Time to Upgrade?

[Furious911]

Hey guys I wanted to get some info from you guys about whether or not I need to upgrade. At the moment I have a system that is probably 5 or more years old or so. Its your run-of-the-mill BestBuy Yamaha bundles with 5.1 sound. Not the cheapest but not the most expensive by far.

Now this thing has Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro logic I and II and optical audio, etc, which is what I'm using now for my PS3 Blu watching needs. I dont know or even have a clue how to tell if "TrueHD" is supported.

I just recently bought a house and went into the attic to mount the 4 surround satellites in the corners of the room and my center and base both reside near/on my entertainment unit.

The satellites are kinda heavy which makes me think they aren't really generic and this thing can put out some major sound, but I'm wondering if upgrading would make it sound better. My living room is rather small, its not tiny but its long and not deep, the way I have my setup, like I sit about 10 ft or less from the TV lol.

I don't need or want loud sound but I want good sound and I wanna hear the satellites etc. Or the sound move from front to back etc.

I have a friend who has a Yamaha receiver and 7.1 JPL speakers and it sounds amazing, like during a football game you can hear outta the back speaker someone cheering in the stands and stuff, another friend has a Bose satellite setup and his sound just plain seems to sound better. I set both of their stuff up too so I know they didn't tweak anything, they have no clue lol.

Also why do receivers have HDMI? How does the setup go? HDMI from PS3 to receiver then receiver to TV? Is it better then optical audio that I have now?

So my question is, is my setup fine for Blu in a small living room with optical audio etc, would upgrading be worth it? What would I upgrade too, I don't have much of a budget and don't need loud thumping sound, just "cleaner" sound if that makes any sense.

Thanks guys, any advice would be great.

[wdhays]

To try to answer some of your questions:

I would venture to say that a 5-year old receiver doesn't support True-HD.

Upgrading to True-HD & DTS-HD does seem to be worth it to most people in this forum, from what I've seen. I would agree; we're talking lossy vs. lossless here. To me it's like mp3 vs. CD. There's a difference.

HDMI carries audio & video now, so yes. You will run it to the receiver, then out to the TV. -A side benefit; a lot of receivers up-convert all video signals to HDMI- meaning only one cable out to the TV. Some up-scale to 1080i & 1080p, meaning possibly better picture quality.

If there is a Bose system that sounds better than yours, then I would have to say that yours needs something. My first thought is the 4 speakers you have mounted in the attic. If 2 of these are your front(main) speakers, then I think I've found part of the problem.

Your fronts need to be positioned within 2 feet vertically of your center & preferably about 8'-10' apart. The rears ideally would be down about 2' from the ceiling, but not quite so critical as the fronts.

The only way I would leave front speakers up in the ceiling, would be if they were "presence" speakers.-I think Yamaha receivers have outputs for this. This may be a good option if you go with floorstanders for fronts.

The most highly regarded entry-level receivers seem to be the Yamaha 663 or Onkyo 606.

[callas01]

look at AbesofMaine.com and 6ave.com one has a Denon 2308 for about $480 and the other has a Pioneer Elite for under $500. That is around the same price as many of the entry/mid level recievers are going on Amazon or at the local BB's and they are better receivers.

[lucv13]

LOL yes you've come to the right place - we do know how to spend money here

[Furious911]

Hey guys thanks for the tips, when I said I have stuff in the attic, what I meant was I went into the attic to run the wires, I have a satellite in each corner of my room, up in the corner, mounted to the wall. so they aren't in the ceiling.

I was looking at this one because of the price, its got HDMI, even tho it doesn't specifically say TrueHD or lossless anywhere that I saw:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1195598242555

[callas01]

I wouldn't go down that road. Try and get a Sony STR-DG720. IMO

[wdhays]

The cheapest receiver, of any brand, that I find with HD decoding is the Sony STR-DG820, for about $320.00 right now. I wouldn't recommend anything cheaper unless you are not after HD decoding or are considering used.

I wouldn't go with the Insignia either.

I still recommend: Your fronts need to be positioned within 2 feet vertically of your center speaker & preferably about 8'-10' apart. Your center should be as close to your display as possible.