What To Look For In A Good Surround Sound System?

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PowPow

PowPow

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Nov 23, 2008
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Any sound guys here?

I have no idea what defines a quality surround system and wanna get one that will blow me away with its sound quality for gaming and Blu Ray movies. But mostly gaming.



Any new products that I should check out?

What's up with HD audio?

What do you use?



Cheers.
 


No budget really. But not ridiculously expensive.

I'd be happy to drop a couple of thousand if that means it would be really good.

But I don't like throwing money around for no reason :).
 
Do you have access to Bose retail outlets in the UK? If you do, go sit in their demonstration theatre. Their system is definitely on my list of things to buy.
 
I used to work for Bose and I really like their products and the company as a whole. Their systems are elegant, easy to use, and sound great among other things.
There definitely are better surround sound systems out there but overall you get a lot with a Bose system. In the end it comes down to what's most important to you. Do you just want the best sound possible and don't care about size or ease of use? Then a component system would probably be better.
Let us know what you're looking for and we can make recommendations from there.
 
I'll check them out. The only reason I didn't is that I've heard people throw them under the bus before.

The room is quite big so I dont really mind about the size. But I'd like it more if they looked good :).
 
People love to hate on Bose and most of the time they don't even know why. If you care about the looks then there probably isn't a better looking system out there. Go listen for yourself and decide if the sound is good enough for you. As for the price you can get their best system for around $3,000, that's not a lot for anyone no matter how much money you make. I know they have outlet stores in the UK and they probably have showcase stores as well. Outlets carry factory renewed systems and showcase stores only carry factory new systems.
 
Ok thanks. I'll see where my closest store is now.

Would it be worth getting some one to fit it and set it up? And is the calibration as much of a pain in the ass as it is for new TVs?
 
PowPow said:
Ok thanks. I'll see where my closest store is now.

Would it be worth getting some one to fit it and set it up? And is the calibration as much of a pain in the ass as it is for new TVs?
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Only if you want to have the wires hidden in your walls. If not you can easily do it yourself. They're designed to be very easy to set up, that's one of the reasons why so many people like them. If I remember correctly the system comes with a DVD that walks you through the setup process.
 
BigWill said:
Whats better?

I'm about to upgrade my oldschool cerwin vega speakers
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Starting on the lower end, you can get the Klipsch Synergy Quintet III's and a Klipsch Synergy Sub-10 or 12 for under $1k and it will sound better than any Bose system that I have ever heard. Don't just take my word for it, search for some reviews.

Here is a decent article with some reasons why Bose sucks.....

intellexual net · m k i v

I like this quote from it.....

Audio newbies often throw out the "But I heard that Bose is good!" defense, to which I respond "From who?" Was it a sound engineer, electrical engineer, materials scientist, studio engineer, sound producer, recording professional, musician, Mark Levinson? Ray Dolby? George Lucas? Anyone credible? Or was it your neighbor with the GoldStar walkman, Teac boom box, Funai mini-system, and Sylvania receiver? Perhaps the ubiquitous Bose Ads that they find in completely irrelevant magazines such as Popular Science, Times, Playboy, GQ, People, Astronomy, etc, had some sort of subliminal effect against the better of their judgment?
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Here is a 50+ page AVS Forum discussion about Bose sucking......

Why Not Bose? - AVS Forum
 
It's funny how audio equipment causes more of a debate among people than any other major purchase.

When someone buys a car do they buy a Ferrari because Car & Driver magazine say it's the best? No, they buy the right car for their needs. Same goes for a boat or a house. What is it about a sound system that makes people think they must buy outside of their needs?

Is the OP George Lucas? Is he a sound engineer? He only needs what is good enough for him and the only way he can tell if a Bose system is good enough for him is to listen to one...as I suggested. The most helpful thing we can do is recommend a product and let the OP decide for himself.

It's true, a large part of their success is due to their amazing marketing. Surely as a marketer you can appreciate that. There are a lot of other brands in different industries that charge a premium for their name, it's called brand equity. The only way you can have brand equity is by giving your customers value. In the end if there weren't so many satisfied Bose customers out there they would never be able to continue to charge the prices that they do.
 
Give it up. Bose relies on its name way too much these days. It doesn't matter what someone can or can't afford, if they can get a much better system at a much better price then they'd be stupid not to.
 
I'd go Klipsch over Bose any day, but if you're willing to drop some coin it's damn near impossible to beat MartinLogan | Home Theater Speakers and Stereo Speakers | The Great American Speaker Company. I have Bose bookshelfs and center speaker now, with a 10" Klipsch sub, and will be changing to all Klipsch this year. But it really does depend on what sounds best to your ears.

Used to work at Ultimate Electronics and those were far and away the nicest sounding speakers in the place. And they are practically another piece of art in the room.
 
geekcognito said:
Give it up. Bose relies on its name way too much these days. It doesn't matter what someone can or can't afford, if they can get a much better system at a much better price then they'd be stupid not to.
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Yes but it depends on what your idea of much better is. Is having good sound in an elegant design much better? Is having a remote control that works through walls and anywhere in your house much better? What about a brand name stereo that gets bitches naked when they come over? Will Klipsch do that? Probably not because the average girl has never heard of Klipsch but I bet they've heard of Bose.

My point is you can't sell the OP on just one feature (sound,) there are a lot of other features that add value to the product. Let him take all of those features into consideration before he decides.
 
TylerDurden said:
Yes but it depends on what your idea of much better is. Is having good sound in an elegant design much better? Is having a remote control that works through walls and anywhere in your house much better? What about a brand name stereo that gets bitches naked when they come over? Will Klipsch do that? Probably not because the average girl has never heard of Klipsch but I bet they've heard of Bose.
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You're going to be good at marketing. Focus less on creating pretty pages and more on using those Jedi abilities.
Nevermind, wrong Tyler.
 
TylerDurden said:
What about a brand name stereo that gets bitches naked when they come over?
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Tyler, man. Believe me, I'm not being mean when I say this but if you're counting on your system to get 'em wet then you're going to have to work on those skills a little bit.

I'm not bashing Bose, they've done very, very well in their marketing and crossed a lot of boundaries that others have not (magzine placement for their Wave bedside radios have done very well for them). All I'm saying is that for anyone on a budget, they can get a lot more bang for their buck somewhere else.
 
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