I’m in the middle of a gradual makeover of my HT. First step will be to replace very old failing BR player with a Panasonic UB820 4K.
Next will be an upgrade to a SONY OLED TV and a new sound bar. (Prefer sound bar over receiver/speakers due to room constraints and desire for simplicity and aesthetics in connecting devices.)
Regarding the audio, biggest “need” is gaining significant improvement in hearing movie and TV dialog — an issue cited by many in this forum. Clarity in “surround” effect is important, but it is less important to me than clear dialog.
Quality of music sound, via both CDs and streaming, is also very important. Finally, budget is not a factor, but obviously don’t want to needlessly overspend either.
After lots of pick and shovel work, my finalists are:
Polk Audio MagniFi MAX ($500)
Yamaha YSP-2700 ($1200)
Some distinctions:
- Channels: Polk, 3.1; Yamaha, 7.1
- Speakers: Polk, 2 tweeters, 1 midrange, 4 woofers; Yamaha,16 — all midrange
- Subwoofer: Yes on both. But only Yamaha offers ability for either wireless or wired connection
- Freq Response: Polk, 35-20k; Yamaha, 40-22k
- RMS Power: Polk, 180; Yamaha, 27
- Both have dialog enhancement features
- Both have same number of HDMI inputs and outputs, both have ARC, neither have eARC
- Both have 4K HDMI video pass-through
- Both have HDMI CEC
- Both have excellent reviews (But the Polk has a large number of very negative reviews because of a problem with popping and crackle in the subwoofer. I spoke to both Polk and Crutchfield about it, and both say it's been fixed with a firmware update. Still, not sure I should trust that.)
So with everything described above in mind, would be grateful for opinions and rationale: is the Yamaha truly worth the price, or would the Polk do just fine?
Thanks in advance.
Next will be an upgrade to a SONY OLED TV and a new sound bar. (Prefer sound bar over receiver/speakers due to room constraints and desire for simplicity and aesthetics in connecting devices.)
Regarding the audio, biggest “need” is gaining significant improvement in hearing movie and TV dialog — an issue cited by many in this forum. Clarity in “surround” effect is important, but it is less important to me than clear dialog.
Quality of music sound, via both CDs and streaming, is also very important. Finally, budget is not a factor, but obviously don’t want to needlessly overspend either.
After lots of pick and shovel work, my finalists are:
Polk Audio MagniFi MAX ($500)
Yamaha YSP-2700 ($1200)
Some distinctions:
- Channels: Polk, 3.1; Yamaha, 7.1
- Speakers: Polk, 2 tweeters, 1 midrange, 4 woofers; Yamaha,16 — all midrange
- Subwoofer: Yes on both. But only Yamaha offers ability for either wireless or wired connection
- Freq Response: Polk, 35-20k; Yamaha, 40-22k
- RMS Power: Polk, 180; Yamaha, 27
- Both have dialog enhancement features
- Both have same number of HDMI inputs and outputs, both have ARC, neither have eARC
- Both have 4K HDMI video pass-through
- Both have HDMI CEC
- Both have excellent reviews (But the Polk has a large number of very negative reviews because of a problem with popping and crackle in the subwoofer. I spoke to both Polk and Crutchfield about it, and both say it's been fixed with a firmware update. Still, not sure I should trust that.)
So with everything described above in mind, would be grateful for opinions and rationale: is the Yamaha truly worth the price, or would the Polk do just fine?
Thanks in advance.
