Cinema room(i know nothing)

[Ragnahex]

in our front room i currently have a denon receiver of some sort and crap speakers that came with a surround sound system years ago. I understand NOTHING about sound this is purely for the mrs as i don't even listen to music but what would be the best route do you guys who know more than me think for improving the sound quality (for films and music)without spending too much. Would it be centre speaker first or front l+r first? i have 0 clue about sound

 

[MissChief]

It's a difficult one as 'garbage in, garbage out' certainly applies but then cheap nasty speakers will never sound good no matter what you feed them. Do you have a budget? Will you need surround sound or purely stereo?

 

[a1ex2001]

1. What exactly do you already have?
2. What do you want to achieve with your upgrade?
3. What constraints do you have on size/positioning of kit?
4. What is your budget?

Answer these and you will get some great help here!

 

[dl8860]

You must be the first man in existence wanting to improve his home cinema experience FOR the wife rather than tussling against her!

Like Alex said, we need to know what you have before recommendations can be made. The model of your receiver and speakers should be easily found on the back, if not, take pics

 

[Ragnahex]

reciever is Denon AVR-X1000 (god bless amazon history purchases) the speakers all came with the Samsung HT-E5550 Smart Home Cinema System but the main unit committed suicide so i replaced it with the denon and a htpc (runs to a ceiling mounted projector for the screen) the main thing that bugs me is clarity of voices when watching films. Price wise obviously how cheap would it be to get a noticeable benefit.
And as i already stated i know bugger all so is what i have total junk?
Before i get the whole music rant i am a musical anhedonic (means music doesn't link to emotions in my brain so it literally is just noise that has a rhythm to me)
I love my tech but with sound it becomes like speaking another language to me!
All the speakers currently are tall standing which is the only way that would work in the room (apart from center)

 

[MissChief]

If it's the voices then you want to replace the centre speaker first. Or buy a whole set.

 

[Armageus]

reciever is Denon AVR-X1000

Good news is that the receiver is decent enough - nothing wrong with this.
I believe it also comes with the auto calibration microphone, which will help set up the levels correctly when you start changing some of the speakers.

the speakers all came with the Samsung HT-E5550 Smart Home Cinema System

The speakers are fairly terrible (as are most all-in-one systems) mainly due to the small drivers.

A starting point would be certainly to upgrade the centre e.g. with something like:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/centre-speakers/mission/mxc1/miss-mxc1 or http://www.richersounds.com/product/centre-speakers/tannoy/mercury-vci/tann-mercury-vci-dw

and likely the fronts with something like
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/mission/mx3/miss-mx3-blk or http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/tannoy/mercury-v4i/tann-v4i-dark-wal

After that you could then replace the Rear speakers and the sub.

All the speakers currently are tall standing which is the only way that would work in the room (apart from center)

You can either go for full size floorstanders (as linked above), or the alternative is to get "bookshelf" speakers and stands e.g. something like
http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/tannoy/mercury-v1/tann-mercury-v1-oak and http://www.richersounds.com/product/speaker-stands/mission/stancette/miss-stancette-blk

 

[Ragnahex]

yeah i bought it because it had auto calibration(sound really isn't my thing)........and ethernet so i could turn the noise down when i was sleeping and she was watching something. Nothing says it's too loud like seeing the volume being turned down from somewhere else in the house. And whats this whole thing people rant about having the centre and front L%R speakers the same brand or something..... Is it really noticeable if they are different? Or is it just another thing that you start to pick at when you're getting into high end stuff

 

[dl8860]

yeah i bought it because it had auto calibration(sound really isn't my thing)........and ethernet so i could turn the noise down when i was sleeping and she was watching something. Nothing says it's too loud like seeing the volume being turned down from somewhere else in the house

Haha that's amazing. Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is the exact opposite of most husband/wife approaches to this sort of thing. Except the husband has the tech know-how so has final control.

