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Considering going 5.1 to 2.0

M

MrHood22

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
4,312
I currently have the Onkyo HT-S3400 home theater system. I got it about 3 years ago and it has been well worth $250. I use this as the audio system for my main TV (music, movies, games).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882120182

In the past I had a Creative (P7800?) 7.1 system for my computer system. About a year ago I sold it for the Klipsche Promedia 2.1 and find that I don't really miss the extra 5 speakers. Mostly because I had a new apartment every year for about 5 years so I usually wasn't able to place them in a way to give me a nice surround sound. On top of that, it usually wasn't true surround sound, just the same sound coming from all directions. I also love that I don't feel like I'm living in a web of wires.

Now back to my Onkyo setup. I'm closing on my first house at the end of the month and I'm trying to figure out if I want to stay with my 5.1 setup. A concern I have is my 2 rear speakers will be pointing at a shared wall for a neighbor. I feel like if speakers are pointed away from the wall it will at least take the edge off of the sound that gets through the wall. I also don't know if I want to have wires run all through my living room and a big subwoofer sitting in a corner. On top of that my Subwoofer is at -11 (-12 to +12) just because it seems to penetrate the walls so much. At -11 it still has some bump to it so it's not like it's just gathering dust.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should just get 2 bookshelf speakers and call it a day. I set up my current 5.1's to only play out of the front 3 speakers and I do notice that I miss the sound behind me but that's just something I need to decide if I can live without. I don't want to spend big money on this so I'm looking to keep it under $100. My receiver puts out 120w to my front speakers so I'm assuming I'll want to keep my new speakers above ~110w. I picked out these 2 pairs of speakers.

Pioneer SP-BS41 - $90 (newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882117406

SONY SS-B1000 - $60 (Amazon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1J718W4490

If I decide to go 2.1 I will need to decide between using my front left/right speakers w/ the sub or just replacing all of them with either the Sony or Pioneer pair. So I'm wondering if there is a big difference in audio quality comparing the 3 sets (Sony, Pioneer, Onkyo fronts)

Below is the Onkyo manual that lists the specifications for the speakers and receiver (page 2). My question is, will I notice any difference in quality if I pick between one of the non-5.1 setups? What would you guys do in my situation?

http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/product_info/pdf/ht-s3400_ex_leaflet.pdf
 
For moves IMO a center speaker can do wonders, depending what you watch for movies. I would personally have 2 front speakers and a sub, then add a center, and then the rears (in that order).

Speech comes from the center speaker, and it normally adds a lot to have the speech coming from the same place as the picture is coming from, rather than the whole front side of the room. IMO at least.

I would always say a quality pair of stereo speakers are better than any small home theatre system that has a lot smaller speakers for music also, so it is win win on that front too.

The wattage rating is quite meaningless in the big scheme of things, I would guess you would damage your amp from low impedience speakers before you blew your speakers by putting too much power through them.

Either the Sony or the Pioneer speakers will be fine, but you could do a lot worse than keep your onkyo system as it is, minus the 2 rear speakers.

You seem to really like the Onkyo system (you said it has been WELL WORTH its price). You could always run without the sub either.

Sorry to not be super helpful, but you would probably be better to save up some more money and do the whole thing right, rather than compromising, it sounds like what you have now is actually pretty good :)
 
Don't buy anything. It doesn't make sense for you to buy something now - especially if most of your content is 5.1 encoded movies.

The rear speakers won't be too loud anyway - so don't worry about those. I'd put the subwoofer right next to the seats and vibration damping pads under the feet to reduce vibrations.
 
I run speakers in 3.1 these days, in part because my 10 year old AVR is dying and doesn't handle 5.1 channel output properly. Don't miss the rear channels much for what I do, but the center comes in handy. I'd most certainly keep the woofer, unless you're buying full tower L/R fronts cabinets. Bookshelves (even larger sized ones) just do not have much low end at all.

Maybe I don't watch most recent movies, but most I watch have a 2.0 or 2.1 track still.
 
