I had my projector around 15 years ago. It was an ‘In Focus’ one. Cost around £1K so pretty basic. The picture quality on my Sony 4K TV that we now have is far superior, but being 4K probably that’s not a very fair comparison.
No idea how current projectors compare but yes I can well imagine that they would struggle to match a good TV, unless high-end perhaps. Also obviously a TV is far less hassle. It’s just that a projector, apart from obviously having the potential to throw a far bigger image, seems to have that ‘cinematic’ quality that I don’t think TV’s can quite match. Nothing to do with actual picture quality, more the ‘look’ of the image. Just more like the cinema. My old projector gave an experience which is the closest I’ve ever come to being at a real cinema.
Anyway, all irrelevant as I’ll never own a projector again - cost, inconvenience, just too much hassle!
I run a 2 channel setup in the main lounge using a Uniti Atom + Focal 300 Series in wall speakers. No regrets going that route and have run multiple multichannel setups in the past.
I suppose it fundamentally depends on the recording - what and how. With music I’ve heard in both I’ve preferred 2 channel for most, though surround for live concert recordings where the live venue ambience is significant (and sound quality has been poorer in the first place).
There is also a matter of the quality of the various system components - e.g. up to the point of near limitless resources, for any particular gross spend, a two channel system can have much better components than any variety of surround sound, so in most cases the comparison would be higher quality 2-channel vs lower quality multi. My own listening with music used the same hifi system for both, with the side and rear channels of significantly lesser quality.
That is along the same lines as what I would need to do if I went ahead. I wouldn’t bother with a centre speaker or a sub. I couldn’t afford a centre to match the quality of the Klipsch’s (my 2 channel system) and the Klipsch’s go so low that although a dedicated sub would be better I don’t think it would be essential. Could always add later anyway.
The main issue is the AV amp. The new Sony at £1K looks tempting and has an excellent review by What Hi-Fi. This would be my choice as I have a Sony TV and Blu ray player and it all integrates seamlessly. That would also be my financial limit.
So I would really only be buying the Sony receiver and a pair of rear speakers. Probably wouldn’t want to spend more than around £200 - £300 on them! Something like Chord Leyline or Sarsen speaker cable for them. Just hung on the wall with brackets.
A bit of a rock-bottom and half-baked set up and vasty inferior to my 2 channel system with which it would obviously be integrated.
So I’m inclined to think is it worth bothering - probably not.
Also the source and the speakers you add to the home cinema setup make a huge difference, the center channel is a very important speaker to consider in an home cinema setup.
I have a denon avc-x8500ha on a 7.1.6 config and using focal flax speakers the projector is an epson tw9400 a great projector not very expensive. My brother has the same amp in a 9.2.4 config, monitor audio silver and gold speakers with a JVC laser projector and his setup is miles away from mine in sound and image quality.
These top of the line denon amps can sound really amazing even for audio, the entry line ones are ok.
I Am not a home cinema addict, but I have to say that some systems that are built with care can offer an amazing and rewarding experience, also can add that projectors have come a long way in quality, I have had one infocus projector in the past, it was good for that time, then some Panasonic ones that were really better, then Sony, then epson projectors, the new laser ones from Sony, JVC and even epson can give an amazing image, but a good TV will always be brighter and work in every light condition, but is very expensive to have a 3 or 4 meter image with a TV and a lot more affordable with a projector.
For movies my inclination would be yes worth it, likewise for any filmed live concerts where the side and rear information adds positively to the feeling of being in the audience. I’m sure better surround kit would improve the experience further, but that doesn’t negate the value of budget gear for such duties compared to 2-channel. (Though as I indicated in last post, for pure music then better with just the stereo. ) Although my main speakers are full range, I use a sub with movies for the extra bottom end boost possible on effects, beneficial with some types of film. This post [link] details my very basic surround system. For reference, source is not the projector, but the streaming or DVD source plugged into the amp.
I’ve been using a Klipsch soundbar for about 5 years now and it’s been quite good. The dialog setting works well and it’s excellent for music. My friends have other ones and they are not as good. I would like something better soon though, and the unit that I thought would do the trick is the new Bose soundbar.
I’ve really only read the Bose info on it tho, so I of course, have some reseach to do, but possibly it would be an option for you?
My 2-channel rig is a separate item and I couldn’t be bothered with a 5.1 setup, so I’m really only looking for an excellent sounding soundbar for the 65" Samsung telly.
Sennheiser also makes a soundbar and I wonder how it sounds. Hmmm …
Anyway, best of luck.
If you want to maximise your enjoyment of watching movies then a 5.1 system (or bigger) is essential and the movie sound tracks have been optimised for 5.1 or bigger, so a centre channel and a sub-woofer are essential otherwise you are not getting the best sound.
Netflix and Amazon stream 5.1 or bigger and it’s on discs (DVD, BluRay, 4K), so plenty of films to enjoy.
If like me you will be limited (by my wife in my case) to only 5.1 in your main lounge/family room and you already have a good stereo system then you do not need a high end AV Amp, just a good one that has Pre-Outs for Front L & R speakers into your stereo amp and the AV Amp just drives the rest of the speakers,
Surround Music is different, I have a huge collection of Music Concert DVD’s and BluRays all with Stereo and 5.1 tracks and I don’t think the venue ambient sounds coming out of the rear speakers adds anything, in fact I think its a distraction, but other people like it, so everybody is different, I much prefer the stereo tracks.
