I've recently purchased a Samsung Q990C and so far I'm really happy with it. I want to get the best out of it and was hoping someone could give some advice on rear speaker placement.

My room is a strange shape, but basically where I sit I have my TV in front with the soundbar underneath. My sofa is on the other side of the room, a little distance from the wall behind me, enough that I am able to place the rear speakers just behind me and to each side, around ear level (ish). However, there is no wall on mi right side as my room is L shaped, so there is nowhere for the right rear speaker to bounce the audio from it's side speaker back in to the room.

What I was thinking was I could change the setup in the Samsung SmartThings app and put the rear speakers in to front speaker mode, and swap them over so the Right is on the Left and vice-versa. In my mind, this would mean the side-facing speakers on the rears would be facing in to the room rather than out, but would be on the correct side.

Would this cause any major issues in terms of the audio? I'm thinking this could affect the upwards firing audio but would it really be that much of an issue? Would I be better off just having the speakers in their "correct" positions with the right one firing on to open space?

If it helps the distance from my seating position to the TV is approx 4 - 5 metres.

Hey everyone, I've been looking at upgrading to an AVR for a 5.1.4 home theater. Budget is ideally less than $2k CAD, but could stretch it a bit if it's actually beneficial. I've been eyeing either the Onkyo TX-NR7100 ($1800 CAD) or Onkyo RZ-50 ($2200). The biggest difference seems to be the higher power output to the speakers and the addition of pre-amp outputs.

In general it's quite a jump in price from 5/7.1 to 9.1 and higher, and these two Onkyo options seem to be the most reasonably priced for their features. For comparisons, the 9.4 Denon 3800h goes for $2250, and 9.2 4700h is on sale currently for $2520. I've also read there have been some issues with the HDMI 2.1 ports on the Denon products but this may have been fixed with more recent versions?

My LCR speakers are 2x in-wall Polk 265-RT and 1x Polk 255C-RT, surrounds are 2x OWM3, rear Atmos are also 2x OWM3, and front Atmos are 2x Micca R-8C. A bit of a hodgepodge of speakers but due to room size and couch placement, ceiling joists spacing, and general appearance requirements, this is what we settled on.

Would anyone be able to weigh in on whether or not the pre-amp outputs are worthwhile or give their experience with these amps or any alternatives? Thank you kindly for your help!

Not sure whether to post this to here or [email protected], so I'll just start with here then cross post if that's a thing Lemmy can do.

So my fiancée brought over some old Battlestar Galactica blu-rays. This one basically. And it seems to only output in stereo 2.0 LCPM. The only suggestion I've seen is to change the settings in the Blu-ray Audio Output menu to either PCM or Bitstream, but I've done that and nothing has changed. Also changed it in the normal settings menu to AV Amplifier and LPCM or Dolby, and neither has done anything. Now, it is being output through a soundbar that doesn't accept DTS or DTS:HD (the Bose 600), which is fine that it changes to PCM, but you think it would at least change to PCM 5.1 instead of stereo PCM 2.0.

After searching around the internet, I saw people suggest PS3 or Xbox Series X, which can apparently downmix DTS to Dolby Digital 5.1. I don't have an Xbox, but I do have a PS3, so I tried that out and sure enough, after spending like 30 seconds messing with settings, and playing the blu-ray, I'm getting that LPCM 5.1 as the output audio format and it all sounds so much better. There's an actual center channel so I can understand characters, and the surrounds are being used, etc. Apparently if I could find an optical output cable I can probably even get it to Dolby Digital 5.1, too, but not sure if that's worth buying an extra cable for. LPCM 5.1 is a little quiet, but otherwise sounds fine.

So, what's the deal? Is the PS5 a worse blu-ray player than the PS3 or Xbox Series X? That doesn't make any sense. I'd prefer if I could play old BDs through my PS5 to keep 4k capabilities, as it does look a little worse visually on my PS3, but they sound so much better that I'll probably keep using it for now.

Tl;dr: Does anyone know how to get PS5 to output Blu-ray DTS audio as LPCM 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of defaulting to 2.0?