After some shopping I think it's best just to stay where I'm at. Basically, I want speakers in 3 parts of the house.

Living room for movies/Xbox (Onkyo set)
Office for PC (Klipsche Promedia 2.1)
Bedroom for movies

So I decided to either...

1) Buy the Sony or Pioneer speakers. Put them in the living room. Move the 5.1 Onkyo set (minus the receiver) up to my bedroom. Buy basic 5.1 receiver for Onkyo.


2) Just move the entire Onkyo set to the bedroom, buy the Sony or Pioneer, and then buy a new AV receiver with all the outputs I use (HDMI x 3, Digital audio x 2) for ~$150.


Well I keep running in to little issues when shopping for a receiver. My 3 points of interest are AV capabilities (HDMI, digital audio, etc), speaker configuration (2.1, 5.1, etc), amplified sub out. It looks like I can only find 2 of the 3 together and that's after I extend my budget by ~$70.

What I was looking for out of this thread is to see if there would be a major difference between the audio quality between the 3 different speakers. This doesn't seem like the case so I'm just going to hang on to my Onkyo. I still hate the idea of having speakers hanging from the wall/ceiling everywhere I look but I'm going to look in to ways to make them blend in.
 
MrHood22 said:
After some shopping I think it's best just to stay where I'm at. Basically, I want speakers in 3 parts of the house.

Living room for movies/Xbox (Onkyo set)
Office for PC (Klipsche Promedia 2.1)
Bedroom for movies

So I decided to either...

1) Buy the Sony or Pioneer speakers. Put them in the living room. Move the 5.1 Onkyo set (minus the receiver) up to my bedroom. Buy basic 5.1 receiver for Onkyo.


2) Just move the entire Onkyo set to the bedroom, buy the Sony or Pioneer, and then buy a new AV receiver with all the outputs I use (HDMI x 3, Digital audio x 2) for ~$150.


Well I keep running in to little issues when shopping for a receiver. My 3 points of interest are AV capabilities (HDMI, digital audio, etc), speaker configuration (2.1, 5.1, etc), amplified sub out. It looks like I can only find 2 of the 3 together and that's after I extend my budget by ~$70.

What I was looking for out of this thread is to see if there would be a major difference between the audio quality between the 3 different speakers. This doesn't seem like the case so I'm just going to hang on to my Onkyo. I still hate the idea of having speakers hanging from the wall/ceiling everywhere I look but I'm going to look in to ways to make them blend in.
Click to expand...

Your feature quandary is solely the result of needing an amp'd sub-out. Virtually no AVRs are sold with amp'd sub outputs, apart from those sold as part of a home-theater-in-a-box setup. All the AVRs sold by themselves use a pre-out.

As far as the difference between cabinets...it is something we cannot reaqlly armchair tell you over the internet. It is a matter of the acoustics of your space, your tastes, your ears, and what you're listening to.
 
Skripka said:
Your feature quandary is solely the result of needing an amp'd sub-out. Virtually no AVRs are sold with amp'd sub outputs, apart from those sold as part of a home-theater-in-a-box setup. All the AVRs sold by themselves use a pre-out.

As far as the difference between cabinets...it is something we cannot reaqlly armchair tell you over the internet. It is a matter of the acoustics of your space, your tastes, your ears, and what you're listening to.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. So it sounds like if I want to move my 5.1 to my bedroom (minus the receiver) I might as well just ditch the sub.

I think what I'll do is feel it out once I move in. Since I'm mounting everything on the white ceiling (hanging) it shouldn't be too hard to cover up with spackle if I take it down. What I'll need to decide is if the surround sound is worth the wiring. I have considered running them up the wall and then just running the wires on the ceiling. Then I can spackle over the wires and all I'll really see is the group of wires run up the wall. At least now I know when I want to put a system in my room I'll be better off just buying a complete set instead of trying to replace pieces in my Onkyo. Thanks guys!
 
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