Kay From France, joined Mar 2002, 1884 posts, RR: 3 Posted (5 years 6 months 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1008 times:
I have a budget of about 700 or 800 Euros to spend on a hi-fi system. I found that I could buy a decent Harmann Kardon home entertainment system including dvd player (digital, optical, etc) with 5 speakers and a sub, OR simply buy a classic stereo amplifier and a pair of speakers. I can conncet the TV to that amp as well.
It was difficult to test all that at the store, but I imagine that home entertainment systems, geared towards movies with all these little speakers, aren't the hardcore sound system for heavy music use that a "connoisseur" looks for, and a classic amp and two big speakers can have a greater pounding and sound quality. Plus a DVD can be connected to it.
Luv2cattlecall From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1648 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (5 years 6 months 2 weeks 4 days ago) and read 1001 times:
Hey, in my experience, Harmon Kardon makes great products and they're worth their price. If you want the pounding, all you need to do is upgrade your subwoofer...something with 8" or more should do it depending on the size of the room. For anything under a few thousand, it's really a lost cause looking for great bass from each speaker, and there's really no harm to splitting up the bass and mid/highs. If you have the model number of the Harmon system you're looking at, I'll be glad to let you know if I have any takes on that one specifically. I would choose the 5 speaker setup over the 2 speaker one any day though...there's no substitute for having the sound actually surround you! Two big tips, not sure if either will be relevant to you though: 1) Don't buy Bose! No matter what, don't do it! They're overpriced, and they have bass, but only in the store setup...and they lack clarity. I love their aviation headset and the sounddock, but anything else is money down the drain. and 2) Don't let anyone talk you into expensive cables, a power conditioner, or anything like that. Here we have a brand called "Monster Cables" that sells 6 foot optical cables for $100.... the store makes a good chunk of profit (around $30) on that since all stores must sell it at that price and there's no competition so they'll tell you that not buying their speaker cables, hookup cables, etc is a mortal sin. There was a double-blind test done awhile back that proved that a regular lamp cord sounded just as good...all you need is medium gauge copper wire. PM me if you have any more questions!
When you have to breaststroke to your connecting flight...it's a crash!
Kay From France, joined Mar 2002, 1884 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (5 years 6 months 2 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 988 times:
Interesting you should say that. For some reason, two salesmen in showrooms have told me the opposite till now (whcih is what led to my believing this) the music sound isn't as perfect as a classic stereo with big speakers (which, i admit, I would love to have in my living room).
Another twist: the main source of music will be my laptop!
Luv2cattlecall From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1648 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (5 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 963 times:
Quoting Kay (Reply 2): Another twist: the main source of music will be my laptop!
If that's the case, I'd definitey suggest buying an external soundcard with optical out. Which system did you end up going with?
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