what is everyone using for speakers, audio Output?

[TheLion]

recently I bought a bose acoustic wave radio and piped my tv sound to the auxiliary input. I thought it was much better than the tinny sounding speakers in my led Samsung tv. So far it sounds great and I'm pretty happy with it, but since business is good right now I think id like to move up to something even better. Yes I have money burning a hole in my pocket, lol.

So I went to local best buy yesterday and started looking around at other sound options.

I found these tv sound bars that look pretty cool, and then I found bose computer speakers that look cool also as well as portable Bluetooth speakers made by bose. By the end of the day, after visiting best buy and the bose site, my head started spinning with all the great sound possibilities. I really like bose now and would like to go to one of their speaker options, some are rather costly. Just wanted to ask here to get some other ideas and see what everyone else is doing for sound.

 

[Dunkle]

Please dont think me rude or offensive and im not trying to be one of those internet snobs but BOSE = better sound through marketing

There are so many better (and cheaper) alternatives out there but because BOSE spend all that money on fancy adverts and slogans people presume BOSE = as good as it gets

Another thing to consider is Virtual surround will never be the same / as good as proper full on surround (granted some systems are mighty impressive and ideal for where you cant use rear speakers etc)

Firstly, what is your budget, no point people suggesting 1000s of pounds / dollars worth of gear if you are limited to a couple of 100

Over the years I have had some great sound systems, I have been lucky to have owned a flagship (at the time) Denon and a Flagship Onkyo amp. Also been fortunate to own proper floorstanding speakers and a cylindrical sub that was almost as tall as me. However moving to my own home which is not as well built as where previous lived (not to mention not as big) I have had to make sacrifices

I now own a fairly modest Yamaha amp and a Kef 3000 speaker package (where I have replaced the stock sub with a Rel one I had from previous) - it sounds great, Ok, it does not sound as great as my floorstanders, but its good enough for my current needs

I see you are based in the US, here in the UK we have a company called Richer Sound - they do a huge range of systems for all budget types

http://www.richersounds.com/products/system-savers/home-cinema-systems

Im sure there will be an equivalent near you

Get the best you can afford

Onkyo / Denon / Yamaha = cant go far wrong

KEF / B&W / TANNOY / Q ACCOUSTICS = again be good for speakers

one thing to remember though is once purchased and installed make sure you calibrate it, most systems these days have some very clever and really good auto install / calibrate systems that work using a microphone, but make sure you double check results (its still common that the systems state speakers to be proper FULL range when they are not)

Oh and as tempted as you may be, dont turn up the volume of the sub, the sub should support the soundtrack, not dominate it

 

[TheLion]

well actually I have had many an expensive and elaborate system in my lifetime. I just handed down my receiver and giant 15 inch 3 way speakers that shook the house down, to my daughter. I am now on a "simple" kick. I want 1 piece to do the work. I only need and want 2 channels. I like compact small, one piece design. I like the idea of this bose solo thing. However as I continue on my path of trying to improve from a simple wave radio I am finding that bose has a bad reputation by the real audio heads on the net. I'd be happy with any portable bluetooth speaker, or one piece design, I would even go as far as a soundbar with a separate sub woofer box, but no more than two pieces including amplification. I'm tired of clutter and the last thing I want is 7 speakers and wires all over the place. My budget would be up to $400 even $500. The simpler the better but still with quality sound.

 

[Dunkle]

Not sure what current exchange rates are but you could get a good soundbar for that budget
Some lovely ones out there. As much as I would always, always suggest go for sound quality first, with a sound bar you do at least want something that matches your display

Also make sure you have one with decent inputs

http://www.trustedreviews.com/best-soundbars_round-up

I always find trusted reviews to be fairly spot on

I'd probably go for the b&w as always liked their products

 

[stammie]

If you go for a sound bar solution I would suggest you stay away from Samsung ones,
a couple of friends of mine have bloody expensive top of the range ones and you can't even adjust bass and treble on them let alone have any graphic equaliser settings. I'm far from an audiophile but these things sound absolutely awful to my ears,
in fact just disconnecting my sub from my amp and connecting it to the sub input on my tv gives a far better sound than these things.
For the money you want to spend I think you'll need to do a fair bit of research to get something you wont be disappointed with, sorry I'm not being very positive but I felt the need to steer you away from some expensive but poor pieces of kit.

 

[Dunkle]

Having worked out the exchange rate have a look at

http://www.trustedreviews.com/denon-dht-t100_Surround-Sound-System_review
http://www.trustedreviews.com/maxell-mxsp-sb3000_Surround-Sound-System_review
http://www.trustedreviews.com/cambridge-audio-minx-tv_Surround-Sound-System_review

 

[TheLion]

Yes yes yes all three of those look like great candidates for what I'm looking for. The maxell integrates the sub woofer into it, that's right up my alley. Now I can search out these models and zero in on the best deal. Thanks! A lot if good info here.

But I will admit the bose wave radio does sound great at least for now, its not too over powering if you know what I mean. I don't want the wife yelling at me turn the darn tv down lol. Its like a restrictor plate on a motorcycle lol.

 

[Dunkle]

Im not sure if the model numbers etc will be same in US, although Im guessing not far off

 

[Dravokivich]

I've an LG-BH7430 Blu Ray player, with 5.1 surround sounds. It's alright for the price. Has 2 HDMI inputs, so I route my HPTC/Media Server through one of'em. I've my TV plugged into it through the Optical input. So when I watch an old video on the VHS I can still get the sound around the room.

Just using an early generation Walker 32inch HD TV. Although it was before weight watchers got involved with tv manufacturing, so speakers weren't sacrificed at the time. Nice to have a room full of sound though. Never saw the appeal in the sound bars.

 

[gamblort]

For something a bit alternative you should check out the JukeCase by Son Valise. A portable bluetooth suitcase speaker with up to 40 hours playtime at 50W (rechargeable battery) and awesome sound quality including deep bass. They look awesome are pretty lightweight (5-10kg)

Read about it here: JukeCase suitcase speaker

 

[TheLion]

Thanks for the tip, but I already found something that pleases me. I ended up buying a bose soundtouch 30, the biggest of their three in the soundtouch series. Its superb in every way. Well worth the six hundred clams.

I'm sure these suitcases sound great but I don't know if id want to look at one on top of my furniture just under my tv. Looks are extremely important to me even though its function is for sound.

I went through a thousand dollars worth of speakers before I bought this bose system. I kept buying and trying then selling. It took over a month. Many speakers look good on paper but I really had to own them and use them to figure out what actually pleases my ears. Still, I like the sound that bose puts out, I don't care what the audiophiles say about them. Bottom line is I'm happy.

 

[vid]

Thanks for the tip, but I already found something that pleases me. I ended up buying a bose soundtouch 30, the biggest of their three in the soundtouch series. Its superb in every way. Well worth the six hundred clams.

I'm sure these suitcases sound great but I don't know if id want to look at one on top of my furniture just under my tv. Looks are extremely important to me even though its function is for sound.

I went through a thousand dollars worth of speakers before I bought this bose system. I kept buying and trying then selling. It took over a month. Many speakers look good on paper but I really had to own them and use them to figure out what actually pleases my ears. Still, I like the sound that bose puts out, I don't care what the audiophiles say about them. Bottom line is I'm happy.

In my experience Bose speakers, are excellent on design, but poor on quality of sound, for the money. I have 7.1 missions about 20 years old with my amp set to THX. I just tested out my Blu ray player in my HTPC with Blu ray disc Twister. The sound and visual effects were outstanding.

 

[tomtomclub]

Yamaha Dolby 5.1