Question What Are The Best Home Theater Immersive Surround Sound Options?

[jdwclemson]

I have had surround sound for home theater and PC gaming on my home theater system for the past 20+ years. I've seen that sound bars have taken over surround sound speakers as the mainstream option. Now that its time for me to update my receiver so I can utilize 120hz and eARC, I'm looking at prices and wondering if its time to throw in the towel on true surround sound or if there are better options people are using. Having a sound come from behind me can be highly immersive and I don't want to lose that. Are any sound bars or alternative solutions really capable of sounding like a speaker behind you, or are sound bars simply a mainstream option that gets people better than built in TV speakers? I'm thinking I'll need to spend about $400-600 for a decent HDMI 2.1 receiver to maintain a true surround, but I would like to hear what other people are using for immersive sound in their home theaters.

 

[turtletarget111]

Sound bars will never come remotely close to a dedicated surround sound system, no matter how mainstream or however many buzzwords marketers but on the box. I personally have a Denon receiver that supports 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz, which ran around 500 dollars at the time. I pair it with Klipsch speakers. Klipsch are not the highest end out there, but they are amazing speakers for the price and put out a lot of volume. I'll leave a link to the receiver here and speakers here. There's my two cents, take care.

 

[stonecarver]

My wife bought me a sound bar about 9 /10 yrs ago. I honestly think she did to be a 'B" witch. she know how much I actually enjoy music and surround sound movies.

I plugged in bar to be nice to her of her gift. Smiled at her paused, and said she could sell it on craigslist or offerup. She said cool I went and cranked up some ACDC on My audio system I would not let her ever touch and smiled.

I have not heard one sound bar I ever liked. YMMV

 

[USAFRet]

EnergyTake (now Klipsch) 5.0
2x Polk 10" subs
Sony AVR

Shake the house.

 

[dwd999]

Obviously it depends on your budget. I use a Sennheiser Ambeo Max soundbar which is around $1700 on sale and its just as good as any receiver plus speakers system without having large speakers all around the room and the wiring fuss.

 

[emitfudd]

I am still using a 20 year old Yamaha receiver with Bose 301 front speakers, center channel speaker and rear surround speakers. About 10 years ago I added a Bic America powered subwoofer. From what I have read, soundbars are for people who either don't have the money for a true dedicated surround system, they don't physically have the room (or don't like the look aesthetically) for multiple speakers or they have no knowledge of audio systems and don't want to spend the time researching.

 

[stonecarver]

My speakers are old as well from 1982 , there the things over there on the left as my avatar Pic.

That why I know wife was being was "B" when she bought me the sound bar.
The only upgrade that i would never in my life time have the money for would be Martin Logan Neolith . I'm good with the Monoliths.

​

 

[Unolocogringo]

I have a mix of 5.1 and 7.2 systems.
6 to be exact.
You can not beat separate speakers for surround sound.
Sound bars do sound better than TV speakers, but pale in comparison to any good 5.1 system.
I had a great sounding Polk soundbar
But I made it fronts and center only.
Series wired the rear surrounds with the fronts for 4 ohm. And added a set of rear bookshelf speakers and a yamaha sub.
Powered by a 100wpc 4ohm stable Sony amp.
Gave it and a JVC 5.1system to a friend.
I have a mix of vintage and older mid/upper mid range systems.
Nothing spectacular but very good sounding.

 

[sitehostplus]

If you have lots of money to throw at it, yeah you can get great sound from a receiver and a really good 5.1 surround speaker system.

I'm cheap and lazy, so I go the soundbar route.

Current surround system.

 

[Unolocogringo]

If you have lots of money to throw at it, yeah you can get great sound from a receiver and a really good 5.1 surround speaker system.

I'm cheap and lazy, so I go the soundbar route.

Current surround system.

But your sound bar is fronts and center. with separate rears.
Not the front,center and rears all in one sound bar.

 

[sitehostplus]

But your sound bar is fronts and center. with separate rears.
Not the front,center and rears all in one sound bar.

Yes, but the majority of the setup is in the soundbar. The woofer is wireless, and the rear speakers are wired off the subwoofer. It's not all that hard to set up.

Compare that to a setting up a complete set of 7.1 speakers and a Dolby Atmos receiver. And at $300 on fleabay, the price isn't too shabby either (they are refurbished IIRC).

 

[Unolocogringo]

Yes I have lots of wires in the walls and under the floor.
Not a do-it yourself installs for most people.

 

[emitfudd]

Yes I have lots of wires in the walls and under the floor.
Not a do-it yourself installs for most people.

