# In the market for a surround sound system?



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

It started about two weeks ago our TiVo went broke! :sad:
It was 9 years and 9 months old. We ordered a 4 tuner bolt TiVo
and it's much smaller and much improved over the older TiVo.

So, now I gave our son the job of finding a new surround sound system.
Our old Bose system was very confusing to use, as a matter of fact
we didn't even use it anymore...I just couldn't get a handle on it. 

Our son picked out this for us and in an hour it was installed, and that
included dismantling the old Bose system with its sea of wires.

I wanted to share this anyone in the market for a new system.
it's currently on sale for Twenty dollars off the 199.99 price tag.
It sounds incredible and easy to use.
The good thing about Costco is their great return policy. 
If you don't like it, you can return it.

https://www.costco.com/Vizio-SB3651...rtCast-Soundbar-System.product.100367294.html


----------



## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Very nice indeed. I could really use a good sound system for TV watching, as these flat screen TV's audio projection/dispersion to me, is just not good. 

But then again, my wife watches TV in the living room while I watch TV in the office with the door closed. 

All because I have to turn the TV audio volume up in the living room so loud to hear it, she gets a headache. I know, nothing $1200 worth of hearing aids would not cure, but I don't like watching what she watches on TV anyway, so I have a excuse not to now .


----------



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks for responding Greg...I was beginning to think, nobody cares.:smile:
I wanted to share how wonderful this system sounds -- and especially for 
a redicilous low price.

We watch almost everything with the closed caption option. :smile: When we got
the new TiVo Bolt the audio improved a lot. This new Visio system, 
is awesome...especially the surround sound. The two rear speakers plug
into the sub woofer and that plugs into a regular electric outlet. The price
(180.00) was a real surprise; our old Bose system (about 12 years old) was
somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500.00. I called them about a year ago
to upgrade to just the Bose box part ( our system had five double speakers
and a huge sub woofer that we wanted to keep) 
they wanted about 1200.00 just for the compatible box.

We're not a member of Costco, so anything we need our son gets us.
He has the Costco credit card...charges everything and I reimburse him.
He got me a faucet about two years ago...it broke and we decided to replace
it rather than repairing it. I didn't have the box or the receipt, he took it
back anyhow to see what he could do... they looked it up on their 
computer and gave him a full 180.00 (original price paid)
credit towards a new faucet. No fuss, no hassle...it has made me 
a Costco believer. :yes:

He also purchased our new smart TV at Costco...
Costco gives a full two year warranty.
on their TV's ...all the other retail stores only give a 
one year warranty.


----------



## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Good to see you found a retailer that pleases you, AND getting good deals to boot....TK. A win/win. 

Anytime "audio" is mentioned, my ears perk up because as a 20 y.o. back in the 70's, I became what was called back then, an "audiophile" of sorts. I just had to have the audio equipment with the lowest s/n ratio, lowest THD, most pure sound within my price range. I even bought some of the "virgin" vinyl record albums back then for a while, just for their NO scratchy playback. 


The speakers, receiver and turntable in my pic, I bought from my buddy that bought it new while in Germany on his Army tour in 1971. I bought the Teac reel to reel, vinyl records and headphones here in the USA. 

One of my biggest wants back then, was to have the 300 watt RMS per channel McIntosh or Crown amp, and the big Bose speakers that sat on the pedestals. 

Wow, the way those Bose speakers projected the sound in to the room and the clarity of every note from every instrument,... was awesome. I almost drooled on them in the big audio sales room, when they were being demonstrated for me. . 

But as it turned out the four Chrysler's I had, rocked the house fairly well. Even with the seldom played wall thumping sound levels cranked up, the sound from them and the Luxman was pure with exact reproduction. Listening to them, was like sitting in the studio after the final playback recording mixing had been done, and the music was being played back for the finish cut... 

The only downside with my audio toys back then was, every time there was a party mentioned they wanted to have it at Greg's place. :smile:


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

With all due Respect, Gentlemen, that "Surround System" may sound well to you, but it is never ever going to be able to produce the new Surround Formats like

DTS-HD
DTS:X
Dolby True HD
DD Plus
Dolby Atmos
etc, etc.
They are made for a small Apartment, giving you the effect of some sort of Surround Sound, but will not match Systems like the 7.1.2 or 11.2 Surround Sound.

Here is a small Guide of the new Surround Formats that are available:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-GXimZ6m81oL/learn/learningcenter/home/hometheater_surround.html

And, finally...please don't mention Bose Speakers anymore in a Home Theater Forum.


----------



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Deja-vue said:


> With all due Respect, Gentlemen, that "Surround System" may sound well to you, but it is never ever going to be able to produce the new Surround Formats like
> 
> DTS-HD
> DTS:X
> ...


