I'm finally moving out of my car stereo phase and getting into home audio. I'm looking to put together my first system. I have a question for all the home theater owners that have the 5.1 or similar set-up, are most surround sound set-ups versatile enough that they still sound good when your hosting a party and want to play music? Thats what I'm looking for I guess, I want the best of both worlds. I have a decent reciever already and I'm trying to decide if I should buy some home theather in a box package like you see at best buy or do I need to buy some nice bookshelf speakers (polk price range) and piece together a system to get the versatility I'm looking for. So any help on how I can achieve my best of both worlds fantasy would be appreciated. Thanks for the help -Mike
Mine sounds pretty good on Cd tracks but remember 5.1 usually applies to DVD films encoded with that sound specification. Very few CD's have audio tracks over and above stereo, so that's all you will get but through more speakers than usual. Also a home theatre set-up involves setting the sweet-spot based upon your viewing position relative to the televsion, (so will sound best when you are satdown on the sofa in front of the telly) I have pondered getting rid of my cd music system for a while now since I can even get digital radio through freeview now but I have to admit, the home cinema surround system does its thing well when I watch DVD's but can't really compete with the music system for listening to CD's (especially since it has a multichanger for party ocassions)Mind you, how many party's a year do I have?? mmmmmm think time.
You won't be happy with a home theatre in a box unless you spend a lot or are easily satisfied. The lower end units <$500 all have cheapish computer sized speakers, and sound about the same. It's all in what your budget is, stereo equipment can be cheaper than 5.1, but if you want a 5.1 rig that will sound good in stereo (listening to a stereo recording in surround generally sounds poor), you'll have to pay more also. If your on a strict budget, I'd go for a stereo amplifier from a decent name(Yamaha, Denon, Rotel etc) with a nice pair of bookshelves and a seperate DVD player. This will sound BETTER than a cheap 5.1 system from a box. If 5.1 is what you really want, buy a 5.1 receiver, a pair of speakers, and play it in stereo until you can afford more speakers. Don't cheap out on your speakers or on your wire & inter-connects. You don't need to break the bank w/ speaker wire & inter-connects, but don't use the freebies either.
