Advice on speakers or sound bar for HT setup

[smugdessert2013]

Hello,

I recently finished putting together my stereo system, and now I am looking into one for my HT and gaming.

I have a lot of consoles, all 6 HDMI ports (PSC, PS3, PS4, PS5, X360, XSX) on my Denon AVR-X1700H used, plus 3 ports in my LG G1 (PC, Blu-ray player, and the Denon).

I have a separate Stereo system for music listening, and my Denon does not have a HT bypass anyway, so I cannot use my speakers as fronts, and I also do not want my stereo amp to always be on while watching TV for example.

I was thinking of buying the Sony HT-A7000 + speakers and sub, to use it for movies and games, but I am not sure about it, I never had a sound bar and I have read a lot of articles on why not to buy one.

My question is, what would you recommend buying instead of the Sony?

 

[password1]

Acoustic Energy Aego p5 or equivalent type system. Basically an all in one surround system with everything built in so no need to have a separate amp.

Pound for pound, fake / virtual surround sound is never as good as the real thing.

A Beresford switch will solve the issue of no HT bypass.

 

[rccarguy2]

Why would you change from a avr to a soundbar?

 

[Joe Fernand]

A Soundbar is going to leave you very short on HDMI Inputs vs the AVR.

As @password1 suggests a Beresford Amplifier Switch will allow you to share the Front LR loudspeakers between your Stereo amp and your AVR.

Home HiFi

Joe

 

[gibbsy]

I'll also recommend the Beresford 7220 speaker switch. That will solve the problem of no pre-outs on the Denon and allow to basically run two separate system.

http://www.beresford.me/S/home_htm_files/TC-7220MKII.pdf