 

[Ragnahex]

you see i still have total control... from a different room

 

[Armageus]

And whats this whole thing people rant about having the centre and front L%R speakers the same brand or something..... Is it really noticeable if they are different?

Didn't know this was a thing that people ranted about if I'm honest - you are free to pick components from any manufacturers - mix and match to get the sound that you (or the wife) want.

Generally though matching components from the same manufacturer/range will give you a balanced starting point.

 

[Ragnahex]

excellent this brings it back to levels i can understand! The only people i know who are in to sound are people that spend what i consider to be silly amounts of money! To be honest in my old place we never had any complaints as i had a huge pair of old wharfedales i picked up for 10 quid from a car boot sale! Apparently they were great for sound but to me it all sounds the same and the ex took them

 

[BeeP]

If the voices are muffled is it maybe because you are feeding the speakers wrongly, I mean maybe try changing the mode to bring the centre up or switch from 5.1 to a simulated 5.1 output.
What I'm trying to say (Very badly) is perhaps you are feeding 2.1 (or similar) signals into a 5.1 amplifier, I did stuff like this when I got mine and it sounded pap out of the centre (voices) until I either got 5.1 movies or changed to one of the dolby modes my amp has.

I actually set mine up with the supplied set up mic and then had to boost my centre in the amp settings as I still wasnt happy with it.

Perhaps someone else could explain it better, I'm at work and kind of fried today.....or perhaps I've completely lost it, its possible today.

 

[Ragnahex]

i've already done all that gubins besides what better than a present of speakers for the mrs for christmas! i gave her a hoover last year and i am still alive so i think i can push it a bit further

 

[lucid]

The speakers from the now defunct Samsung are not great. They're more show than go. It can get a bit technical, but the low Ohms rating (3Ω) can cause problems for an amp expecting a 6Ω-8Ω load. It can cause the amp to run in to high distortion and create overheating problems. The other issue is that they'll have a limited dynamic range so end up sounding congested and harsh and much lower sound levels than convention speakers.

If you want better dialogue then a better centre speaker will take care of that. While you're at it you might as well upgrade the front stereo speakers too. Go for something from the same maker and range. That way the tone of the sound won't change much when action moves around across the front three speakers.

One otherthing to look at is the bass/subwoofer. The old Samsung sub has speakers wires. It's a passive sub; the power comes from elsewhere rather than being built in to the sub itself. Amps such as the Denon aren't designed to drive passive subs. We use active subs instead.

It's a toss-up whether you do this piecemeal or in a single hit, but I'd weigh up whether buying a centre speaker then stereo front speakers and a sub as individual items is right for you or whether you should look at a complete replacement kit of speakers.

I don't think you can go far wrong with a Tannoy SFX 5.1 kit @ £180. The build quality of the drivers and their performance will kick the stuffing out of the Samsungs. You'll also be able to make use of the Denon amp's subwoofer output and that will help to add some bass weight to the vocals.

If you decide to stick with the separates idea then there's a pretty good coice of entry-level centre speakers in the £80-£100 range. Matching front speakers will cost around £100-£300 per pair. Minimum spend for an active sub would be around £120 (Tannoy SFX sub) but you could easily blow £300+ on one. The separates will give better sound quality, but if all you need is a step up from the existing speakers then they can be a bit OTT.

 

[bledd]

yeah i bought it because it had auto calibration(sound really isn't my thing)........and ethernet so i could turn the noise down when i was sleeping and she was watching something. Nothing says it's too loud like seeing the volume being turned down from somewhere else in the house.

What is going on? Here's how other couples work. She falls asleep at 9pm on the sofa, this unlocks his night time to watch / play whatever he wants until 3am.

 

[Ragnahex]

am tempted by a pair of tannoy mercury v4i's and a Tannoy mercury VCi for starters...... Good idea or no?

 

[lucid]

Yeah, go for it.

 

[Dsteviedee]

You may find the Tannoy floor-standers good enough to forego the need for a sub.