Help with Home Theater System Selection?

by Jordanhill School D&T Dept

My husband desires a home theater system/speaker system for the basement. I do not know the first thing about these, can someone delight tell me a excellent quality system that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.This wont be hooked up to a TV. He desires it to play music. Our basement is set up like a bar, with a pool table, dart board, etc. Delight help!

Answer by Mike
I REALLY recommend that you find a excellent quality store to work with! Use the locater service at http://www.cedia.net .

Home theater typically refers to systems that decode encoded movies (Dolby, DTS, etc.). If he desires to listen to music, what you doubtless need is a excellent quality stereo system. There are literally thousands of choices and it would be best to get a local professional to help you make the best decisions.

I will be glad to help you more, and even make some recommendations if I can get a small more information. Just let me know.

This should be fun – delight in it!

Answer by like me
I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of bed in. Having read reviews of so many systems taking hours to synch and get right, this took 20 minutes and I’m not an audiophile . . . but I do follow directions. The signal is incredible and the BluRay far exceeds my expectations. We matched this with a 46″ LCD HD TV and are blown away. We’ve tried numerous surround sounds systems over the being and find this home theater wrap better in signal. The wireless surround system sounds fantastic but it really isn’t wireless . . . there are still speaker wires from the wireless receiver to disguise, but not running wires under the carpet is worth it. Can you tell? I recommend it.Sony BDVE500W 5.1-Channel High-Definition Blu-ray Disc Player/DVD Disc Home theater System

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Desktop Audio Upgrade


Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept
I needed some new speakers for my desktop computer system at home. I’ve been tolerating JBL creature 2.1 system for a couple of being now and I’d finally had enough. The JBLs suffered from a depressing lack of critical midrange detail. This, coupled with the fact that the kids now hog the main system in the front room, means that I can’t get access to my iTunes library readily.

A few being ago I was doing some research into speakers and I came crosswise the Quad 11l actives. They were very well reviewed in a couple of Australian and New Zealand hi-fi publications. From what I could gather at the time they were not widely available in the UK. When I did eventually track them down their price tag was £600 for a pair. Prohibitively expensive for a desktop audio system. These things are marketed as pro-level near field monitors. They have their own build in amps. Two per speaker. 60W for the bass driver and 40W for the treble driver.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I chose to have a casual squint at eBay and see if I could pick up a second hand pair at a vastly reduced price. There were none available. One seller was promotion individual speakers new for £250. apiece. Still too expensive. Crestfallen, I gave up. A couple of days later I had another look. Another seller was offering a pair of Quad actives for £229. Stunned, I had a closer look. Apart from a different badge, Quad Industrial, these looked like peas in a pod to the Quad 11l actives. Plus, they were groundbreaking new, in unopened boxes.

After a few hours of research I learned that IAG, Quad’s parent company, has an Industrial division that promote audio equipment for hotels, conference centres, address theatres, and the like. Hence the different branding. The speaker also goes by another name, the Quad QPM1. Other than that it is like peas in a pod in each way to the Quad 11l active monitor.

This was a game changer. Prior to this I was considering the Audioengine 2 model as my desktop speaker replacement. I phoned the supplier to check that there was no mistake in their pricing in the advert. They confirmed that they were on sale for £229 for the pair. I placed my order immediately.

I was very excited to hear these speakers given the reviews I’d read. I’m also a huge fan of the Quad signal. My front room consists of the Quad 12l2s as main speakers in my 5.1 kit, Quad Centre, Quad l-ite satellites for rear and Quad l-ite subwoofer. Now I could have the Quad signal as part of my desktop system at a part of the price.

Quad speakers are renowned for being extremely neutral. In other words they take nothing away from or add anything to the original recording or source. Although my Quads were all very well reviewed at the time of their release, around 2004-2007, there are other fantastic speakers out there. For me I liked the standing associated with being a Quad title-holder. I clearly liked the signal and most importantly I got all the kit at bargain prices. Most of it was ex-dem so I saved at least 20% on the normal retail price. Another vital factor was matching the speakers crosswise the whole 5.1 kit. All of them should work well together. The 5.1 kit is driven by an Arcam AVR 300 that again was ex-dem. The front speakers are bi-amped and bi-wired. This affords them 120 watts per channel and per driver.

