightly

i think SSJBen had reply most of your question d.
for nominal impedance you do not have to worry too much about it as most of the modern AVR does support 4 ohm to 8 ohm. You will be fine with it. Sensitivity like i said is just a reference value like the car fuel consumption. For reference but dont 100% trust it. Its not the end of the world if you are getting a 85db sensitivity speakers.

Can I say if I'm doing a 2.0 (2 channel driven setup), and I pair the Denon AVR-S960H which can do 90 W at 8 Ohms with the Wharfedale Diamond 12.2 which has nominal impedance of 8 Ohms and recommended power of 20~120W.. i would say it will be totally fine.. even you are driving it with 200W amp you will be fine also.. Unless you are cranking at 90% and above of the vol all the time..

I see, so as long as i be careful with the volume any combination will be fine.. thank you~

If in the future I expand the setup to 2.1, 5.1 or 5.1.2, there will be even less power since the power is now shared among more speakers, will it cause under power issue? Yes. the common problem with entry level AVR. When you connect more speaker you feel the vol drop. You need to play louder. Thats why its recommended either:
1) buy a cheap avr and connect 2.1 for starting and upgrade it when you are changing into 5.1.2 or 7.1.2 or 7.1.4
2) invest on the best avr you can afford, you can start with X3600h/X3700h. The reason i recommend this is due to its preout function that would allow you to add external amplification in case you need it in future. Any model lower than that doesnt gives preout function. Another thing is about is MultEQ XT32 with gives better sound enhancement over its lower end siblings.

Hmm i checked the price... RM6k for AVR alone, mayb upgrade next time...   

Also, if the 2 polar of the speaker cable connectors touch, it'll short circuit the AVR/speaker? I just found it out holy cow   
connector normally dont touch but your bare wire will touch and short circuit.. some AVR got the self prevention mechanism what will shutdown if it detect short circuit. use banana plug to prevent this.. i also have similar issue when i started my HT journey.. imagine so many speakers wire connecting to AVR and being placed so close to each other..

avg cable how much nowdays.
10 per meter ?

All my cables in HT room using wireworld SCP 14awg cable now a days. RM15 per meter.

Only the LCR I'm using own DIY with Canare 4s11 for bi-amping.

fyi movie audio is more complex than music audio.

u see dolby & dts put so much audio research.
outdoor records live scene + atmos ceiling effect etc very complex
many cpu (out of human ability) need to calculate.

music got who? nobody want to do research
mostly indoor record silent studio. 1 instrument 1 track only