Same for Studio Albums on Pure Audio BluRays and some regular BluRays they have both Stereo and 5.1 tracks and although the 5.1’s sound better to me than “Concert” 5.1’s because its actual music coming out of the rear speakers, I still much prefer the Stereo tracks, again, everybody is different.
My rear speakers are in the ceiling and optimised for movie listening, however, if my rear speakers were high quality to match my fronts, fed by very good speaker cable and positioned in alignment height wise to my listening position, thus optimised for music then my 5.1 music listening experience would probably be much better, but that would be a very expensive 5.1 system and even Pink Floyds Animals 2018 ReMix in 5.1 which is probably the best I’ve heard is not mixed with much centre channel and sub-woofer content, so the 5.1 channel mix makes a huge difference to the ultimate sound quality you get.
Thanks David. If my TV wasn’t between my speakers then I would definitely be looking at soundbars. Although they can’t equal a full surround set-up todays models are really excellent and much simpler and neater than surround. I would also take a look at Bang and Olufsen which has some excellent reviews.
Thanks. Hmmm…I need to give this some careful thought. The only other thing that does put me off is that all the sound for movies would be routed through the AV amp DAC rather than through my Chord Qutest as it is now. So even though I would still be using my Moon amp in HT mode for the front two channels I’m thinking that the sound even here would be vastly compromised. The Qutest DAC does sound really excellent and adds so much impact to movies etc. So although I would get surround, overall I would be compromising the entire performance. How important this will be in practice I really don’t know…
Thanks MoonDrifter. It seems the general consensus is that a high-end AV amp or surround speakers aren’t essential which is very good news! My only other concern is the DAC as I mentioned in my reply to Innocent_Bystander. At presnt it’s a Chord Qutest which really has vastly added to the impact from movies etc. Obviously with an AV amp it would be using the DAC in that for all channels so I would be compromising the sound of the front L and R compared to the Qutest.
Movies for quite some time have had much more sound effects out of rear and side speakers and more so with ATMOS sound tracks with many more speakers, so rears in a 5.1 system are very important.
Surround sound DAC’s in good AV Amps are very good and are obviously optimised for the surround sound so if you buy a good AV Amp I dont think you need to worry too much for movie sound performance.
Maybe go demo a few to see how they now sound/perform to give you more confidence.
HI, looking at your HT set up your AV amp cost around £500. I’m thinking that maybe I don’t need to go as far as the £1K Sony then. Maybe just a £500 Sony or Marantz. I see your DAC is a DAVE (wow!). Have you ever tried routing the sound through this, ie. two channel only? I’m just curious as through my Qutest it sounds really excellent so through your DAVE it must be considerably better. You must notice a huge drop in overall quality using your AV amp instead surely? Or maybe this doesn’t matter as it’s compensated for by the surround experience?
Yes, literally! When I went to audition TT, against my Hugo. While at the dealer’s I succumbed to his suggestion to also hear Dave while I was there. I had no desires that way at all, but It was a real "wow” moment - literally, as my cellist son who had come with me uttered that word just a couple of bars into the first piece, echoing exactly what I was feeling. He had no idea about the kit we were listening to, just that I was comparing different things. (As an aside, knowing my system might have made you look slightly differently on at leats one of my posts in the exchanges we had in another thread over the past few days!)
Unfortunately my AV receiver has no digital outputs to use to feed the two main channels via Dave, so I am stuck doing the way I do unless I change for a different receiver. Something to consider if I ever want and can justify the cost of upping things. Music listening from my collection using the hifi system definitely sounds a lot better than anything AV - but when playing AV material the video compensates, when best compromise is feeding the two main channels via audio cable to a separate preamp and into power amp (as opposed to Dave into power amp).
I am in no doubt that the AV experience could be vastly improved with a better receiver, including link to Dave, and with better surround speakers, and with 4K projector - but what I have provides immersive enjoyable experience, and with my major spend to date having been focussed on my primary interest of music replay, I am not sure whether or when I will progress these. But certainly something for you to have awareness while making your choices: if budget is a factor then perhaps the key initial thing would be finding an AV receiver with digital main channel outputs that you could feed to Qutest, while other things like quality of surround speakers can all be upgraded later. Buying surround speakers secondhand can of course save a fortune, ditto receiver if anything suitable available that way.
Thanks IB. Being retired the DAVE is simply beyond me but if I was say 10 yrs younger then I would be going after it for sure - I wish!
I didn’t know that there were any AV receivers with a digital out for the front channels. I’ve only ever seen front pre-outs for integration with an existing stereo system. If I could get an AV amp with a digital out for the front chanels and route that to the Qutest then that would be the perfect solution for me. Do you know of any models that have this, that are not stupidly expensive (for my purposes that means an absolute max of around £1.5K)?
I couldn’t take the other thread very seriously in the end. I got a bit beligerant - sorry. No hard feelings I hope.
I’m now retired so expensive AV unlikely… I’m not aware of AV receivers with digital outputs for the main channels, never having looked, but I would hope/expect there might be such a thing. Maybe others on here might be able to help.
I’m lucky enough to have snagged one of the (pretty rare, I think) AV-1 units built by Naim. I use it to feed an NAP250 for my rear sound loudspeakers.
It’s a complicated set-up, but it all sounds marvellous when all six QUAD ESL57 panels are in play
(I have commented before that this must be one of Naim’s least known products. Which is a shame, as it’s bl**dy marvellous!)
