Is a home theater even worth it or doable?


Please be honest with me. I'm a huge TV  movie fan as I'm sure many of you are, and in my youth I used to have a Denon setup, blu-ray, etc. I loved the experience. Fast forward 25 years and now I just stream my tv and movies off Netflix, HBO Max, and Hulu. We are doing a new addition where we have an open space concept. I see myself continuing to stream in the future, but would like a clean sound at least. I am treating myself to an 85" TV not sure the make model yet, but I want a big one. Does it make sense for me to even invest in something more then a sound bar given my streaming and open concept? If so, what type of setup should I consider or if I should prewire something up and where would that be? Thanks for your advice.
 

cody012

Showing 1 response by whart

I’ve run several large home projection systems and they were always separate from the two channel hifi. At one point, I was using all ARC tube amps just for home theater, with a projector, native rate scaler and various inputs, there was Blu, HD, and eventually streaming. I used big Snells and and 18 and 15 inch Velodynes, with Meridan controller, etc. I also used a McI controller -pre-pro.

I still run top tier hi-fi, but one area where trickle down has occurred is home theatre. In the old days, a Farjoudja line quadrupler was 20k; now it is a cheap chip in most TVs or pre-pros. I had my share of hi-end pre pros and the market for those diminished. The quality I get from a 3 grand pre-pro into McI solid state and 5.1 plus good sub and big flat screen is more than adequate for my needs. I sort of lost interest in re-creating the theatrical experience (though it was fun in the day, starting in the ’90s with big CRT projectors and laser disc), but the quality/cost is ratio is better for the consumer now- you get more quality for the money and the gear is far less massive in terms of equipment installation.

I dunno about sound bars. I like the rear channel effects, a lot of stuff I watch is in 4k and sometimes in Atmos, though I didn’t set up all those additional speakers.

Maybe I’m just satisfied with less, but honestly, TV sound has limits given how sound tracks, dialog, etc. are patched together and as long as I get good quality video signal (I have Google fiber at 1 gig, so monster bandwidth for cheap), I just stream movies and tv series. For what it is, it is fine.

Audio for serious listening is a different matter in my book which is why, no matter how elaborate the video system, I kept the two channel set up separate.