My setup: PS5 hdmi to TV. Soundbar eARC to TV. When I used my PS3, I just switched PS5's hdmi to the PS3.

Do I have to buy a set for 5.1 surround audio, or can I just buy 5 speakers and one subwoofer separately to potentially save money and link them to my AVR?

Related question: does anyone know a good resource for DIY subwoofer repair?

Hey all, Moving and looking to get a little bit in to home theater. I've been going back and forth between the Denon AVR-1700h, the Yamaha RX-v6a. Are there other options I should be looking at?

I'd like it to be able to handle whole home audio. The SiriusXM on either of those is a big selling point for my wife. From what I've read the Denon is the more forum recommended, mostly because of Yamaha's poor handling of a hardware fault, but those are mostly cleared up now. I like all the features of the Denon, but the Yamaha looks better and my lazy side likes the option for wireless surround eventually.

I keep looking at higher end systems but I'd need a really good reason to jump up with the price that comes with it.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

I know it's pretty empty right now but home theater is one of my favorite topics and I love looking at people's setups!

Right now my audio solution is a Pioneer VSX-832 receiver, Audioengine P4 stereo speakers, and am Audioengine subwoofer. It sounds fine but is kind of a cable management nightmare and the speakers don't actually fit on our TV stand right now so it looks a mess.

I'm considering replacing that setup with a soundbar and small subwoofer. I know real home theater nerds sneer at soundbars, but realistically we're not going to do surround sound. Our living room is super narrow so the sofa is only about 6 feet from the TV and that's with it up against a wall, so there's no putting rear speakers in here. When we tried we hated it. It just doesn't work well in the room.

I'm okay with basically a 2.1 system but I'm wondering if I could do that in a way that's compact, looks nice, and has a center channel so we can hear some goddamn dialog occasionally.

Would a nice soundbar actually be an upgrade from this situation?

For those who own one, it's been a while since the last hardware update to the Shield. Do we need more power or are we good as is? And is it still the best option?

The 7.1 receiver that we've had for quite some time feels like it's about to give up so I'm considering some kind of upgrade. I'm a bit frugal when it comes to this stuff, so I'm trying to find a good value option that won't have to be replaced too soon. I.e. I'm not looking for something really cheap that doesn't sound good, but I also don't want to spend more than necessary, as one quickly gets into diminishing returns territory.

Now I'm thinking that it's the video and digital pre-processing parts of the home cinema system that age fastest, and it feels wasteful having to replace all the power amplifiers, which is the case of an integrated surround receiver. But looking at the local stores there's a complete lack of mid-range surround pre-amps.. There are plenty of good surround receivers around €1000, but for pre-amps there's a single crap model for €500, and then the rest are €4000-20000. Do companies simply not make the product I'm looking for?

I could definitely buy a surround receiver for €1000 and be happy with it, but I know I would hate it if I had to replace it the next time we buy a new TV because it has a new HDMI version or something stupid.

I engaged with it a bit at a local Lovesac store and it seemed cool, but you know how it is with all the noise in a mall. I used to be an audiophile and mellowed out, but that doesn't mean I want something that sucks! The marketing looks ridiculous, but some reviews I've found are praising the soundstage and it is hard to know what is a paid review these days.

The big draw here is that all of the speakers would be hidden. My wife frankly does not want to see them in our living area (especially any wires). I already have a whole Hue synced light setup to the TV so I figure I'll happily compromise there, hah.

I currently have an order in for an epson 5050ub, but having 2nd thoughts. Contrast is important, and I want something that will last me a good long while. I've had my current projector since 2008, so it is long due for an upgrade. Is a projector from 2019 worth it? Are there new profits scheduled to come out soon that would have the high contrast but also have HDMI 2.1 at the <$4k price point?

Thoughts?

I've been using a projector for a while now and can't go back to the size of TVs.

That said, I do miss being able to watch TV with most of my lights on.

Start at 4:43 for most relevant section.

I have a few powered monitors already and it'd be nice if I could have them work double duty between my audio mixing (when editing) and watching movies when I'm not working. I know Atmos is a whole can of worms intended to be a money pit, but the tinkering aspect is pretty high up there on things I like doing.

Hope this picks up!