The Best Home sound System ?

Question

Looking to buy a good sound system for my living room. I want the best i can buy .at this moment im looking at Bose systems. do u know any better?

i just want power and sound quoality for my movies and games.

Thankyou to everyone for they opinion. My budget is around 1500£ and i do listen music alot. Room size is 8x7m. The problem is most of these makes u sugested to me is not aviable in uk.

Answer 1

Hi.Not much information to go with.Are you only interested in a sound only set up or do you want a home theater system.? Do you want a high quality Stereo playback system or would you like a multi speaker setup for surround sound? .Do you want a surround sound Receiver or do you want a quality Stereo Integrated amplifier?.Or ,better still a separate Pre-Amplifier and Power Amplifier?.What Source components will you use (DVD/CD Player,Tape,Tuner,VCR,Satellite ,etc.)?.How many Loudspeakers do you want.? What is the size ,shape, construction, and furnishings of the room you will use.?What is your budget ? Unless you can supply these details ,i have no idea what to suggest for you.

EDIT..(1).Thanks for the extra information.Ok,so you want a sound system for watching movies and games.If you don't listen to music on its own then you won't need expensive loudspeakers for high fidelity sound reproduction.Hi Fi speakers are usually much more expensive than home cinema speakers.But if the quality of the music in a movie is important to you than i would consider buying more expensive loudspeakers that reproduce music accurately. As long as the 3 front speakers are true hi fi speakers ,the rear speakers do not have to be expensive hi fi speakers,just as long as they are made from the same manufacturer as the fronts or have a similar sound.. Now you have the choice of a 5.1,6.1 or 7.1 Receiver. (3 main front speakers plus 2 rear speakers and a sub.3 main front speakers plus 3 rear speakers and a sub.or 3 main front speakers plus 4 rear speakers plus a sub.) The size and layout of your room will determine the type and size of equipment that is best for you .
Movie sound is primarily music and voice.The musical score sets the tone and mood of the movie.The emotional involvement,suspense,tension and excitement of the movie are all a direct result of the movie's soundtrack. The only way to buy loudspeakers is to listen to as many brands as you can ,because they all sound different..When you audition audio/video systems,be sure to listen to various movie soundtracks and special effects.But always use music to make your final evaluation of the system.This is where real differences in equipment become obvious.

Could you supply a budget for your system,thanks.

EDIT...(2). In my opinion,the best Amps and Speakers are made or designed in the U.K.

[i have a Quad Power Amp. and Rogers Studio Monitor speakers, both British]

Amplifiers to consider are : Arcam, Mission, NAD, Musical Fidelity and Rotel.

The greatest compromise in a Receiver is the use of a single power supply for all three sections (the Pre-Amp section,the Tuner section, and the 5,6,7,or more Power Amplifier sections ) The needs of the Power Amplifiers section affect the Prea-Amp section,which deteriorates the sound.

A separate Pre-Amp/Processor and a separate multi channel Power Amplifier will do a much better job.
NAD have separate Pre-Amp Surround Sound Processors and muti channel Power Amps, if you are interested.

Loudspeakers to consider are : B & W, Harbeth, KEF,Mission,Monitor Audio, Mordaunt-Short,Proac, Spendor,Tannoy and Wharfedale.

I just want to say something for you to think about which will help you to understand the roll of the equipment of a home theater system.
In any audio/video system the signal is passed down a chain.Sound travels from the SOURCE component (DVD/CD Player,VCR,Tape,Satellite etc.) to the CONTROL components (Pre-Amp or Surround Processing Pre-Amp) to the POWER AMPLIFIERS and then to the SPEAKERS. The base rule is the signal can never be improved within the chain once it has started. It can only be maintained or degraded.Therefore,audio and video reproduction are damage control jobs.If we don't get quality information from the Source, the Pre-Amp,Power Amps. and Speakers cannot improve the signal.The Prea-Amp. and Power Amps. just make a bigger copy of the signal,which the Speakers reproduce.No equipment can improve the signal given to it. what is generated from the Source component will be reproduced,but not improved,in the chain.Therefore,the goal is to change the signal as little as possible.

I hope you understood what i have just written .A lot of people with a sound problem automatically blame the loudspeakers ,when in most cases, it is the electronics that are at fault. They buy new speakers and because the sound changes ,they assume it has corrected the fault, when in fact it has not.

