surround sound

[tbrackman84]

hey guys i'm looking into buying either a soundbar or some kind of surround sound set up for my parents for christmas. I don't really know how how good soundbars are, they seem pretty sweet but i never heard one. Any info on these or other surround sounds would be awesome.

[buck440]

if they have a modern plasma/led/lcd tv you should look for somthing that has HDMI in/outputs. the lower end systems have the aux cables jacks...red, yellow and white cables which don't sound as good as HDMI. if they have the older "tube" tv then it wouldn't matter since they only use aux cables.

i've had about 10 surround systems for gaming over the years and around the $200 range the quality of sound is about as good as ones that cost $500. most of the expensive ones just have more features that most people just dont need. i would stay away from cheaper ones, around $100 because they just don't seem to last that long and speaker adjustments isn't that good and the speakers just sound not so good.

[slightlybent47]

I’ve had several Dolby systems and sorry to say I think I prefer just a good stereo set up over the surround sound.
I’ve had 5.1 systems and 7.1 systems and I just never liked ether one of them.
I have a 7.1 creative system on my computer and I just don’t use it that much.
I’m not a gamer so it’s all just a bit over kill if you ask me.
I have the TV patched through a good stereo and that’s all I need.


Anyone remember the old Sansui quadraphonic systems of the 70’s?

[YFZ-FoFiddy-TC]

Onkyo has some good setups and they're priced fairly well. I personally have a Pioneer Elite receiver with Klipsch reference series 7.1 setup, but I paid a few pretty pennies too.

[honda400ex2003]

bose or something is the caddy of surround but for 200 you can get a nice system.

you can find some nice ones on sale this time of year. imo sony, pioneer, and philips would be my start of looking at setups. listen to them and see what you think with different things if you can.

just my .02 though,
steve

[finsteratv]

Pioneer,Sony, and Bose is what my dad has had set up at our house..cant really tell you much about em because he set em up and everything haha. They did all sound good while rocking out though!

[tbrackman84]

thanks guys yeah i'll have to look into them, I want to get something with minimal wires since they will be getting put up after the room is already repainted and finished, thats why I was considering a soundbar, but maybe i'll get a 2.1 setup or something

[slightlybent47]

The wires are another thing I don’t like about them. I wonder if you can get a 3.1 where you have a left, right, and center with a sub?

[Aarons 01 400EX]

I have 2 Onkyo systems in my house. One(5.1) is for the main tv in the family room and the other(7.1) is for the man cave. I paid roughly $500 each a few years apart and they sound great.