Being a hi-fi enthusiast makes you a bit picky about what you'll listen to. So how do the Quad actives signal? Well place it this way… I’ve not stopped playing them since the minute they at home in the house. I’ve terrified everything at them. From Led Zepp to Beethoven. Alison Krauss through to Prokofiev. Unbelievable! If anything the Quad actives may signal better than the 12l2s in my front room due to the fact that their bi-amp design is impeccably matched to the drivers in a way that any other amp would struggle to better. There is plenty of power and the signal path is not compromised by additional cabling and junction points. So the signal could be characterised as being clean, clear with tight bass control and a surprising quantity of depth considering the cabinet size. Though being nearfield monitors they are very revealing! If the recording is poor it sounds poor through these. You are very conscious of it. Also after a few days I became very aware of the deficiencies of the iMac’s signal card. There was a constant low hum and other nasties such as buzzing and clicks. Hissing too. Another issue was that I wanted to run an ancient radio tuner through these. All I could lay my hands on at small notice was a phono switchbox. This worked but it was trying to control the volume of the tuner other than messing around at the back of the monitors. Not really ideal.

I realised I need to look for some kind of preamp. Nothing suitable for desktop audio seemed immediately available. Initially I started looking at pro audio solutions. Mixers and the like. Not only were these really expensive but they also took up a lot of desk space. The other thing that seemed clear was that some kind of external signal processing solution would improve on the signal the iMac was competent of producing. Looked like a DAC was vital. This took me into a whole new ballpark. It came down to two companies in the end. Cambridge Audio's Dacmagic or NuForce's uDac or Icon products. Necessarily it came down to my need to switch sources easily and the ability to control volume at the turn of a dial or via an installed remote app on an iPhone. The Dacmagic looked very tempting but there was no preamp function or headphone amplifier. This left me with the NuForce products.

NuForce's website information is confusing. Being new to the world of DACs and desktop audio I knew small about by USB as a means of feeding an external digital to analogue converter with a digital signal. I was familiar with toslink optical links from the Arcam processor but USB was new to me. So I started reading about jitter and the degrading effect is has on signal quality and the technology used by NuForce to take right these issues. I also read some astonishing reviews on their uDac, Icon 2 and Icon HDP products. Turns out NuForce are an American company that specialises in really high end digital amplifiers and DACs. We're talking thousands of pounds. Their 'desktop' range is much more affordable though. The uDac was offered to me for £55 for example. In the end I got a fantastic deal on the Icon HDP. I had to make a couple of phone calls at this point. I can't say how much I saved but I got a better bargain on this than I got on the Quads! The Icon HDP is a combined class A headphone, preamp and top quality DAC rolled into one. Perfect for my needs.

Now we have the combined effect of the iMac and its ability to feed a decently digital signal from iTunes or Spotify Premium to the NuForce Icon HDP via USB and then onto the Quad QPMs. The effect the Icon HDP had on the system was staggering. This truly is a phenomenal product. Undoubtedly the most accomplished, best sounding and most helpful piece of hi-fi equipment I've ever bought. The whole soundstage opened right up. Subtle nuances present in the recordings were revealed in extraordinary detail. A truly three dimensional space is open to the listener. Given I'm used to the full Quad/Arcam experience in the front room it's incredible how lifelike and articulate my bargain desktop audio solution really is. The Quads in themselves are remarkable for the price but the Icon HDP is literally a revelation.

As you'll see from the photos I've experimented with this system in all sorts of combinations. At one point I even hooked up the Quad sub to hear the difference it made. I concluded it's really not vital the system is already competent of producing nearly terrifying levels of deep controlled bass without it. Midrange too is superb. Treble crisp and smear free. I've been particularly enjoying the albums below. I've pretty much went into the backroom! All in all, a pretty excellent October week…

Trentemøller – The Very Last Resort
Mercan Dede – 800
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rachmaninov
Alison Krauss – Lonely Runs Both Ways
John Hiatt – Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?
Booka Shade – Memento
Avishai Cohen – Aurora

By the way the Quads are still available on eBay, last few remaining. Other speakers shown for comparison.

Desktop Audio Upgrade


Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept
I needed some new speakers for my desktop computer system at home. I’ve been tolerating JBL creature 2.1 system for a couple of being now and I’d finally had enough. The JBLs suffered from a depressing lack of critical midrange detail. This, coupled with the fact that the kids now hog the main system in the front room, means that I can’t get access to my iTunes library readily.

A few being ago I was doing some research into speakers and I came crosswise the Quad 11l actives. They were very well reviewed in a couple of Australian and New Zealand hi-fi publications. From what I could gather at the time they were not widely available in the UK. When I did eventually track them down their price tag was £600 for a pair. Prohibitively expensive for a desktop audio system. These things are marketed as pro-level near field monitors. They have their own build in amps. Two per speaker. 60W for the bass driver and 40W for the treble driver.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago I chose to have a casual squint at eBay and see if I could pick up a second hand pair at a vastly reduced price. There were none available. One seller was promotion individual speakers new for £250. apiece. Still too expensive. Crestfallen, I gave up. A couple of days later I had another look. Another seller was offering a pair of Quad actives for £229. Stunned, I had a closer look. Apart from a different badge, Quad Industrial, these looked like peas in a pod to the Quad 11l actives. Plus, they were groundbreaking new, in unopened boxes.

