Home Theatre System

[Gudnews]

I'm in the market for one as well, been looking at a few for price ranges R10k - R15k
Have a look at this one:

Get The Extraordinary Jamo S807 5.1 Home Cinema System

Modern design meets high performance. Jamo S807 Dolby Atmos ready home cinema system delivers incredible acoustic performance

www.soundxshop.co.za

Those speakers are superior to the Onkyo no doubt but that AVR pales in features. OP hinted he values sound so it's a pretty good option. But I would say that my AVR has features that at cheapest would cost R13K to equal:

Get The Outstanding Denon AVR-x1600H AV Receiver now

The Denon AVR-x1600H AV Receiver will make your music sound the best it has ever sounded, this is a must buy. You will not regret this buy.

www.soundxshop.co.za

He could buy my system and if he's not happy with the speakers he could always upgrade.

 

[Gudnews]

Daaamn that's a good price if I had seen that before my JBL I might have gone for that.

They are sold out pretty much everywhere else and was blown away by how many units this seller had - as many as 27 when I bought one. I had been looking high and low for one.

 

[Lupus]

They are sold out pretty much everywhere else and was blown away by how many units this seller had - as many as 27 when I bought one. I had been looking high and low for one.

Scary thing is there is a Stax sound store what ever it's called at Clearwater Mall and I'm sure I checked there in June, I also checked Digital Experience in Fourways and how I ended up with the JBL.

 

[epah]

Any thoughts on this:-

It has eARC which I understand cuts out delay / lag issues one can have. I know Samsung doesn't support Dolby Vision so would that affect my ability to use it on my TV that supports it?

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

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Also I am assuming , I continue to leave my Apple TV connected to the TV and then from TV I connect to soundbar/AV receiver (regardless of make) so that I can continue to use TV to control everything instead of needing to deal with another remote ?

Good soundbar overall but it has a lot of software bugs, also the soundbar does have Dolby vision/pass through , it’s just the TVs that don’t have it.

 

[Gudnews]

Scary thing is there is a Stax sound store what ever it's called at Clearwater Mall and I'm sure I checked there in June, I also checked Digital Experience in Fourways and how I ended up with the JBL.

I can't remember how I even stumbled on to Stax. Even now you'd struggle to find them in the Google shopping tab.

 

[Lupus]

I can't remember how I even stumbled on to Stax. Even now you'd struggle to find them in the Google shopping tab.

True, I see they also have a bit more oknyo then other stores.

 

[TedLasso]

https://www.digitalexperience.co.za/product/jbl-bar-9-1-soundbar-true-wireless-surround-with-dolby-atmos-jblbar913dblk/

For an all in one. The nice thing is no cables, bass can go lift your socks off.

Gone down a rabbit hole today ... My last HT, was a Yamaha DD receiver with KEF speakers, which I left at the parent's house - that system is about 20 years old now I think.

@Lupus, do you have the JBL that you linked to? Do you agree with these reviews?

JBL Bar 9.1 review

Is it a soundbar? Is it a home cinema system? It's both!

www.whathifi.com

That Onkyo deal (2016) also seem(ed) to be great but then considering I have been waiting 15 years to do my HT, perhaps , I should get something more modern (HDMI 2.1 / 120Hz support), etc - What's concerning me about most of these that are on sale, is that they seem to have some software smarts (or apps) but my question is how those vendors continue to support it (firmware updates, etc?)

At least with my SONOS (started with PLAY-1s 10 years ago) - they continue to work and are supported to this day. My last SONOS, a Play 5 Gen 2 bought in 2015, was updated in the last few years to support AirPlay (if I really need it) and then it send to all other speakers. A crazy thing I learnt by mistake was that I could send the output from AppleTV directly to the SONOS 5 (and if all my SONOS speakers were grouped, have the TV audio all throughout the house - but never really use it)

The Jamo package (I have a soft spot for that brand in my heart looks nice - but it's ginomous) Then looking at pictures of the AV receiver - I definitely don't want to deal with loads of cables again or new shelves, due to my minimalist lounge setup (Review of the speaker system here:- https://www.whathifi.com/jamo/s-807-hcs/review)

I just realised this post is me justifying to myself, that I need to go with my plan to buy a SONOS ARC and be done with it, and if the bass (for movies) is not great, be patient then buy a sub next year (when I saved up enough ebucks again). Review here: https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sonos-arc <--- I have an OLED TV so will not have too many issues (though they appear to exist).

