How should I upgrade my home theater system?

Question

My home theater system sounds like crap. I have an entry-level dvd player and A/V receiver. The picture is ok, but the sound is real tinny. I have a pair of Bose 201s and a subwoofer (decent speakers). Any ideas? Should I invest in a better DVD player or a better A/V receiver?

Answer 1

Changing the DVD player won't help. Unless your A/V receiver is really bad, that's unlikely to help either.

The normal answer to this is "new speakers" since they have the most significant effect on your sound. But with 201's (not a bad bookshelf speaker despite the rampant and often deserved anti-Bose sentiment here) and a sub, the last thing your sound should be is "tinny".

I suspect you need to look at changing some settings to make sure your current setup is optimized before you start changing things.

If you can provide more details about your receiver (brand/type/model) and your subwoofer (type and connection method) more specific advice might be possible. In the meantime, here are some things to check:

- Make sure you understand and have set up your bass management properly. How is your sub connected? Is there a variable crossover and have you tried changing that setting? A likely cause of tinniness might be crossing over at too high a frequency and losing the mid-bass response of the main speakers.

- Make sure your main and center speakers are in proper phase (red/black connections the same to all speakers).

- Make sure you are using optimum dynamic range settings (this might be a setting both in the DVD player and/or the receiver). Unless you specifically want reduced dynamics (such as for late-night viewing or in an apartment), try setting all options to maximum range (or minimum compression) to add punch.

- Make sure your surround levels aren't set too high; in normal use you should barely notice your surrounds.

- Don't be afraid to use the tone controls: "flat" sound often winds up sounding tinny in real-world environments where high-frequencies resonate more than lower freqs.

Answer 2

Hi there.The reason your sound is crap is because the signal that travels to your speakers from your DVD player has deteriorated.This is where other audio "experts" disagree with what i am saying and will be quick to give me the "'THUMBS DOWN" but take no notice of them .I will explain why what i say makes sense. The most important component in your system is the SOURCE in your case the DVD player.The sound processing of your player is probably only average never the less the quality of the musical signal coming out of this first component defines the ultimate ability of the rest of your system.Every other component in the system merely passes on this signal with greater or lesser accuracy .None can ENHANCE or IMPROVE it .Other home theatre enthuists cannot grasp this point .They refuse to accept what is going on. Some have actually worked in Audio before home theatre took off and still cant see the point.

After the signal leaves your player via the Interconnect cables it arrives at the Pre-Amp stage.where you have volume adjustment, input switching and a gain (amplified)stage.The signal it passes is still very small and if any distortions are introduced then they are passed onto the Power Amp .to be furthur amplified and as the Power Amp drives the speakers this amplified distortion will be passed onto the speakers to be mixed with their sound.

So the bottom line is to keep that signal from the Source to the Seakers as unchanged as possible (except for gain).This can only happen if you start from the Source and improve each item in the chain leaving the speakers to last.More expensive speakers cannot make the signal better. Sure you might get a different sound but it vwill not be a distortion free sound.
I hope you can understand what i am saying .Audiophiles around the world know this is the correct way of doing things to get the best sound available from your system.


In Order Of Improvement :
SOURCE
INTERCONNECTS
PRE-AMP
POWER-AMP
SPEAKER CABLES
SPEAKERS.

Answer 3

I would upgrade your reciever to get those speakers booming. Bose blows so sell those and get some decent ones. Most important i think is to properly set i up. go through your manual (read it) and make sure your getting the most out of what you have. For instance...If it sounds "tinny" i would check to see if your fronts are set to small when they should be set to large.
If money is an issue wait on the DVD player until X-mas time.

Answer 4

That's a tough one. Chances are to get really improved sound, you'll need to sell what you have an get a new system. Sound quality is most often related to speaker quality, but if you don't have good electronics, there is little point in getting great speakers. Onkyo makes some very good all-in-one systems which you might like better. They are reasonably priced & good quality.

Answer 5

http://www.amazon.com/BOSE-201-V-Stereo-Loudspeakers-Pair/dp/tech-data/B00006L7RT/ref=de_a_smtd/104-2531090-6985512?ie=UTF8&qid=1182468479&sr=8-1

Bose is a great marketing company that makes idiotic sheep think that spring clip, no measured spec speakers are the best.