The purpose of my post was to share an effective very good sounding surround
sound system for a redicilous reasonable price. ( read the reviews that are
provided with my link) 

The system you posted is for a sophisticated Home Theatre room.
I don't live in an apartment, I live in an ordinary home with a family room that is 14 1/2 feet
wide. The system you posted I'm sure sounds great in a large home theatre room,
but in an ordinary size room to me it looks invasive...
Please don't take this as a pejorative or snarky remark. I factor in design as well as function in my
purchases. This would be cluttered and overkill in my room.

What is the cost of this system and do you have one?


----------



## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Gregsoldtruck79 said:


> Anytime "audio" is mentioned, my ears perk up because as a 20 y.o. back in the 70's, I became what was called back then, an "audiophile" of sorts. I just had to have the audio equipment with the lowest s/n ratio, lowest THD, most pure sound within my price range. I even bought some of the "virgin" vinyl record albums back then for a while, just for their NO scratchy playback.
> 
> 
> The speakers, receiver and turntable in my pic, I bought from my buddy that bought it new while in Germany on his Army tour in 1971. I bought the Teac reel to reel, vinyl records and headphones here in the USA.
> ...



Similar history as far as audio goes. I had my first taste of hi-fi back in the early 70s and had the same lust for McIntosh components but never had the money to afford one. I also lusted after a Teac or Akai reel to reel tape deck but again, never could afford one. 

I did get some decent Pioneer, Kenwood, and Dual components along with Bose 301 and 501 speakers. They sounded decent, but I really wanted the Bose 901's. I finally got around to getting a pair in the mid 90's and was totally underwhelmed. No matter how much I tweaked the positioning, adjusted the equalizer, moved the listening position, nothing I did made them sound good. In fact, I disliked them so much that I returned them after about a week and went on a mission of auditioning speakers at a local stereo store. I ended up buying a pair of Definitive Technology BP2002 towers with built in 12" subs. They blew me away and are the backbone of my current home theater system to this day.


----------



## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

Deja-vue said:


> etc, etc.
> They are made for a small Apartment, giving you the effect of some sort of Surround Sound, but will not match Systems like the 7.1.2 or 11.2 Surround Sound.


 There is nothing wrong with them at all.
Simply a different technology for a different person/situation. They will certainly not match that of a true quality surround system but then that is not their primary function. They instead give reasonable simulated surround sound with a small price tag and a much smaller foot print. 



Different strokes for different folks.


----------



## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

Dave Sal said:


> Similar history as far as audio goes. I had my first taste of hi-fi back in the early 70s and had the same lust for McIntosh components but never had the money to afford one. I also lusted after a Teac or Akai reel to reel tape deck but again, never could afford one.
> 
> I did get some decent Pioneer, Kenwood, and Dual components along with Bose 301 and 501 speakers. They sounded decent, but I really wanted the Bose 901's. I finally got around to getting a pair in the mid 90's and was totally underwhelmed. No matter how much I tweaked the positioning, adjusted the equalizer, moved the listening position, nothing I did made them sound good. In fact, I disliked them so much that I returned them after about a week and went on a mission of auditioning speakers at a local stereo store. I ended up buying a pair of Definitive Technology BP2002 towers with built in 12" subs. They blew me away and are the backbone of my current home theater system to this day.



Speaker technology has changed drastically over the years. When I was growing up tower speakers with dual 15's were not unheard of (I had a set).


Today however front, and even rear speakers have gotten quite small as bass and low end is redirected to independent subwoofer systems. Wasn't too sold on it at first but have gotten quite used to the added versatility. We have dual subs on our system and I actually built one of them into the bottom of the couch for better move watching effects. It shakes you up pretty good. Of course that's all part of the new technology... to better feel it as well as hear it.


Not sure what Bose is today.... but yesteryear it was the forefront of the changing speaker industry..... and it was taken pretty seriously.


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Two Knots said:


> What is the cost of this system and do you have one?


I have one, some Pics are in my Album for anyone to see. It is a 11.2 System. 13 Speakers. 8 Shakers. The Marantz AV 7704 cost me $2.500 alone. (This thing came down now after the AV7705 got introduced.)

There's a 82 Inch Samsung 4K TV now instead of the 80 Inch Sharp. A 42 TB NAS (not visible) is holding all my Blu-Ray Images.
Each Crown seperate Amp runs two Speakers. The Rack is made by Middle Atlantic.
:wink2:


----------



## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

Deja-vue said:


> I have one, some Pics are in my Album for anyone to see. It is a 11.2 System. 13 Speakers. 8 Shakers. The Marantz AV 7704 cost me $2.500 alone. (This thing came down now after the AV7705 got introduced.)
> 
> There's a 82 Inch Samsung 4K TV now instead of the 80 Inch Sharp. A 42 TB NAS (not visible) is holding all my Blu-Ray Images.
> Each Crown seperate Amp runs two Speakers. The Rack is made by Middle Atlantic.
> :wink2:


how do you deal with that almost puny display ?:wink2:
sometimes my 119" is to small, really.
and my room is 14' wide.