---
Irony of all above - For the last 17 years, I have been watching TV/Movies just with the built-in speakers of my TV

 

[Lupus]

Gone down a rabbit hole today ... My last HT, was a Yamaha DD receiver with KEF speakers, which I left at the parent's house - that system is about 20 years old now I think.

@Lupus, do you have the JBL that you linked to? Do you agree with these reviews?

JBL Bar 9.1 review

Is it a soundbar? Is it a home cinema system? It's both!

www.whathifi.com

That Onkyo deal (2016) also seem(ed) to be great but then considering I have been waiting 15 years to do my HT, perhaps , I should get something more modern (HDMI 2.1 / 120Hz support), etc - What's concerning me about most of these that are on sale, is that they seem to have some software smarts (or apps) but my question is how those vendors continue to support it (firmware updates, etc?)

At least with my SONOS (started with PLAY-1s 10 years ago) - they continue to work and are supported to this day. My last SONOS, a Play 5 Gen 2 bought in 2015, was updated in the last few years to support AirPlay (if I really need it) and then it send to all other speakers. A crazy thing I learnt by mistake was that I could send the output from AppleTV directly to the SONOS 5 (and if all my SONOS speakers were grouped, have the TV audio all throughout the house - but never really use it)

The Jamo package (I have a soft spot for that brand in my heart looks nice - but it's ginomous) Then looking at pictures of the AV receiver - I definitely don't want to deal with loads of cables again or new shelves, due to my minimalist lounge setup (Review of the speaker system here:- https://www.whathifi.com/jamo/s-807-hcs/review)

I just realised this post is me justifying to myself, that I need to go with my plan to buy a SONOS ARC and be done with it, and if the bass (for movies) is not great, be patient then buy a sub next year (when I saved up enough ebucks again). Review here: https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sonos-arc <--- I have an OLED TV so will not have too many issues (though they appear to exist).

---
Irony of all above - For the last 17 years, I have been watching TV/Movies just with the built-in speakers of my TV

I have the JBL 9.1 and some of it I do agree with, but I don't get the not punchier enough, the bass actually makes the windows vibrate. What does get to me is there are no refinement controls you'd get on an AVR, I went from a Pioneer but it was 9 years old and you had to manually refine everything.
Where as the JBL is more in line with how I see modern tech, it's plug and play and the sound is pretty good, though I have picked up a few Netflix movies that have bad sound mix, but you need to also have this soundbar on like 17 to 20 on it's level to start appreciating it.
When it's at that I watch Underworld and the fight scenes had my chair vibrating , music also sounds good in the speakers docked mode + smart eq mode off. There also seems to be a bit of Virtual surround no one mentions when the speakers are docked.
So I'd give it 4 stars not 5 or 3 like they do, but I'm not an audiophile, the Samsung shown in this thread does get better reviews from a lot more places, but it is 3k more.

 

[Cifero]

Thanks for all the info. Looking at whats out there, you'd think R20k is good enough to buy a decent HT. it only gets you entry level....
been looking at Stax, Digital Experience and Soundx, they are more or less the same. maybe wait for Black Friday deals

 

[Lupus]

Thanks for all the info. Looking at whats out there, you'd think R20k is good enough to buy a decent HT. it only gets you entry level....
been looking at Stax, Digital Experience and Soundx, they are more or less the same. maybe wait for Black Friday deals

Rand is crap

 

[Gudnews]

Thanks for all the info. Looking at whats out there, you'd think R20k is good enough to buy a decent HT. it only gets you entry level....
been looking at Stax, Digital Experience and Soundx, they are more or less the same. maybe wait for Black Friday deals

I'm just glad for the chance to pump my chest out about my system.

 

[TedLasso]

So OP, what did you end up doing?

 

[Cifero]

Prices of AVR's and availability are not conducive to purchasing atm, you paying a premium for what is available for your budget. To buy something to be happy with for the next 5 years, you got to spend around R40k+, or else you will be upgrading bits and pieces very few months. Got to wait for the market to stabilise and get more stock

 

[Gudnews]

Prices of AVR's and availability are not conducive to purchasing atm, you paying a premium for what is available for your budget. To buy something to be happy with for the next 5 years, you got to spend around R40k+, or else you will be upgrading bits and pieces very few months. Got to wait for the market to stabilise and get more stock

You might end up with soundbars for an option, that is the growing sector in my opinion. The avr plus speakers sector is becoming a niche sector (it probably always was). These kids who've grown up with music on their phones aren't exactly picky with how they experience audio and they are the potential future market.

