Best solution for two rooms /start more or less from scratch
Discussion
We currently have a c 12 year old Panasonic plasma (42inch) in the main lounge with a TVonics recorder and separate Yamaha mini system.
In the second lounge we have a separates hi-fi system (Arcam, NAD, KEF etc).
Now we have finally sorted some sofas for the second lounge, what we are after is… the ‘best’ solution for the two rooms.
The intention is to get a new TV for the main lounge, with the plasma being moved to the second lounge. Currently the TV is located in the corner of the lounge, but we’re not adverse to putting it on the wall (see council thread – but also useful to stop young children touching it). Size wise, we were thinking of 50inch.
We looked at a few TVs at the weekend, and can see that OLED is preferable. However, the £2k asking price for the Panasonic we looked at is probably a bit rich at present, seeing as there’s other bits and pieces we’d like to do and we’re not a big TV family.
However, on the ‘cheaper’ LED we looked at (still c. £1k) the sound was bl**dy awful. We have three young children, and the noises they make with a biscuit tin and a spoon are borderline preferable.
Therefore, I figure we’d need a soundbar. Now, as you can clearly see we live in the 90s in terms of tech. Therefore I was thinking along the lines of a soundbar we can stream music to, to replace the mini system in the main lounge.
If we went for a Bose / Sonos / Denon / Yamaha soundbar, I presume you’re then tied into their architecture if we wanted to put another speaker in the second lounge? Or do some brands mix and match? Is there any preference between using a Bluetooth connection and wireless?
The long and short of it… is there anything I’m missing that we would need / could improve upon? Currently thinking of new TV with soundbar and then separate wireless speaker in the second lounge.
Thanks in advance.
/worstwehavetwoloungesthreadever
In the second lounge we have a separates hi-fi system (Arcam, NAD, KEF etc).
Now we have finally sorted some sofas for the second lounge, what we are after is… the ‘best’ solution for the two rooms.
The intention is to get a new TV for the main lounge, with the plasma being moved to the second lounge. Currently the TV is located in the corner of the lounge, but we’re not adverse to putting it on the wall (see council thread – but also useful to stop young children touching it). Size wise, we were thinking of 50inch.
We looked at a few TVs at the weekend, and can see that OLED is preferable. However, the £2k asking price for the Panasonic we looked at is probably a bit rich at present, seeing as there’s other bits and pieces we’d like to do and we’re not a big TV family.
However, on the ‘cheaper’ LED we looked at (still c. £1k) the sound was bl**dy awful. We have three young children, and the noises they make with a biscuit tin and a spoon are borderline preferable.
Therefore, I figure we’d need a soundbar. Now, as you can clearly see we live in the 90s in terms of tech. Therefore I was thinking along the lines of a soundbar we can stream music to, to replace the mini system in the main lounge.
If we went for a Bose / Sonos / Denon / Yamaha soundbar, I presume you’re then tied into their architecture if we wanted to put another speaker in the second lounge? Or do some brands mix and match? Is there any preference between using a Bluetooth connection and wireless?
The long and short of it… is there anything I’m missing that we would need / could improve upon? Currently thinking of new TV with soundbar and then separate wireless speaker in the second lounge.
Thanks in advance.
/worstwehavetwoloungesthreadever
These are very often on offer at £1500
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs...
All LG OLEDS use the same panel and processing so the base model is the pick of the bunch.
For sounds this is a bargain (was £800 now £300)...
https://www.whathifi.com/arcam/solo-bar/review
Then your bluetooth speaker of choice in the other room.
https://www.whathifi.com/ultimate-ears/wonderboom/...
Wifi/Airplay/Wired is better than bluetooth. Depends how audiophiley you want to get.
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs...
All LG OLEDS use the same panel and processing so the base model is the pick of the bunch.
For sounds this is a bargain (was £800 now £300)...
https://www.whathifi.com/arcam/solo-bar/review
Then your bluetooth speaker of choice in the other room.
https://www.whathifi.com/ultimate-ears/wonderboom/...
