2. home-theater
  3. 182735-171504

Improving the Musicality of a Home Theather

My journey in the last year has been somewhat mind blowing. I changed out 20 year old Proceed AVP, Revel F30 gen 1, Adcom GFA5500, and a Higher end Arcam CD Player. New system consists of Anthem AVM70 11.1 processor, Anthem MCA 525 Gen 2 225x5, Revel M126Be bookshelves mains and center channel, B&W surrounds rear and overhead , Bluesound Gen 3 Node Streamer and Pioneer Elite Plasma and Blue Ray Player. The amplifier is still breaking in, but I must say the system sounds incredible on 5.2.1. (Velodyne powered sub). I want to know if upgrading the Blue Ray to an Apple or similar Video streamer would be worth the investment? If not, I can stream native formats thru the Anthem processor. 
 

I realize this site tends to focus on great 2 channel sound, which I also appreciate. But I was hoping to resonate with the home theater crowd out three? 
 

any help on cables or alternate sources would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

hondaron
kota1
2,706 posts
 

As for alternate sources it will depend on the type of files you listen to. if you rip your files to a NAS, if you like gaming, if you like to steam in atmos or dts, or dd, etc.

As for cables you will have long runs, my preference is Mogami (also sold as worlds best cables on amazon)

hondaron OP
16 posts
 

Thank you for the insightful reply’s. I didn’t do the math myself, the installer, Audio Breakthroughs in Manhassett, NY did a fancy ARC computer room correction with three microphone positions and the music and theater is basically flawless. I don’t really understand it but it makes perfect sense to have the computer do all the bacon corrections / calculations. 
 

what a difference from about 14 months ago

thespeakerdude
483 posts
 

What is your Blueray player? If it is an older player, it may be limited to 1080P.  If you are sticking with the Elite Plasma, you won't get the benefit of a 4K Blueray player, but if you decide to upgrade to a 75+ inch TV you will. Getting an external streamer is a no-brainer though. Content is king. Online streaming services have so much readily available content if you are so moved. No need to even lock into a single service. You can buy a month a time and flip around between services. 

With the new compression CODECs and the relative high bandwidth for HD streaming, up to 2-3 megabytes per hour, the quality is very good. You don't need to spend much money either.  Google 4K Chromecast, Amazon 4K Firestick, ROKU 4K all support the popular streaming services, Netflix, Amazon, DisneyHD, Paramount, etc.

hondaron OP
16 posts
 

@thespeakerdude 

spot on, blue ray is 11 years old and is 1080P, same as plasma. Will there be a noticeable difference going to a 4k source and say and OLED? Live in a smaller 1904 vintage home, and thinking about the video upgrade path when we move to a bigger home. Will the 4k blacks be as good or better than the elite plasma? Not sure about what cables the 4k require, assume hdmi are out? Is there a source publication where I can learn before thinking about spending the $?  Thanks

thespeakerdude
483 posts
 

Even cheap HDMI cables can support 4K without too much issue. Maybe not some really old ones.

To justify 4K, you really need a big TV, 75"+.  At 65" maybe if you sit really close you will notice an improvement.

The new OLEDs have blacks every bit as good as your plasma, and much brighter, so better effective contrast in all lighting conditions. As you get older, a big TV can be nice on the eyes too.

Modern TVs have better processing chips so if you watch a lot of sports you may notice an improvement there. The newer TVs also support improved color depth on the HDMI, but not sure you will notice it.

Not sure the best resource. This is stuff I have picked up over the last couple years as I have bought stuff and just generally being into the tech.

https://www.rtings.com/tv

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-tvs,review-2224.html

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