 

[Lupus]

You might end up with soundbars for an option, that is the growing sector in my opinion. The avr plus speakers sector is becoming a niche sector (it probably always was). These kids who've grown up with music on their phones aren't exactly picky with how they experience audio and they are the potential future market.

Soundbars have come along way

 

[SauRoNZA]

You might end up with soundbars for an option, that is the growing sector in my opinion. The avr plus speakers sector is becoming a niche sector (it probably always was). These kids who've grown up with music on their phones aren't exactly picky with how they experience audio and they are the potential future market.

Very picky with how I experience audio and recently took the plunge on an LG SN11R soundbar to replace my Onkyo separates system.

Still dialling it in and it has some annoyances, but overall it blows the **** out of anything else you can buy for 20k if your goal is surround sound or in my case Atmos.

The only line I will draw is that if you wanted pure stereo you could do better for the same money for obvious reasons.

There are cheap and nasty soundbars and then there a HiFi-equivalent soundbars like this.

My biggest issue is that it’s too powerful. As in 770w is simply too much for the average every day use case and therefore at lower volumes at night the speakers are over amped. It would have been a better system if it had less power as ridiculous as that sounds, but marketing makes the numbers go up.

And then a potential major issue for some people without uniform rooms or placement options is that there aren’t individual channel adjustments but only pairs. Not a deal breaker for me but it could be an issue for some.

I’ll write a little review in the near future, just want to spend some more time with it.

 

[Lupus]

Very picky with how I experience audio and recently took the plunge on an LG SN11R soundbar to replace my Onkyo separates system.

Still dialling it in and it has some annoyances, but overall it blows the **** out of anything else you can buy for 20k if your goal is surround sound or in my case Atmos.

The only line I will draw is that if you wanted pure stereo you could do better for the same money for obvious reasons.

There are cheap and nasty soundbars and then there a HiFi-equivalent soundbars like this.

My biggest issue is that it’s too powerful. As in 770w is simply too much for the average every day use case and therefore at lower volumes at night the speakers are over amped. It would have been a better system if it had less power as ridiculous as that sounds, but marketing makes the numbers go up.

And then a potential major issue for some people without uniform rooms or placement options is that there aren’t individual channel adjustments but only pairs. Not a deal breaker for me but it could be an issue for some.

I’ll write a little review in the near future, just want to spend some more time with it.

Yup my JBL is 800w when you put it on 20 which is about 60% volume you can have the windows vibrate I'm too afraid to go to 100

 

[Gudnews]

Soundbars have come along way

I agree, I've seen some nice systems out there.

Very picky with how I experience audio and recently took the plunge on an LG SN11R soundbar to replace my Onkyo separates system.

Still dialling it in and it has some annoyances, but overall it blows the **** out of anything else you can buy for 20k if your goal is surround sound or in my case Atmos.

The only line I will draw is that if you wanted pure stereo you could do better for the same money for obvious reasons.

There are cheap and nasty soundbars and then there a HiFi-equivalent soundbars like this.

My biggest issue is that it’s too powerful. As in 770w is simply too much for the average every day use case and therefore at lower volumes at night the speakers are over amped. It would have been a better system if it had less power as ridiculous as that sounds, but marketing makes the numbers go up.

And then a potential major issue for some people without uniform rooms or placement options is that there aren’t individual channel adjustments but only pairs. Not a deal breaker for me but it could be an issue for some.

I’ll write a little review in the near future, just want to spend some more time with it.

The OP might be open to this experience.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Yup my JBL is 800w when you put it on 20 which is about 60% volume you can have the windows vibrate I'm too afraid to go to 100

Yeah mine needs to ideally operate at 12-18 volume level to really have the magic happen.

At night I do 8-10 which doesn’t do it justice really.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I agree, I've seen some nice systems out there.

The OP might be open to this experience.

Certainly.

This is a full system with rear surrounds and vertical speakers.

I was very keen on the Sony HT-A9 for a lot more money but no sign of it in sight and this deal came along and I couldn’t say no.