Hi all
I currently have an ageing Onkyo HT-S4505 home theatre system. It's hit and miss for me sound wise. I've always felt like the rear satellites don't really contribute much to the aural experience, even with 5.1 content. I do however enjoy the stereo effects when properly used, and a good bit of bass where appropriate in action movies. For the most part the system is decent, but owning a pretty respectable monoblock/dac/bookshelf stereo setup for my music listening, I can't help but feel the HTS falls short in many aspects, like detail retrieval, realistically presenting voices and singing, or music, etc.
I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a 4K TV before the year is through, and so will need a new receiver capable of 4K passthrough anyway, so it seems like a good time to upgrade the HTS. I am however stuck on which way to go. Floorstanders with rear satellites? Again I wonder if the satellites are needed, and I don't have room for the bookshelf sized satellites in some packages. I do have a spare subwoofer sitting around, so that would be a plus of going this route.
I'm also considering sound bars, but I have no experience with them and I'm somewhat doubtful of their ability to present a soundstage and real stereo separation. I also wonder at their comparative range compared with fully fledged bookshelfs/floorstanders.
Also considered a stereo setup with a DAC fed via optical from my media player, though I have a number of consoles/devices and having an AVR to do the switching is probably a little too convenient to go that route.
Would appreciate any advice / wisdom / recommendations RE the above!
I currently have an ageing Onkyo HT-S4505 home theatre system. It's hit and miss for me sound wise. I've always felt like the rear satellites don't really contribute much to the aural experience, even with 5.1 content. I do however enjoy the stereo effects when properly used, and a good bit of bass where appropriate in action movies. For the most part the system is decent, but owning a pretty respectable monoblock/dac/bookshelf stereo setup for my music listening, I can't help but feel the HTS falls short in many aspects, like detail retrieval, realistically presenting voices and singing, or music, etc.
I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a 4K TV before the year is through, and so will need a new receiver capable of 4K passthrough anyway, so it seems like a good time to upgrade the HTS. I am however stuck on which way to go. Floorstanders with rear satellites? Again I wonder if the satellites are needed, and I don't have room for the bookshelf sized satellites in some packages. I do have a spare subwoofer sitting around, so that would be a plus of going this route.
I'm also considering sound bars, but I have no experience with them and I'm somewhat doubtful of their ability to present a soundstage and real stereo separation. I also wonder at their comparative range compared with fully fledged bookshelfs/floorstanders.
Also considered a stereo setup with a DAC fed via optical from my media player, though I have a number of consoles/devices and having an AVR to do the switching is probably a little too convenient to go that route.
Would appreciate any advice / wisdom / recommendations RE the above!