I can remember going under the crawl space and drilling the floor to make way for the rear speaker cables. Then I came across a wireless receiver for the rear speakers. Works great. Made by Rocketfish. Don't remember the model. Behind my entertainment center is another story. So many wires it makes my head hurt.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I guess I’m not the audiophile some of you guys are, but a few years ago I got one of these I think.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-ht-s400-2-1ch-soundbar-with-powerful-wireless-subwoofer-black/6498905.p?skuId=6498905

The sound is pretty good for the money and not a lot of wires to run. At least compared to your standard TV speakers it’s a huge upgrade. If I’m in the basement and my wife decides to crank up her music it will rattle the floor. But I definitely recognize there are better setups.

 

[Unolocogringo]

I guess I’m not the audiophile some of you guys are, but a few years ago I got one of these I think.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-ht-s400-2-1ch-soundbar-with-powerful-wireless-subwoofer-black/6498905.p?skuId=6498905

The sound is pretty good for the money and not a lot of wires to run. At least compared to your standard TV speakers it’s a huge upgrade. If I’m in the basement and my wife decides to crank up her music it will rattle the floor. But I definitely recognize there are better setups.

I'm pretty picky about my sound, but I do not consider myself an audiophile.
I can not make myself spend that amount of money for the equipment.
I can appreciate the listening experience of great sounding systems.
I have been a roadie,sound man, recording engineer for 45 years as a hobby .
My amps are $500-1000 and $1200 for my most expensive speaker pair.
So not audiophile grade equipment.

 

[stonecarver]

I'm pretty picky about my sound, but I do not consider myself an audiophile.
I can not make myself spend that amount of money for the equipment.
I can appreciate the listening experience of great sounding systems.

Same here, I remember in 1974 my dad came to me and just out of the blue passed me a car radio he wanted me to install in his 1964 ford station wagon. The old fire engine red complete with the fake wood side panels vintage movies wagon lol. I was shaking in my boots thinking um this is dad's car, He looked at me and said I trust you. He went to work the next day listening to Chick Hearn do his play by play of the Lakers game.

It's been a life long passion for me as well. I remember as a young guy always in the used stores looking for audio equipment or speaker or a shelf to put it all on.

The only thing on my bucket list if a set pops up is a Pair of Polk SDA's the large ones. I did get a pair of SDA 2-B's that are now my younger sons.

The things I have in the collection I worked my butt off for. Met a lot of great people some down to earth and some rubber glove weird when it came to music and there equipment.
Got to meet Bob Carver and took the kids to a book signing that Ozzy Osbourn did in Barns & Nobles. He shook both my kids hands that I thought was cool.
Had a 70 yrs something gentleman who was selling a set of AT-15 Cerwin Vega's refuse letting me drive to pick them up from him, drive them down from San Francisco to LA. He wanted to hand pass his babies to the next owner. Cool people. He hugged me and said take care of the old Girls. That was about 20 yrs ago

There still in the collection.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I'm pretty picky about my sound, but I do not consider myself an audiophile.
I can not make myself spend that amount of money for the equipment.
I can appreciate the listening experience of great sounding systems.
I have been a roadie,sound man, recording engineer for 45 years as a hobby .
My amps are $500-1000 and $1200 for my most expensive speaker pair.
So not audiophile grade equipment.

I get it. I'm in my early 40's and that at the time was an investment but a smaller one compared to what other guys have. I think at the time I'd owned a TCL sound bar with subwoofer that kept disconnecting that I got sick of dealing with and returned it for the Sony. No major issues since once it was set up.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Like stonecarver I cherish my older gear.
All of it is older gear back to my 4 way set of Sansui's from 72.
Amazing sounding for movies or 4 way stereo. With a sub and center.
My Infinity Reference 2000.6,2000.3 and 2000.1s set on an Yamaha rx v2400 and Onkyo sub is my biggest splurge.
Now the wife's Bose lifestyle 38 for the kitchen was a bite.

 

[jdwclemson]

Sound bars will never come remotely close to a dedicated surround sound system, no matter how mainstream or however many buzzwords marketers but on the box. I personally have a Denon receiver that supports 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz, which ran around 500 dollars at the time. I pair it with Klipsch speakers. Klipsch are not the highest end out there, but they are amazing speakers for the price and put out a lot of volume. I'll leave a link to the receiver here and speakers here. There's my two cents, take care.

cool, I was thinking of the similar 760 model so I could have the 7.2. Do you use yours for PC gaming by any chance? I'm curious how you connect it with your PC and TV.

 

[turtletarget111]

cool, I was thinking of the similar 760 model so I could have the 7.2. Do you use yours for PC gaming by any chance? I'm curious how you connect it with your PC and TV.

If I'm using a device that does not support HDMI eARC, I'll just run an optical cable from the device like my PC to the receiver. Works great for watching movies off my PC or playing an immersive game.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Without knowing OPs existing equipment my basic $1000 system recommendations.
Denon or Yamaha amp $500 range.
Klipsch 5.1 speaker system. Great for home theater but a little bright for extended music enjoyment.
another $500 for a medium size room, a few hundred more for a larger room with larger fronts or 7.1. depending on seating.