----------



## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Fix'n it said:


> how do you deal with that almost puny display ?:wink2:
> sometimes my 119" is to small, really.
> and my room is 14' wide.



Front projector here too. I'm only running a 96" diagonal screen though. :glasses:


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Dave Sal said:


> Front projector here too. I'm only running a 96" diagonal screen though. :glasses:


Projectors?
Even if they are 4K, you are missing out on HDR.
:biggrin2:


----------



## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Deja-vue said:


> Projectors?
> Even if they are 4K, you are missing out on HDR.
> :biggrin2:



Correct. I can't wait till 4k projectors with HDR come to market at an affordable price. Until that happens though, I still prefer a huge, crisp 1080p picture.

Here's a pic from about 2004 when I had my first 720p projector. The image was still impressive. When it comes to home theater, size does matter. :wink2:


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

@Dave,

How about the BenQ HT2550 4K UHD HDR?
Good Reviews, great price.
Just wouldn't expect the HDR to "pop" like on a OLED or the like.

I know, we're drifting a bit away from the topic, I hope the OP understands.


----------



## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Deja-vue said:


> @*Dave* ,
> 
> How about the BenQ HT2550 4K UHD HDR?
> Good Reviews, great price.
> ...



Wow, that BenQ model looks pretty sweet. I put it in my Amazon wish list for future reference. At that price I assumed that it was faux 4k but reading the specs and it seems to be the real deal. The only problem I have with projectors is that you can't simply walk into a brick and mortar store and see them in action. My current projector is also a BenQ, model W1070.
I apologize also to the OP for this threadjack. :smile:


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

Dave Sal said:


> Wow, that BenQ model looks pretty sweet. I put it in my Amazon wish list for future reference. At that price I assumed that it was faux 4k but reading the specs and it seems to be the real deal. The only problem I have with projectors is that you can't simply walk into a brick and mortar store and see them in action. My current projector is also a BenQ, model W1070.
> I apologize also to the OP for this threadjack. :smile:


Well, Amazon has a pretty good Return policy.
:wink2:


----------



## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

Deja-vue said:


> Projectors?
> Even if they are 4K, you are missing out on HDR.


yeah, thosse aare VERY impressive. but ....



Dave Sal said:


> Correct. I can't wait till 4k projectors with HDR come to market at an affordable price. Until that happens though, I still prefer a huge, crisp 1080p picture.
> When it comes to home theater, size does matter.


...bingo.

i am still impressed with 1080p. i have a $500 BENQ HT1070. 
you can laugh, but a few months ago i saw an expensive SONY or JVC, in a higher end room, AT screen. and the picture was no better than mine. its my screen.


as to TK's happiness with her new system. i can see it, most people do not want their teeth kicked in when watching a movie ( my wife is one of them, but she gets her teeth kicked in anyway :vs_laugh. my wife would be plenty happy with that system. how about a pic there TK ?


----------



## ReignStout (Aug 15, 2018)

Fix'n it said:


> yeah, thosse aare VERY impressive. but ....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Agree 1080p is fine. Most of the people cant even see the difference.


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

> Agree 1080p is fine. Most of the people cant even see the difference.


I will agree...to a point.
The Difference between 2K (1080p) and 4K is very visible in my System.
What makes it possible? HDR does.
And I dare you to look at these new Dolby Vision TV's. Absolutely breathtaking.

I go to the CES (Las Vegas) every year and have seen 8K TV's since 2013, even some 16K (Prototype) TV's.

I remember when 3D TV's came and left, to me just a gimmick to sell more TV's. The movie Avatar started all this, I guess. Somehow I knew those won't last very long, and I'm glad I didn't buy into it. Folks simply don't buy into this Technology because you have to wear Glasses.
(even though they showed some 3D TV's at the CES that did not require the Glasses.

Anyways:

4K is here to stay, and streaming Services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have a lot of content to watch and they add more every Day.
DirecTV has a measly 4 or 5 Channels in 4K, and it costs way too much, and they only broadcasting in a few Areas, just not worth it.

UHD Blu-Ray is here now, not to replace the Blu-Ray Format. And I will not "double-dip" , buying the same Movie that I already own on Blu-Ray on UHD.

Well, if it comes to the Lord of the Rings, I may do it anyways.

