Thanks Guys. Sorry some of that has already gone way over my head
. Would the receiver be the TV?
It's a new TV with ARC hdmi, I know that much! I don't use a dvd player or anything like that it will literally just be the TV streaming, xbox digital only and possibly my desktop PC. The Onkyo model you suggested does seem pretty beginner friendly. What do I look for when upgrading to say 5 speakers, in terms of performance? Can i mix my current speakers with new, or do they ideally need to be the same brand? Apologies this is all very basic stuff, I'm trying to read up at the same time.
Glossary:
Receiver - any piece of electronics that includes a tuner of some kind. Could be a radio tuner in an AV Receiver, or it could be the Freeview tuner in a TV.
Context here is king. If we're primarily discussing some piece of equipment to process and amplify audio signals, and that bit of kit happens to include a tuner then "receiver" almost certainly is short-hand for AV receiver
Amplifier - with respect to (wrt) audio signals - a piece of equipment to process analogue and possibly digital audio signals and then increase their power (amplify) those signals to a sufficient level that they will drive some loudspeakers
AV / A.V. - short-hand for Audio Visual - wrt home cinema electronics - a device capable of handling sound signals (audio) and video signal (visual)
Therefore we have ....
AV Receiver - an electronic device which includes a radio tuner and is capable of processing and amplifying audio signals to drive loudspeakers whilst also being able to handle/route/upscale or otherwise process video signals too
AV Amplifier / AV Amp - much the same as an AV Receiver except no tuner
In terms of a system in your living room, your TV and the Xbox are your two main sources. Your PC is the third. They're responsible for providing the signals that are going to go to some kind of external sound system. For the most part your thread is concerned with the choice between two types of audio system; a sound bar or an AV receiver + speakers.
The type of source and what it is playing determines the signal formats that the sources will output.
For the TV, stuff via the aerial, or a Sky/Virgin receiver box, or download/streaming content from the web will all conform to two basic standards. These are Stereo PCM (a digital stereo signal) and Dolby Digital (DD) - a lossy compressed digital signal carrying up to 5 channels + effects bass known as LFE. In the main it's only the HD channels that have DD5.1 audio. The standard definition channels (non-HD) generally carry stereo sound with a tweak-up called Dolby Surround. This is a sound format for a centre channel (voices) and surround effect (side/rear speakers) that is hidden (matrixed) inside the stereo signal and undetectable by stereo gear. When played through an AV Receiver (AVR) and the AVR is set to Dolby ProLogic Mode (DPL) then the centre and surround channel audio is extracted and directed to those speakers.
Streaming and download typically has DD5.1 sound. Occasionally it will have PCM Stereo which may or may not include the Dolby Surround tweak.
When audio signals are played through an AVR then it responds in certain ways:
DD5.1 includes a flag that the receiver picks up and switches to DD5.1 decoding automatically. You don't need to do anything. Where the signal is
Stereo PCM then the AVR will default to the last mode it was used in, or to whatever you have chosen for it to do next time it sees that type of signal from a source. I have mine default to Dolby ProLogic II Movie mode from the choices of DPL II -Movie / -Music / -Game. However, it's possible to change the mode by pressing a button on the remote to cycle through the various options.
"What happens with DD5.1 when you only have two speakers?"
The centre channel gets sent to the left and right speakers along with their own signals. The additions
Low
Frequency
Effect (LFE) bass is discarded. That's no big deal. It was extra bass on top of the full range audio of the 5 main channels. It doesn't contain music or dialogue, so nothing critical to the sound track playback that we can't live without. The audio for the back-of-the-room surround speakers is (in most cases) discarded. You'll still hear remnants of it in the front speakers because front to back panning effect (spaceship flying over your head etc etc) uses the fronts as well.
"How does the AVR know how to do this?"
When setting up the system the set-up wizard plays test tones for all the possible channels. If the set-up mic detects the sound of a tone playing then it knows there's a speaker attached. No tone, no speaker. The set-up can also be adjusted manually. The setup can be run again any time speakers are added or changed. Once the AVR knows how many speakers its dealing with then it will process the sound accordingly.
"What happens if I get new speakers?"
The critical speakers that need to have a similar tone are the centre and front left and right. With this in mind, then I suggest your upgrade path from the Kenwoods be something like this:
- Swap the Kenwoods out for something better from a range that also includes matching centre speakers. Move the Kenwoods to become the new surround speakers. The tonality of the surrounds is not as important as the front three. You now have a 4.0 system
- Add a centre speaker. The centre is your most important speaker. It's where nearly all the dialogue comes from during a film or TV programme. You now have a 5.0 system
- Add a subwoofer. This will do a number of things. The AVR set-up procedure detects the frequency range capabilities of each speaker. It will also do the same for the sub. Any lower mid- and bass audio that each of the main speakers is struggling to handle will be redirected to the sub. The result will be that it will sound like the main speakers (FL, FR, C, SL, SR) are producing more bass. That's because the AVR is blending the speakers to that each works with the sub. A side benefit is that there's less power required for the main channel speakers, and so audio improves because the sub (with its own internal amp) is taking care of much of the heavy lifting. You now have a 5.1 system
- If you wish to change the surround speakers to something from the same make and range as the front L&R and the centre then that's a choice you can make at the time
"
Searching for new speakers. What to look for?"
The first thing I'd say is
quality. There's a reason why speaker prices range from under £100/pr to thousands£££.
Small budget bookshelf speakers tend to have low sensitivity (think of it like crappy MPG in a car) and so use a lot of juice to get somewhere. MPG alone tells you nothing about the way a car handles and what it's like to drive, and sensitivity doesn't tell you much about a speaker other than how much power it needs to drive it, but running higher sensitivity speaker can help give the amp or receiver an easier job and maybe it'll sound better for that. AVRs tend to sound a little sweeter when a sub is introduced to share the load. Going for better speakers that draw less power will be equally beneficial.
Have a think about your priorities too. If space is tight then don't buy big speakers expecting them to work okay in cramped conditions.
Read the reviews but also bear in mind that reviewers can blow hot or cold on a product depending on how their publication is funded and whether they have an agenda. Take everything with a pinch of salt.
