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New to home theater gear; looking for opinions on my setup (1 Viewer)

liberty610

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Hi all,

A little over a week ago I upgraded my LCD tv to a LG OLED C9 55" Tv. I never understood the hype about 4K until saw one of these work their magic. I have been more then thrilled with it thus far, and show it off to everyone that visits.

Purchasing this TV has triggered the tech geek in me to update my sound system to go with it. My most recent home theater purchase was a simple home theater in-a-box setup from Sony that I bought back in 2007 (with a passive sub woofer), and I wanted to upgrade to a more legit setup.

I do a little bit of everything when it comes to media. I run a small project studio where I do small to mid-sized video and audio production projects, so multimedia is a huge hobby of mine. High res audio, video editing, etc. I have a new Asus Wifi 6 ready router with a NAS setup with movies, photos, and music that I like to stream to devices throughout the house. So when I started looking up AVR units, I was surprised how far they have come with including multiple HDMI ports, Wifi, Bluetooth, etc.

Upon doing my research, I started piecing a system together. Right now, because of some hurtles with my room as well as budget reasons, I do not plan on doing a surround sound ordeal until later. I have started with a 3.1 setup.

I do currently have an AVR, but the choice is in limbo, and I'll explain that in a moment. But here is what I have pieced together so far:

-Receiver: Sony STR-DN1080 7.2 Channel Dolby Atmos ($474.88 Amazon)
-Subwoofer: Polk Audio PSW111 8" Subwoofer ($201.00 Amazon - The next day it jumped to $300 for some reason so I got a little lucky there)
-Front/Main Speakers: A pair of Polk Audio RTiA7 (Open Box Deal - $612.18 Crutchfield)
-Center Speaker: Polk Audio Polk Audio Signature Series S35 (Comes tomorrow - Amazon $219.42)

Now, I JUST purchased all of these items last week between Wednesday and Thursday. To my agitation, the Sony receiver dropped in price $50 as of yesterday, and Amazon wouldn't do any sort of price match unless I sent the entire unit back and re-ordered it. So, with having a few days to use the Sony, I found a couple things some what annoying with it, (not a Bluetooth button on the remote - needing to turn the TV to switch to Bluetooth or go to the receiver physically, and switching between inputs is a bit buggy/laggy and sometimes causes black screens until I reboot) and the $50 price drop just put my over the edge. I have decided to return it. I do like the sound overall, but lets be real here... using standard built in TV speakers for the last several years. and a cheaper home theater in a box system, it wasn't going to take much to improve my sound quality.

Right now the Denon ARV-X2500h is in the same price point as the Sony. After talking to a couple reps at Crutchfield.com and reading a few forums and articles, I am now awaiting the Denon receiver as it seemed to be the more suggestion option. I don't plan on going above a 3.1 setup until after the holidays next year when it's in the budget, and I am not sure if I'll ever be able to go higher then a 5.1 or a 5.1.2 setup. But I do have everything Atmos ready between my Xbox One X and LG tv though. So I wanted a future ready AVR to go with it

My connected devices include a TiVo DVR, an Xbox One X, a PS4 Pro, and the LG OLED. Is the Denon a better choice in the opinion of the more experienced folks here? I know personal preferences will always be a factor, but the more I looked into the Denon, the more it seemed like a slightly better choice. Especially with smart phone app options and the tech they use to configure the speakers.

Looking for opinions from others who have been at this longer then me! It's been a while since I have been motivated for home theater! Thanks for reading/replying.
 

Adam Gregorich

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I second Todd. When you decide to move forward with surround sound I highly encourage you to look at going with an Atmos configuration.

In my option its not the increased resolution to 4k that has you amazed with the set, its the amazing black levels that you can get with OLED screens and depending on your viewing sources its HDR content (High Dynamic Range). You can get this with a UHD player and through some streaming services like Vudu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, iTunes, etc. depending on what you are watching. Look for HDR/ Dolby Vision logos on content you are streaming and check your TV manual to make sure you have HDR turned on.
 

liberty610

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Thanks for the replies guys.

I have the Denon receiver was totally the way to go. I am thrilled with it compared to the Sony. I hope to eventually go with a Atmos setup, but it depends on a few things. My room is a little difficult on the lay out for speakers. I won't have the best space. Mounting them to the ceiling would be an option, except I can't stand the thought of wires being all over the place. I am looking into different options, though.

I know about the HDR feature. I have been watching HDR content for sure. I have accounts to various services. I use Vudu a lot and I have an Xbox One X for 4k blu ray playback. One of my recent favorites is the John Wick franchise.

Speaking of streaming services, I use Vudu for my digital movie choice when I redeem codes from blu rays I buy. I see that Wal-Mart maybe putting it up for sale? What happens if they happen to go under? I would hate to loose my digital locker with them... I am kind of new to the digital world for movies. I am not a huge movie buff, but the ones I do enjoy I go for the disc/physical media. What would you suggest using as a main digital movie service?
 

Todd Erwin

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Speaking of streaming services, I use Vudu for my digital movie choice when I redeem codes from blu rays I buy. I see that Wal-Mart maybe putting it up for sale? What happens if they happen to go under? I would hate to loose my digital locker with them... I am kind of new to the digital world for movies. I am not a huge movie buff, but the ones I do enjoy I go for the disc/physical media. What would you suggest using as a main digital movie service?
Sign up for Movies Anywhere (if you haven't already done so) and connect it to Vudu (Movies Anywhere walks you through on how to do that pretty easily on their website). That should protect any movies you have purchased that were released by Warner, Fox, Disney, and Sony to also be available on other retailers such as Apple TV (aka iTunes), FandangoNow, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video to name the majors. You can also view your Movies Anywhere library on the Movies Anywhere app, which is available on most Smart TVs, Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc. As for any other purchases (such as Lionsgate, Paramount, etc), I'm certain if Walmart decides to shutter their Vudu service rather than sell it, to avoid consumer backlash, they will set up a plan to transition their customers to another service without losing most if not all of their content. And if it gets sold, unless the purchasing company is completely inept and incompetent (which is what happened with CinemaNow), I doubt anyone would notice any change in service.
 

liberty610

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Thanks for the reply! I have setup a Movies Anywhere account already, I just didn't go through the details of it real well yet. I was in the middle of doing other things when I set it up.

Thanks for the info! I'll be sure to look into it.
 

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