EDIT....( 3) ..You will need good quality cables to hook everything together. I use Van Den Hul and Cable Talk Interconnects and 3 M. of Van Den Hul Speaker Cable terminated with good quality gold plated Banana plugs on one end an heavy duty gold plated Spade Lugs on the other.
This is how you buy them,already fitted with connectors.They have 3M. 5M. 10 M. pairs.I highly recommend them.

Answer 2

Bose is not very good (plastic cubes?), over-priced and gives you 1 driver where other speakers use 2. Don't get me started about the shady 'demo' they do or the heavy advertising to the elderly.... grrr

Music reproduction is about accuracy. Home theater is about impact.

Take 1 favorite CD and 1 favorite DVD to the store and audition. Take notes about what speakers sound better to you. The CD, especially if it contains favorite songs of yours, will usually show you flaws/problems with speakers that the DVD will not.

Then leave. Do not buy the first day. Come back a few days later and re-listen with different music. You might be surprised at how some speakers shift in your opinion.

But a few will sound good on both trips. Put these on your short list.

Some well respected but modest priced speaker systems are: Paradgym, Energy, Definitive Technology.

If you are 'really' into music, consider ribbon or panel speakers. The Magnapan MMG's are about $550 each. These have huge radiating surface so they can reproduce music with great accuracy and details.

Answer 3

Bose is total rubbish and can be proven so.

It is poorly made, sounds rotten and is grossly overpriced. People buy Bose, because they get caught up in the marketing hype, not because it's good sound quality. ANYTHING at the same price point as Bose (and many cheaper products) will be built better and will sound better.


OK, here's a few ideas that fall within your budget (and also sound way better than anything from Bose...):

For an amplifier, CD player and/or DVD player, check out:
Arcam
Yamaha
Audiolab
Creek
Myryad
Sony

For speakers, check out:
Kef
Mission
B&W
Q-Acoustics
Wharfedale
Acoustic Energy

(All the manufacturers listed are easily available to buy anywhere in Britain - indeed, most of them actually ARE British!)

Answer 4

Well as all the other questions ask are you looking for home theater experience or just a stereo application? Bose is middle of the road. I personally dislike Bose, just for the fact that it may sound great in the stores but that is exactly you need to do in your home to achieve the same affect. Plus that Bose has pre-made cables that are a pain to work with. There are systems that are pre-packaged all-in-one systems that use a very small amplifier and speakers that only work with that system. When you customize your system, you can get speakers and amplifiers and sub-woofers to your liking and pricing that system might be more pricey, but as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for!" It would make you the envy of your neighborhood.

Answer 5

It really depends on how much money that you have to spend. If I had an unlimited budget I'd go all McIntosh but that is out of most peoples budget including mine. Bose doesn't make very good home theater products. If you want a lot for your money check into Paradigm (which I own and love), Energy, Definitive Technology. All of these can be found in Home theater shops and are a great bang for the buck. For receivers I'd get a Denon, Sony ES line, or Pioneer Elite. Whatever kind of receiver you get make sure you get HDMI inputs and try and get receivers that play in the new sound formats of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS-HD Master Audio for future proofing reasons. Everything is going High Definintion now and if you want the best in sound and picture in the future don't skimp now. You get what you pay for.

Answer 6

First of all, Bose is not for those that want the best.

Value is not one of Bose's strong points. They

specialize in convenience and best use of space.



For the best sound for the money, I would rec-

ommend Pioneer Elite and/or Onkyo for the

electronics, and Hsu Research and/or Athena

for the speakers. Hsu for the powered sub.
.
.

Answer 7

You don't give any indication of budget but, if you get a copy of what Hi-Fi sound and vision, you will note that Bose actually doesn't rate that highly in high-end systems on a value for money basis, makes like Onkyo and Arcam leave them for dead, not my words, but the leaders in Hi-Fi publicatons.

Answer 8

If you have money to spend buy separate components such as amplifier preamp and tuner. I have a rotel amp with 2 f2 klipsch speakers and 2RF35 klipsch speakers. Both speakers are pretty large floor standing and no sub woofer is needed. The sound is truly amazing cost for everything was around 4500 dollars. I just bought it piece buy piece.

Answer 9

It is abaout balancing and matching the sound and equipment to the AV stufff it will be used with and of course the room in which it will be used.

Be in your interest to contact a firm to survey the room for you.

Bose is superb.

Good luck and enjoy your purchase.

Answer 10

bose is good med choice..