After a few hours of research I learned that IAG, Quad’s parent company, has an Industrial division that promote audio equipment for hotels, conference centres, address theatres, and the like. Hence the different branding. The speaker also goes by another name, the Quad QPM1. Other than that it is like peas in a pod in each way to the Quad 11l active monitor.

This was a game changer. Prior to this I was considering the Audioengine 2 model as my desktop speaker replacement. I phoned the supplier to check that there was no mistake in their pricing in the advert. They confirmed that they were on sale for £229 for the pair. I placed my order immediately.

I was very excited to hear these speakers given the reviews I’d read. I’m also a huge fan of the Quad signal. My front room consists of the Quad 12l2s as main speakers in my 5.1 kit, Quad Centre, Quad l-ite satellites for rear and Quad l-ite subwoofer. Now I could have the Quad signal as part of my desktop system at a part of the price.

Quad speakers are renowned for being extremely neutral. In other words they take nothing away from or add anything to the original recording or source. Although my Quads were all very well reviewed at the time of their release, around 2004-2007, there are other fantastic speakers out there. For me I liked the standing associated with being a Quad title-holder. I clearly liked the signal and most importantly I got all the kit at bargain prices. Most of it was ex-dem so I saved at least 20% on the normal retail price. Another vital factor was matching the speakers crosswise the whole 5.1 kit. All of them should work well together. The 5.1 kit is driven by an Arcam AVR 300 that again was ex-dem. The front speakers are bi-amped and bi-wired. This affords them 120 watts per channel and per driver.

Being a hi-fi enthusiast makes you a bit picky about what you'll listen to. So how do the Quad actives signal? Well place it this way… I’ve not stopped playing them since the minute they at home in the house. I’ve terrified everything at them. From Led Zepp to Beethoven. Alison Krauss through to Prokofiev. Unbelievable! If anything the Quad actives may signal better than the 12l2s in my front room due to the fact that their bi-amp design is impeccably matched to the drivers in a way that any other amp would struggle to better. There is plenty of power and the signal path is not compromised by additional cabling and junction points. So the signal could be characterised as being clean, clear with tight bass control and a surprising quantity of depth considering the cabinet size. Though being nearfield monitors they are very revealing! If the recording is poor it sounds poor through these. You are very conscious of it. Also after a few days I became very aware of the deficiencies of the iMac’s signal card. There was a constant low hum and other nasties such as buzzing and clicks. Hissing too. Another issue was that I wanted to run an ancient radio tuner through these. All I could lay my hands on at small notice was a phono switchbox. This worked but it was trying to control the volume of the tuner other than messing around at the back of the monitors. Not really ideal.

I realised I need to look for some kind of preamp. Nothing suitable for desktop audio seemed immediately available. Initially I started looking at pro audio solutions. Mixers and the like. Not only were these really expensive but they also took up a lot of desk space. The other thing that seemed clear was that some kind of external signal processing solution would improve on the signal the iMac was competent of producing. Looked like a DAC was vital. This took me into a whole new ballpark. It came down to two companies in the end. Cambridge Audio's Dacmagic or NuForce's uDac or Icon products. Necessarily it came down to my need to switch sources easily and the ability to control volume at the turn of a dial or via an installed remote app on an iPhone. The Dacmagic looked very tempting but there was no preamp function or headphone amplifier. This left me with the NuForce products.

NuForce's website information is confusing. Being new to the world of DACs and desktop audio I knew small about by USB as a means of feeding an external digital to analogue converter with a digital signal. I was familiar with toslink optical links from the Arcam processor but USB was new to me. So I started reading about jitter and the degrading effect is has on signal quality and the technology used by NuForce to take right these issues. I also read some astonishing reviews on their uDac, Icon 2 and Icon HDP products. Turns out NuForce are an American company that specialises in really high end digital amplifiers and DACs. We're talking thousands of pounds. Their 'desktop' range is much more affordable though. The uDac was offered to me for £55 for example. In the end I got a fantastic deal on the Icon HDP. I had to make a couple of phone calls at this point. I can't say how much I saved but I got a better bargain on this than I got on the Quads! The Icon HDP is a combined class A headphone, preamp and top quality DAC rolled into one. Perfect for my needs.

