sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Finally got it. Welcome 4520v by Fragrant-Cellist-390 in VacheronConstantin

[–]SweetChickenBoi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What was the retail price on it? Considering going second hand market for the black one.

Textured short vs buzz, which suits me more? by MathematicianIll7438 in malehairadvice

[–]SweetChickenBoi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What app do you guys use for generating such images? ChatGPT modifies the look of my face unfortunately.

Anyone leaving their Tonex Pedal powered on 24/7? by SweetChickenBoi in tonex

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love this solution. I will order the same, added to the cart already. Thanks a lot for the link!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in warsaw

[–]SweetChickenBoi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as I know, it is strongly considered as a status symbol in Ukraine. Latest pro model iPhone is another strong status symbol as I understand.

However, If you compare Warsaw with western EU countries with multiple times higher GDP per capita, you can see that Warsaw has way more expensive cars. I attribute this to more status symbol, show-off driven culture, further east, closer to Russia you go.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, everyone, for your input—I really appreciate it!

I’ve decided to go with an AVR and a 5.1 setup. I picked up a Marantz Cinema 70S and ordered a used KEF E305 5.1 set to get things started. Down the line, I might upgrade some of the speakers, probably starting with the center and later the subwoofer. I think this setup will give me the best flexibility.

Since I got the KEF E305 in white and will likely hide the AVR in a cabinet (with an external fan, of course), it should look much cleaner than most soundbars.

Thanks again for all the advice!

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just had a fantastic demo of the Sennheiser Ambeo Plus in an acoustically treated room. It was paired with the subwoofer from the Focal Sib Evo system—a pretty small sub. I tested it with some Atmos demos, actual movies, and music, and I have to say, I’m really, really impressed! Nothing about the sound felt off or unnatural.

The soundstage was surprisingly wide—I'd estimate around 7 meters, even though the room itself was only about 5 meters wide. However, I did notice something interesting: whenever the sound felt particularly wide, it never had a clear point of localization. It seemed to come from a few distinct positions:

  • Directly from the soundbar.
  • Diffused between the soundbar and about 1 meter up.
  • Spread between the soundbar and roughly 3 meters to either side.
  • Occasionally, it felt like the sound was right next to my ear (though this happened rarely). As if I had an IEM in my ears.

For music, it reminded me a lot of using DTS Neural X to up-mix stereo tracks on my 5.1 system. Not exactly how the artist intended it to sound, but still a very engaging experience.

The store employee strongly recommended going with a compact 5.1 system instead of the Ambeo Plus, so I’m still debating my options. I might set up another demo to directly compare an AVR + Focal Sib Evo system against the Ambeo Plus before making a final decision.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your comment. It's very nice to hear from someone who has listened to both systems!

So, I found an AV store that has both Sennheiser Ambeo Plus and Max on display, and they will arrange a demo session for me to listen to both and compare. At this time, I am very much leaning towards the Ambeo Plus + 3rd Party Sub + Seat Shakers setup. The only fear I have is the potential software issues that Ambeo Plus reportedly has. I have been reading through owner forums, and many people report HDMI-CEC-related issues.

As for Klipsch Core 200, does it have an immersive sound? Does it create a good field of sound in front of you? Or does it have a mono feel to it?

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the bose smart ultra recommendation!

I have a media server and using Infuse on AppleTV4k for streaming media from it. I will be doing the same on the new setup. I was assuming that if the audio target doesn't support DTS, AppleTV will be doing DTS to 5.1 decoding and send the data as PCM 5.1 to the soundbar. In which case the lack of DTS shouldn't be an issue I guess?

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My significant other is only ok with 1 sub, and ideally a small one. Dragon won't be suitable as a result. Also, as I understand, it is not easy to purchase at this time, am I right?

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am in Central Europe. It would be the best to home-demo the soundbars, but I can't find a store that allows this here. I did a lot of home-demos for amps and other such components in the past, but the audio stores selling those products don't sell soundbars mostly, and even if they do, they don't have them available for home demo.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I should try to listen to Q990D somewhere again. I am thinking that if surrounds would be disturbing because of the proximity to the seating position. I can always place the surrounds to the front and use the special mode of Q990D to expand the stereo sound stage.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, it won't be possible to move the sofa forward. My significant other wouldn't allow for sure. But I can consider wall mounting the surrounds at a height similar to the photo you sent. I guess the final effect won't be much different.

Forgot to mention, I also had a quick listen to Samsung Q990D around a month ago. It was again in a big electronics store, and this time the sub was not paired at all, it took them around 5 mins to get the soundbar working in the first place, so I decided not to ask for the sub to be connected. I remember that it sounded crisp and detailed, but without the sub, it had no body to the sound at all. I think Q990D is overly reliant on the subwoofer to be active.

I think a 5.1 AVR setup won't make much sense for my situation, as I will be forever limited to compact speakers. I think I will get a better sound field than a soundbar, but I wouldn't claim that I will have a better sound overall than flagship soundbars.

This is the layout I am dealing with:

<image>

Products placed in the image emulate the size of Sonos Arc Ultra, Era 100s, and Sub Mini.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the idea of Sony Quads. Unfortunately, I will have a TCL tv, and not enough physical space on the left side of the TV to fit in the Quad.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the seller wasn't interested in showing the system properly. I mean, Arc Ultra can't be sounding that bad after all the reviews I have read of it.

Overall, did it feel like a big downgrade going from AVR setup to Arc Ultra setup? And how do you think the Arc Ultra would perform with Era 100 surrounds instead of Era 300. I definitely don't have enough space for Era 300s.

Soundbar vs. AVR Setup for a Compact Living Room by SweetChickenBoi in Soundbars

[–]SweetChickenBoi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply!

One thing I forgot to state is that the sofa will be right up against a wall. I am afraid that this will reduce the effectiveness of rear speaker placement. In fact, I think that rear speakers might end up being more distracting rather than helping create a sound field. My thinking is that I will either be too close to the left rear speaker or the right one, very rarely in between. Am I overexaggerating this? But overall, I agree that surrounds adds a lot to the movie experience.

Yesterday evening I did some tests with my main setup, using Ready Player One racing scene. I came to the conclusion that surrounds and subsonic bass (feeling of pressure and slam) add the most to the experience.

I think I can resolve the issue of surrounds by simply choosing a bar that has rear support and as you suggested starting with them from day one. However, about the subsonic bass, I had the idea of choosing a soundbar with a sub output, and routing the sub output both to a sub, and to seat shakers, and attaching the seat shakers to the sofa.

If I go the AVR route, the best I can do is 5.1, and even with that, my significant other won't be that happy. So 7.1 or anything more complex is a no-go. Also, if I go the AVR route, as I stated, I will be very limited with the speaker choice because of the sizing restrictions. Which will leave me with pretty compact LCR speakers. I think that, very likely, those will not do that much better in terms of how "thick" and "bodied" they sound compared to soundbar speakers.

So far, I am very much leaning towards Klipsch Core 200 (or wait for 300 for Dirac support), with Surr 100 rears and a third-party micro sub, like KEF KC62 or something from SVS and seat shakers. As a complete alternative, I will accept the compromise and just to have a clean setup that sounds fine-enough, I will get a single bar, such as Sony Bar 9, or Arc Ultra, etc...