Some Folks do tell me "I don't see the difference between 2K and 4K". Especially on Movies with a lot of CGI on them.

That is, I think because the CGI is rendered still in 2K only, then upscaled to 4K. Thus, no real difference.

The Future will tell us where it is all going...But the TV Manufacturers have to sell more TV's. The Latest and greatest are the new OLED's.
Short for "a light-emitting diode containing thin flexible sheets of an organic electroluminescent material, used for visual displays".

Whatever that means.
I wonder what's next at the CES.
We usually see technology that comes out the next year. I want to see that.
I may report back once I've seen it.
LOL.:vs_cool:


----------



## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

yeah, the more K, the better. but up to what point ? 50k 100k. 
anyway, it is what it is.
since i am a humble wallet dude, i will stick with "bang for buck"

i loved 3D. the glass's thing, yep. but also = screen size. images look smaller through the glass's. even on an 80", you have to sit 5' from it. most people have 50"ish.


----------



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

ReignStout said:


> Agree 1080p is fine. Most of the people cant even see the difference.


I agree with your wife Reign as far as having my teeth kicked in with sound. 
Since my hearing is not as sharp as it used to be :smile: I find the very new high
tech systems too loud. I would need to concentrate too much to 
be able to hear the dialogue -- especially in an action movie. 

Mostly I wanted to replace the Bose because I wanted to rid my room of the
sea of wires. This wireless system is awesome. The soundbar replaces three
front double speakers and the huge sub wolfer is now a compact 
one and is neatly nestled next to my couch ...
just the two back speakers plug into the subwoofer and the 
sub wolfer plugs into a regular outlet. 
It's neat and clean as well as great sounding. I can still understand
the dialogue when the surround sound is in full action.

I can also appreciate the great surround sound systems you guys have.
I'm sure in a real big media room it's fantastic. 

We have a 65" 3D tv...We never use the 3D feature as all the 3D movies are
movies I don't like. Avitar and the such...The grandkids sometimes view
3 D movies, however they are mostly kids movies that don't interest us.

As I said before, I started this thread to share my enthusiasm over this great 
sounding and affordable system mainly for people who want something great 
sounding for about 200.00 or less. We paid 180.00 on sale at Costco.

I'll get pics later. Thanks for your interest.


----------



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

This is one of the back speakers. There is one on each side of the couch.
We ran the wire down the molding. The wire
plugs into the subwoofer (the subwoofer is on the back wall
along side of the sofa, under this speaker) the subwoofer plugs into a regular outlet.
Both these back speakers are compact neat and unassuming.


----------



## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

Here's the other pic Fix'n it...
The double Bose speakers ran up the wall on each side. They were installed
at the ceiling height. The double front speaker sat in front of the tv on top
of the platform that the tv is on. The biggest eyesore (besides the 
sea of jumbled wires visable under the tv) was the huge subwoofer that had to be
fixed on the floor next to the tv. It was a big fat dusty eyesore. :sad:
Inside the platform that the tv is sitting on is where I store the 3D glasses
and extra remotes.

This system fits my objective...neat, clean, functional and uncluttered 
I know what some of you guys are thinking..." she calls that uncluttered!" :biggrin2::
( the bird cage will be moved back into the kitchen bay window 
once the kitchen Windows get closed in the fall, and the bird is safe from
night time summer drafts.)


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

> yeah, the more K, the better. but up to what point ? 50k


8K is definitely the limit of human optical perception, (20/20 Vision). So from this Point on it would not make any sense to go higher in Resolution.

There are only a handful of TV Stations around the world that will start broadcasting in 8K or, what they call "Super Hi-Vision." in January 2019.
The Resolution is a stunning 7680 x 4320. Here's what you need:

An Address in Japan.
8K capable TV.
Dedicated Satellite Dish.
A Decoder Box. ( $1000)

Even then, these 8K programs are only being shown at certain times during the Day/Night. No 24H Channels just yet.

If this Technology ever reaches us mainstream, I will doubt that very much.
An 8K TV would, however upscale lower Resolution Blu-Rays close to 8K.
Now that would be awesome.
:wink2:


----------



## Deja-vue (Mar 24, 2013)

For Dave Sal only:

Price Drop on that Benq:

https://smile.amazon.com/BenQ-HT255...938827&sr=8-3&keywords=BenQ+HT2550+4K+UHD+HDR

Happy Black Friday!
:biggrin2:


----------



## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Deja-vue said:


> For Dave Sal only:
> 
> Price Drop on that Benq:
> 
> ...



Thanks for the heads up. It sure is tempting but I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger. Possibly later in 2019. Who knows, by then the prices may come down even further and also include some technological upgrades. Thanks again.


----------

