fearce
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- Jan 2, 2009
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Hi all.
Have read through many posts with interest and hoping to get views on my questions and recommendations on a sound system for my needs.
My use cases are watching TV (60%) Movies and TV shows through Netflix, Prime and Disney + and then Music (40%) Source Spotify premium, MP3 of varied quality and YouTube.
To date, we’ve used TV speakers (Sams KS7000) or a Samsung HWK650 sound bar that I had got bundled with a TV bought a few years back. Did not often use the sounder for TV as found sound was muffled and clarity of speech in particular was not there and lost in droning.
I’ve now sold the sound bar and last week made two purchases with the intent to get a feel for what I like. Though to make clear - both candidates can be returned and i’m not wedded to keeping any.
Here are the items under testing and my findings on each.
1 - Edifier S350DB - 2.1 Active Speaker set.
This was the first item I had received. I connected it to the TV via optical. General impressed with sound, in particular, the clarity I heard throughout the range of high / lows; bass was deep, punchy but not distracting from other things i.e. speech and other detail say in movies e.g. glass shattering. Note: these comments are all with my very low baseline of TV / Soundbar sound.
2. Denon CEOL N10 - packaged with Denon Speakers.
Clearly this is a different beast to the above by way of features, so i’ll try to focus on the sound, which is core purpose of this thread, for now.
For movies, I noticed the Denon clarity was greater, e.g. the different sounds / items happening on screen were heard a lot clearer. This was expected. Lack of deep rumbling bass was immediately noticeable - also expected. The denon was also definitely louder, which made me push the edifier to the limit - this made me realise that it didn’t have enough guts at the top end - something I don’t think i can live with.
As such, I think what this has confirmed for me so far is as follows:
Now looking forward, you will see that my choices have been on stereo 2.1 sound and that’s because i’ve read on here that AVRs (those within budget are no good with music - though I’ve seen mixed opinions on this). Budget at the moment, including at the very least, speakers to support a stereo setup is around £500 give or take some. I’d like the possibility to add rears and centre later, but this is where it starts to become a circular debate in my mind, due to the AVR comment I just made and also reading that a good stereo (potentially 2.1) at same price point will sound better than say 5.1 - is that right?
Questions
1. If I keep the DENON CEOL incl packaged speakers and add a sub - would this match the quality I get from the Edifier? By this i mean, retain the quality I saw in the denon and get the bass I got from the Edifier without bass overpowering everything else.
2. I’ve looked on PeterTyson / Richer Sounds and with these sorts of systems, speakers like Dali Spektors are often bundled and get good comments on this forum - would a change in speakers make a big difference to the packaged ones and also would it alter the bass experience i had?
3. Scrapping all the above, would I get better sound with any of the below full size amps and speakers at around the same cost and if so - what are recommendations that would beat the N10 set up?
On point 3, i’m open to variations of this e.g.
Note: I realise i’ve not really talked about features to much, but key things that are must haves are Bluetooth connectivity, Optical, probably being able to add a sub. Internet Radio and or DAB would be good, but can consider on merits of other things. You’ll see CD is not core on the list but I know it’s in the CEOL n10.
It’s turned out to be quite a long post so happy to add extra detail qualify further. I also recognise this post is talking about HIFI / AVR together, so not sure where it best sits.
Have read through many posts with interest and hoping to get views on my questions and recommendations on a sound system for my needs.
My use cases are watching TV (60%) Movies and TV shows through Netflix, Prime and Disney + and then Music (40%) Source Spotify premium, MP3 of varied quality and YouTube.
To date, we’ve used TV speakers (Sams KS7000) or a Samsung HWK650 sound bar that I had got bundled with a TV bought a few years back. Did not often use the sounder for TV as found sound was muffled and clarity of speech in particular was not there and lost in droning.
I’ve now sold the sound bar and last week made two purchases with the intent to get a feel for what I like. Though to make clear - both candidates can be returned and i’m not wedded to keeping any.
Here are the items under testing and my findings on each.
1 - Edifier S350DB - 2.1 Active Speaker set.
This was the first item I had received. I connected it to the TV via optical. General impressed with sound, in particular, the clarity I heard throughout the range of high / lows; bass was deep, punchy but not distracting from other things i.e. speech and other detail say in movies e.g. glass shattering. Note: these comments are all with my very low baseline of TV / Soundbar sound.
2. Denon CEOL N10 - packaged with Denon Speakers.
Clearly this is a different beast to the above by way of features, so i’ll try to focus on the sound, which is core purpose of this thread, for now.
For movies, I noticed the Denon clarity was greater, e.g. the different sounds / items happening on screen were heard a lot clearer. This was expected. Lack of deep rumbling bass was immediately noticeable - also expected. The denon was also definitely louder, which made me push the edifier to the limit - this made me realise that it didn’t have enough guts at the top end - something I don’t think i can live with.
As such, I think what this has confirmed for me so far is as follows:
- I want / like a subwoofer in my set up or at least the type of bass i got from the Edifier
- The clarity between the denon and the edifier was noticeable to the extent that I DO CARE and prefer it.
Now looking forward, you will see that my choices have been on stereo 2.1 sound and that’s because i’ve read on here that AVRs (those within budget are no good with music - though I’ve seen mixed opinions on this). Budget at the moment, including at the very least, speakers to support a stereo setup is around £500 give or take some. I’d like the possibility to add rears and centre later, but this is where it starts to become a circular debate in my mind, due to the AVR comment I just made and also reading that a good stereo (potentially 2.1) at same price point will sound better than say 5.1 - is that right?
Questions
1. If I keep the DENON CEOL incl packaged speakers and add a sub - would this match the quality I get from the Edifier? By this i mean, retain the quality I saw in the denon and get the bass I got from the Edifier without bass overpowering everything else.
2. I’ve looked on PeterTyson / Richer Sounds and with these sorts of systems, speakers like Dali Spektors are often bundled and get good comments on this forum - would a change in speakers make a big difference to the packaged ones and also would it alter the bass experience i had?
3. Scrapping all the above, would I get better sound with any of the below full size amps and speakers at around the same cost and if so - what are recommendations that would beat the N10 set up?
On point 3, i’m open to variations of this e.g.
- Yamaha Network Receivers e.g. YAMAHA 303, 402 or 602 or the DENON DRA-800h
- Marantz Stereo Amps
- Any AVRs recommended good for music and TV, but taking into account my initial budget cost e.g. I would be happy to buy an AVR and a set of speakers to get me stereo at the budget, but then add rear and centre later at an extra cost?
Note: I realise i’ve not really talked about features to much, but key things that are must haves are Bluetooth connectivity, Optical, probably being able to add a sub. Internet Radio and or DAB would be good, but can consider on merits of other things. You’ll see CD is not core on the list but I know it’s in the CEOL n10.
It’s turned out to be quite a long post so happy to add extra detail qualify further. I also recognise this post is talking about HIFI / AVR together, so not sure where it best sits.