Don’t know nothing about stereos
February 29th, 2008, at 9:12 AM
Random question -
I’m thinking about upgrading our house’s stereo system sometime soonish, but I’ve never bought anything other than the standard shelf system (with no input jack, grr). Anybody got any suggestions?
I already know I want one of these, and I think I’m going to go ahead and order it soon.
Tags: questions
February 29th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Put good money into speakers. You don’t have to break the bank, look at Polk, Energy/Athena, and Infinity. Speaker technology doesn’t change so you will keep your speakers over time even though you may upgrade other components. I have a Denon A/V receiver that replaced an Onkyo A/V receiver, I recommend both brands. Whatever you do, stay away from that piece-of-excuse-for-audio Bose.
Is this system going to be part of a Home Theater or even hooked up to the TV? If so skip the network player you listed and opt for building a HTPC. You’ll get far more functionality and better use for your money.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am
What kind of stereo? From a glance, it looked like there were lots of options.
This system will be music only; we’re not much of a tv/movies family.
Eventually, we want speakers around the house, so I guess we want to go wireless?
February 29th, 2008 at 9:49 am
The heart of the system will be an A/V receiver. That’s where I mentioned Denon or Onkyo. Even if you won’t be using it for video you’ll be looking at A/V receivers as all of them do video to a point. You just won’t need some of the nice video switching capabilities. One of these two receivers would be a good choice.
http://www.electronicexpress.com/product?prod_id=9708
http://www.electronicexpress.com/product?prod_id=11776
You may want to move up to something that does multi-room, giving you a different signal in another room or all other rooms. For example, you listen to a CD in the kitchen while the bedroom is listening to the iPod through the receiver.
I would stay away form wireless speakers. I have yet to hear a wireless speaker install that doesn’t have some amount of interference. Run some cable or have someone else do it.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I get nightmares over the thought of running wires in our 100 year old house.
I’ll check out the links, though. I’ve got a lot to learn, obviously.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Here’s what I have.
A Yamaha AV receiver with 5.1 surround for the main listening / TV room. The reason I have this is it has a way to listen to any source in another room without disturbing the TV room. From this I go to 3 other receivers (daisy chained). I have a receiver for each pair of speakers in the house and outside. This way I can adjust the volume for each. I have a amp for the deck speakers, an amp for the front outdoor speakers, an amp for the kitchen, etc. Besides this I have local volume control in the kitchen and under the deck at the grille. For the most part you must go “wired”. I have a wireless speaker in the bedroom and it just does not cut it.
The main amp is connected to a computer so I can listen to any computer music. I have PC anywhere so I can log into it and change stations or music without going to the computer.
I did get the Roku, but as of now it is connected to a separate stand alone system in my den. I plan on getting another Roku though,for the main system.
Here’s the good part. Most all of my equipment came from our local pawn shops or the flea market. (it took a while to find good stuff) Go to the bigger ones on a regular basis for a month of so and see what you can find. I got the Yamaha for $300 including tax, it retailed for $1,100 new a couple of years before.
I have more ideas if you would like. just e-mail. I will also send a photo of my step up if you like.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Hey, I thought you couldn’t even afford a TV.
+1 on investing in good speakers. Spend more than you think you should. For music two good front speakers is all you need. (A subwoofer is nice to have, but it’s a big expense for a good one. Better to invest in two good fronts than two cheaper fronts and a sub.)
The nice thing about stereo equipment is that you can buy a piece at a time. Mostly, things don’t change much. The only recent change that’s forcing some people (me included) to buy a new receiver is the new HDMI connector format for HDTV. Even that isn’t a problem if you don’t mind manually switching your video source from TV to DVD or whatever.
On the whole house sound thing - with all the different ages in your house, how often will everyone want to listen to the same thing? If you want to be able to listen to your own music in any room an iPod will skin that cat.