Wifi/Airplay/Wired is better than bluetooth. Depends how audiophiley you want to get.
Not sure how much use this is to you, but we're looking to take an old TV, stick it in the lounge, then use another room as a home cinema room where we'll have a new TV, 5.1.2 Atmos setup (eventually) and separate speakers for multi-room.
The system I've settled on is Denon/HEOS. Home cinema room with decent TV and sound setup, with a Denon AVR-X2400H AV Receiver (currently £350) as the core of the system. Then a HEOS 3 HS2 (or a 5) for the lounge, 1 for the kitchen and maybe another 1 for upstairs. They connect via wifi or ethernet, which is good because whilst they're Bluetooth compatible they aren't aptX Bluetooth (which means lower quality.) But as mentioned, wifi/ethernet allows full quality streaming anyway so that's a non issue for me.
That said, I've connected a Dot to my X2400H and actually found for casual playing/background noise it was fine with 'standard,' bluetooth playback.
I've got the AVR and a 2.0 speaker setup and the HEOS app works pretty well. I can't testify to how well the multi-room works as I've not got the other bits yet but I like how well the app is put together. There are some quirks (no Absolute Radio on the built-in TuneIn, and Amazon Music just gives you access to stations/playlists rather than your own music currently (a future feature to be added apparently.) And whilst you shouldn't buy on the basis of what might be coming, there's Alexa integration due in a few months though which I can see being very useful.
It might be overkill for what you want mind. And I'm far from an expert on this subject; three weeks ago I wouldn't have known a subwoofer from a submarine.
The system I've settled on is Denon/HEOS. Home cinema room with decent TV and sound setup, with a Denon AVR-X2400H AV Receiver (currently £350) as the core of the system. Then a HEOS 3 HS2 (or a 5) for the lounge, 1 for the kitchen and maybe another 1 for upstairs. They connect via wifi or ethernet, which is good because whilst they're Bluetooth compatible they aren't aptX Bluetooth (which means lower quality.) But as mentioned, wifi/ethernet allows full quality streaming anyway so that's a non issue for me.
That said, I've connected a Dot to my X2400H and actually found for casual playing/background noise it was fine with 'standard,' bluetooth playback.
I've got the AVR and a 2.0 speaker setup and the HEOS app works pretty well. I can't testify to how well the multi-room works as I've not got the other bits yet but I like how well the app is put together. There are some quirks (no Absolute Radio on the built-in TuneIn, and Amazon Music just gives you access to stations/playlists rather than your own music currently (a future feature to be added apparently.) And whilst you shouldn't buy on the basis of what might be coming, there's Alexa integration due in a few months though which I can see being very useful.
It might be overkill for what you want mind. And I'm far from an expert on this subject; three weeks ago I wouldn't have known a subwoofer from a submarine.
Edited by tenohfive on Thursday 22 February 10:38
Actually, that's all very useful.
I like the look of the Denon stuff, and in my head a spend of about 2k for the lot is reasonable, tv included.
If we can pick up an oled for 1500 then I think we'll go for that, otherwise we may get a tv for c700 in the knowledge it'll replace the plasma downstairs in a couple of years, and then get an oled for the main room at that point.
Seeing as we essentially have nothing, all you want to do is make the right (or at least not the wrong) choice!
I did come across a Dali sound bar though... Not sure it scores many wife points, but it would be lovely to have... At £900, it should be.
I like the look of the Denon stuff, and in my head a spend of about 2k for the lot is reasonable, tv included.
If we can pick up an oled for 1500 then I think we'll go for that, otherwise we may get a tv for c700 in the knowledge it'll replace the plasma downstairs in a couple of years, and then get an oled for the main room at that point.
Seeing as we essentially have nothing, all you want to do is make the right (or at least not the wrong) choice!
I did come across a Dali sound bar though... Not sure it scores many wife points, but it would be lovely to have... At £900, it should be.
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