Home Theater System & Stereo System?

A LOT of my audiophile friends use subwoofers. These are a lot easier to place in the sweet-spot for bass reflections. The location of the left/right speakers are done to "image" the sound for the listener, but these locations are usually bad for bass. A separate subwoofer is actually easier to calibrate, not more difficult.

I asked a salesman about the difference between speakers for music and speakers for home theater and his answer was interesting but seems to be true:

"Music is about accuracy, home theater is about impact."

This is why you can buy a set of 5 speakers for $500-$1,000 and have a great home theater, but when playing good music (from a CD and not a highly-compressed MP3) you can sometimes hear the compromises that had to be made for the low price.

Some of my friends have a budget-but-decent HT system in the living room for movies and family, but put their 2 channel music system in a different room. (This is because of practicality - Most rooms are not large enough for 7 speakers or 2 racks of electronics and when Dad wants to chill out with music - he has to bump the family out of the TV room.)

So my suggestion is you DO want 2 audiophile quality speakers and a separate amp but so you can put it in a separate room.

MY OTHER ADVICE:

Take time.

"Anticipation" is a part of this hobby. Get some audition CD's of your favorite groups and music and take them around to stereo stores to audition speakers. Make notes, read reviews, plan your purchases. Have fun. Remember: it is about the journey, not just the destination.

If it were me and on a budget - I might put together this system:

- Magnapan MMG-1 speakers: $660/pair

- Subwoofer kit from Dayton Audio: $325

- Pair of 150 wpc Monoblock amps from auction site like Audiogon: $200

- Either an AV receiver with pre-outs to drive sub/monoblocks or a pre-processor from Outlaw or Adcom or others: $300

( I like the idea of an AV Receiver with pre-outs for the music system because it gives you options for later use. A pre-amp system for 2 channels can only do 1 thing. )

Hope this helps.

For TV in a small room: 5.1 surround sound system with small satellite speakers. For any size room, music sounds a lot better on a home stereo system than it does on a surround sound system.

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The Home Entertainment systems now days are normally set up to handle both. Older ones were not for the reasons you state. The systems now are meant to run ipods, radio, internet and tv through them so they work with all types of sound. If your system is not an old one it should be fine.

I definitely would not use two independent systems in the same space. If you want to set up a separate room for a dedicated critical listening system then definitely you have to have a complete new system but if you plan to listen to music in the same space then definitely not.

There can be different optimizations for music vs home theatre systems but speakers that are good for music will also be good for home theatre. Some negatives for music like a speaker sounding slightly forward or hard may not be as big a negative for home theatre, these may add a little bite to sound effects like bullets etc and even offer an advantage. Regardless, a more laid back music speaker will still sound fine for theatre.

A good critical music system will not have a TV or projection screen between the speakers. It becomes more a matter of setup optimization than equipment choice. For critical listening you want a nice room with enough space to place the speakers at least three or four feet from the back and side walls and plenty of room in front to place your listening chair in the sweet spot and still more room behind you. You don't want any obstructions like having the TV between the speakers.

So what it really comes down to is that you can't really use the same space for a finely optimized music system more than not being able to use the same speakers or receiver. You don't need new equipment, you need a new room.

You say you are pleased with your system as a home theatre, how does it sound to you for music? If this is also pleasing then I would say you are all set. If not then maybe you do want to upgrade your system but not necessarily with the mind set of transforming it from a "home theatre" system to a "music" system. Any upgrades of speakers or receiver will benefit both experiences.

As for music and subwoofers the simple solution is to use two subwoofers keeping them stereo if possible. This will be difficult to do with a receiver, you really need the crossovers and amplification to be external. Unless you are willing to upgrade to a receiver having preamp output plus adding external X-over and amps you compromise by selecting main speakers capable of as low frequency as possible and run the two subwoofers in mono. If you select main speakers that can do at least 40 Hz or below with authority and use two subwoofers one each side that will offer an advantage for both music and movies compared with smaller speakers crossed at 80 Hz and a single subwoofer. You don't have to have mains that can get to 20 Hz but the lower you cross to a mono subwoofer the easier it is to smoothly integrate it with your mains and easier still if you use two subwoofers.

mk

Good quality audio speakers also sound good with home theater but not always the other way around, I have two systems.. I have a home theater system Onkyo; Boston Acoustic based which I play movies Pandora; networked MP3's and almost everything on it... I had to tweak this set up quite a bit to get it to sound right for me with both music and movies, the main problem was that the rear speakers were too loud for surround music, when calibrated for movies... and too soft for movies when calibrated for music but I was able to get a good compromise after spending a lot of time making minor adjustments... also the sub needed adjustment also... but I also have an analog system using energy speakers and a NAD amp...mostly I am using NAD because they have a good phono pre amp and I an using this system mostly to play Vinyl....and yes the analog system is much more musical and satisfactory but it is also is a lot more delicate and time consuming just to hear some music...a lot of set up and tweaking almost every-time I decide to play something, mostly cleaning the records... I also use an old DVD player with this set up to play CD's and they also sound good and more satisfactory than on the surround...I'm not sure if this is just a psychological effect or if there is actually something else that is causing this better cables more intimate sound better amps etc...??? I am also in the process of making some kit speakers I got the Energy speakers as kind of a referance speaker, if the speakers I make sound better than the Energy I am happy if they sound worse then back to the drawing board....I also have some Magnaplanars in the garage that a friend wants me to sell, for him, I have tried those out too but they take up too much room and they need to be placed quite a bit out into the room to sound good also they take lots of power probably would sound best with about 250RMS watts a channel or more....

Good quality speakers should sound great for whatever you throw at them.

I personally would not waste the money on a second receiver. Your current setup should sound good for music. If you play around with the EQ and surround settings, you should be able to find a setting that works.

"Audiophiles" look down their noses at the home theater stuff but they look down their noses at pretty much everything so why let it bother you? Please don't become one of them.

as far as speakers, it depends on what youve got, a onyko home theatre in a box wont sound as good as jbl es series will playing music.

Generally, audiophiles perfer stereo or even mono to multichannel setups. But its how it sounds to you thats important, try playing your denon in 2.0 or 2.1 mode and see how music sounds.

Like the previous guy implied play around with what you got before spending any money.

Stick with the Denon. Trust your ears.