Sound options for Home Cinema/TV/Console

[Smokey32]

Hello all. Iam struggling to decide, what to do sound wise in my living room. I recently bought my first house, and the living room is almost complete, the last thing to sort is sound. I do not want to stick with the TV's speakers for obvious reasons.

The room isn't huge, and the house is a semi, so as much as id like a 3k sound system, I don't see the point. I've been looking at soundbars, and samsungs line of them look very good indeed, I just have 1 main gripe. The TV is a 49" Sony Bravia XE83 something or other, lol. Now it has 4 HDMI ports, 2 of which are 4k compatible, and I have 2 4k devices, a PS4 Pro is coming from Santa soon and I bought a Panasonic UMP900 4K blu ray player on Monday. Now ive been reading about how you connect these sound bars up, and you can use HDMI ARC. I have one of those, but its port 3 which will be in use with either the Blu ray player or the PS4. Would I be losing anything using a old fashioned optical cable?

I could go for a proper AV receiver and speakers, although iam not 100% how they work and connect up with my kit and don't really fancy spending what that would cost, and think it would be overkill, and don't really have the space for the AV, the sound bar would fit nicely with a sub........

Thanks for reading......

[MissChief]

Smokey32 said:

Hello all. Iam struggling to decide, what to do sound wise in my living room. I recently bought my first house, and the living room is almost complete, the last thing to sort is sound. I do not want to stick with the TV's speakers for obvious reasons.

The room isn't huge, and the house is a semi, so as much as id like a 3k sound system, I don't see the point. I've been looking at soundbars, and samsungs line of them look very good indeed, I just have 1 main gripe. The TV is a 49" Sony Bravia XE83 something or other, lol. Now it has 4 HDMI ports, 2 of which are 4k compatible, and I have 2 4k devices, a PS4 Pro is coming from Santa soon and I bought a Panasonic UMP900 4K blu ray player on Monday. Now ive been reading about how you connect these sound bars up, and you can use HDMI ARC. I have one of those, but its port 3 which will be in use with either the Blu ray player or the PS4. Would I be losing anything using a old fashioned optical cable?

I could go for a proper AV receiver and speakers, although iam not 100% how they work and connect up with my kit and don't really fancy spending what that would cost, and think it would be overkill, and don't really have the space for the AV, the sound bar would fit nicely with a sub........

Thanks for reading......

Optical will only give you Dolby Digital rather than any of the lossless formats, but you'd have to think about how good, and wide the sound stage will be with a soundbar. A good one will absolutely give better sound than the TV speakers, but it's never going to give more than stereo unless you spend a good bit of money. At which point a proper surround sound setup becomes more plausible.

Edited to add, you don't need to spend a fortune either. Something like this https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-c... will likely outperform any similar soundbar. It's UHD/4K Compatible so you can pass your PS4/Blu-Ray through it, although it would mean having the amp on any time you watch a movie or play PS4.

Edited by MissChief on Thursday 30th November 19:44

[Smokey32]

Hey thanks for the reply. You have my attention, that looks very affordable, didn't realise you could get the lot for 500quid.

So let me get this straight if I may, the AV receiver, controls all the sound for everything? So you plug your TV, PS4 and 4k Blu ray into it and it does the rest? Thinking about it I could probably wire most of it easily, and mount the speakers on the walls that would be quite cool. Can you just use generic stands for those speakers if I didn't want them wall mounted?

I plan on keeping this system for a long time, so could maybe up the budget if the quality jumps up.

[MissChief]

Smokey32 said:

Hey thanks for the reply. You have my attention, that looks very affordable, didn't realise you could get the lot for 500quid.

So let me get this straight if I may, the AV receiver, controls all the sound for everything? So you plug your TV, PS4 and 4k Blu ray into it and it does the rest? Thinking about it I could probably wire most of it easily, and mount the speakers on the walls that would be quite cool. Can you just use generic stands for those speakers if I didn't want them wall mounted?

I plan on keeping this system for a long time, so could maybe up the budget if the quality jumps up.

Yes the AV Receiver receives all the video and sound from your UHD BR and the PS4 Pro, sends the sound to the correct speakers and the video up to the TV. It also sends the sound too of course but your TV speakers will be set to zero. I couldn't see from the spec sheet but I'd imagine most Receivers support ARC so your TV sound from Freeview would likely be able to go through the receiver too.

if you're looking to keep it for a while it may be worth spending a bit more on the speakers. There's loads of bundle deals here: https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-c... or you can look at individual speakers and receivers yourself.

[JonChalk]

So, you could go even simpler in a small room; something like
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/sound-bars/ht-x... (other sound bases available)

I have one of these plonked under my 55 TV, and whilst I'm sure the audiophiles on here will be turning their noses up, here's some things to consider:

1. It's loud,
2. It has real shelf-rattling (adjustable) sub-woofer,
3. Music quality is awesome,
4. No cables
5. Excellent for both films and games
6. Optical and HDMi inputs, USB for music, Wifi network (so music from my NAS and Sonos), bluetooth...........

Cons - it's bit of an arse to navigate stupid end system & not clear what all the options mean, but the good ol' internet helps with this.

I've had 5.1 & 7.1 systems and just got plain fed up with cables everywhere and constant adjusting and tinkering (which some people like, as I used to).

Edited by JonChalk on Thursday 30th November 20:30

[Smokey32]

Wouldn't say the room was small, more like an average size living room.

I remember looking at AV recievers a few weeks ago and came across the Sony 1080, this looks a nice bundle https://www.richersounds.com/sony-strdn1080-black-... but dunno if its worth it from the original one that was quoted by chief that was half the price......Would be nice to have high end sound, ive never had it before.

I do have a perfect spot for the Sub, and could stick the AV on the tv unit. Hmmmmm....Might pop down to one of there shops theres 2 not too far from me.

[MissChief]

Smokey32 said:

Wouldn't say the room was small, more like an average size living room.

I remember looking at AV recievers a few weeks ago and came across the Sony 1080, this looks a nice bundle https://www.richersounds.com/sony-strdn1080-black-... but dunno if its worth it from the original one that was quoted by chief that was half the price......Would be nice to have high end sound, ive never had it before.

I do have a perfect spot for the Sub, and could stick the AV on the tv unit. Hmmmmm....Might pop down to one of there shops theres 2 not too far from me.

This seems useful: The HDMI sockets allow 4K pass-through, for hassle free switching and viewing without the receiver needing to be turned on. So you could pass through from the PS4 or UHD BR player or sky/freeview box without needing the amp switched on. If you're just watching Corrie or catching up on GBBO then you won't need to turn the amp on.

[Smokey32]

Ok kind off decided on the speakers, those Audio Monitior mass 5.1 are supposed to be great for the money and they look nice and aren't too massive. Just deciding on the AV receiver. Mainly between the Denon AVR-X2400H and the Sony 1080.

[Smokey32]

Although 1 problem with the Audio monitor mass 5.1 speakers is the sub is massive.....I have seen the speakers for 350quid without a sub, am I ok to purchase another sub? ideally a more rectangle shape one as it will fit in a good place then in the room.

[Smokey32]

Ended up getting a Denon AVR 2400H receiver with Monitor Audio Mass speakers, with a q acoustics 7060s sub to fit. Very happy, thanks for the push lol.