Now we have the combined effect of the iMac and its ability to feed a decently digital signal from iTunes or Spotify Premium to the NuForce Icon HDP via USB and then onto the Quad QPMs. The effect the Icon HDP had on the system was staggering. This truly is a phenomenal product. Undoubtedly the most accomplished, best sounding and most helpful piece of hi-fi equipment I've ever bought. The whole soundstage opened right up. Subtle nuances present in the recordings were revealed in extraordinary detail. A truly three dimensional space is open to the listener. Given I'm used to the full Quad/Arcam experience in the front room it's incredible how lifelike and articulate my bargain desktop audio solution really is. The Quads in themselves are remarkable for the price but the Icon HDP is literally a revelation.

As you'll see from the photos I've experimented with this system in all sorts of combinations. At one point I even hooked up the Quad sub to hear the difference it made. I concluded it's really not vital the system is already competent of producing nearly terrifying levels of deep controlled bass without it. Midrange too is superb. Treble crisp and smear free. I've been particularly enjoying the albums below. I've pretty much went into the backroom! All in all, a pretty excellent October week…

Trentemøller – The Very Last Resort
Mercan Dede – 800
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rachmaninov
Alison Krauss – Lonely Runs Both Ways
John Hiatt – Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?
Booka Shade – Memento
Avishai Cohen – Aurora

By the way the Quads are still available on eBay, last few remaining. Other speakers shown for comparison.

We have bought the bose lifestyle 35 jewel cube speaker surround signal home theater system. At a retail bose store, we heard the routine in a demo theater room. All i can say was AMAZING. The speakers are so small but it was better than a movie theater signal. I have not installed them but soon am. So, what are your opinions about the system. Plus, i have a another question, in the demo room it was a room just for a theater (enclosed room). I am plotting on to bed in it in my basement that is wide opened like a living room. how will the signal quality change. I heard the ADAPTIQ in the wrap know and adjusts to your room. So basically, does the signal quality change with a wide opened area like a large living room compared to a room just for a theater.
PS.
The bose comes with a software called ADAPTIQ, it sends out a signal then the signal bounces off the area and knows hoe your room looks like and adaptes to the room. so its perfect signal everytime. .

Answer by ColinK
Well my gut reaction to when I hear Bose and AMAZING in the same sentence is barf uncontrollably (same with each other audiophile, and any other music and speaker lover for that matter). But hey I estimate everyone is free to there opini-BLAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

But about Basement thing, part of the reason it doubtless sounded so excellent because I’m guessing you demoed it in a relatively small room with fantastic acoustical treatment, and you basement is the exact contrary, so you will lose a lot of that “fantastic” quality you heard back at the store. The signal waves will now be reflecting off the walls instead of being absorbed by acoustic panels and scattered by diffusers thus decreasing the speakers imaging (the differencing between speakers) and distorting the clarity. But hey its better than your TV speakers.

And for the ADAPTIQ software, last time I checked, no quantity of software can deify the laws of signal.

Answer by Ulrich S
Bose is over rated. Signal rooms have walls that do not reflect the signal ( no smooth or painted surfaces ) plus they are less vital. The system will signal better in a signal room. Make sure you have proper speaker wires. Their amp is doubtless better also, including the cables they use. You should question these questions before you bought the system. An Onkyo receiver with Klipsch speakers would have been much cheaper plus signal better. Sorry but you questioned.

Answer by piano guy
Can you return it? That would be my next step. In your room, they will signal tinny, weak, and sibilant. Bose designs a soundstage for dealer demonstrations, and it is specifically engineered to enhance their sorry speakers. It is ambiguous, and Bose will not allow dealers to hook them up for A-B comparisons to other equipment. Can you estimate why?

Sorry to be the bringer of terrible news, but I have seen many, many people buy these only to call me and question me to help them make these things signal decent. And, I can’t. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear…

Answer by jack
Bose really isn’t excellent it all. They are blown wayyy out of proportion. You honestly thought that they sounded excellent? Or was that your expectation before you heard them. Try klipsh. They are truly the best.

Answer by Bill D
It’s not so much the wide open area that changes the signal as it is the materials of the walls and floor. This will especially make a difference with the bass. Just take a small time to conduct experiment in placing the bass module according to the setup guide that comes with it and you should be fine.
As for how excellent or terrible bose is, it doesn’t matter what the other answerers delight in hearing, it’s what you delight in hearing. I’m pretty sure they don’t all have the exact same setup, that’s cuz we all have different tastes.
Delight in your new system!

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!