Home Theater people - new receiver and sub?

[CobraBob]

Yeah, that's why I said it wasn't something I'd do. It's nice to save some money, but if the risk is an imperfect re-fresh/re-manufacture, paying more for a new receiver is worth it.

Jerry, you mentioned that you weren't looking forward to the setup. Did you mean calibrating the speakers? Other?

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Yeah, that's why I said it wasn't something I'd do. It's nice to save some money, but if the risk is an imperfect re-fresh/re-manufacture, paying more for a new receiver is worth it.

Jerry, you mentioned that you weren't looking forward to the setup. Did you mean calibrating the speakers? Other?

Just the inconvenience of swapping the units out with all the wiring/connections. My entertainment stand has a back on it so Ive gotta pull everything through and swap it around. Im not terribly sure how/if the wifi antennas will clear as currently configured but Im going to run a cable anyway.

Once I read the manual and understand what everything is I'm sure I'll end up reconfiguring my inputs and us the receiver to pass everything through to the TV vs my current setup of almost everything to the TV being passed to the receiver via optical. I may also end up reconfiguring my power conditioner/battery backup situation (or buy a new all in one unit). Then I'll have to re-program my Harmony remote (not a big deal but still).

I'll be lazy on the calibration and let their microphone do the work. Once I replace the sub and maaaaaybe the other speakers I'll try to really dial it in.

Im sure it could be done as quick as like 30 minutes but I'll end up making it an OCD half day event.

 

[bigmoose]

Look into Atmos or DSX. This is the next evolution of surround sound. Traditional 5.1 is just a 2D sound stage. Atmos adds either ceiling speakers or upward firing speakers to create a 3D soundstage. This setup uses a nomenclature like 5.2.1 (2 height speakers). This gives the wow factor. Most new content on steaming services support this.


The Yamaha 685 supports these formats. If you can't add ceiling speakers an easy method is getting a pair of upward firing speakers that sit on your front towers, something like the Sony SSCSE speaker pair ($160).