I like buying new. I like having new. I like seeing what the best new bang/buck is. New features, tech, etc. I have never and likely will never use Facebook marketplace. Not only do I not want to buy used and run that risk, I just don't wanna meet up with random people from the internet haha. I'd buy used from a friend or someone whom I can verify trust, but that's about it.
yes, and the most relevant thing for me is - most of times, you do NOT get ripped off and stuff just works. There are less "bad" people than honest ones, from my experience. You also just have to be aware of some red flags. Buing used is the way to go for so many things...
I didn't know there was a stigma. Besides my CD- and my Bluray-player, all my audio stuff is used/vintage gear. And my 4k TV was saved from the trash. I could not have afforded this amount of high-end stuff otherwise.
I'm glad this idea is getting pushed by larger UA-camrs. This is the exact reason I started my channel. Older tech can still be usable and even superior in some cases to modern stuff. If you spend some time really searching the web, you can get some very high-quality equipment at bargain bin prices. That's how I built my home theater, and I've never been disappointed by it.
I find older to be Much better, bonus is I find the stuff for free! I scored 3 5.1's in the past year at the side of the road in Mint condition. They tend to get the big stuff out and move in the little soundbar ... I find that stuff to be crap (imo). Youre correct mate, a little time spent researching will get you some great deals. Heck even if theyre blown, a repair shop and a few bucks can save you even More.
It's amazing how much quality there is in older AV equipment. If you don't take the time to get the right stuff you could end up with a crappy setup but with proper research and the drive you can end up with something amazing for a small price. And like Linus said, it is quite fun and addicting to upgrade your home stereo
I just inherited a component stereo from my parents that's older than me (the CD player is 1989, rest is a couple years older). Everything is Sony from when Sony meant quality, and it's all Japanese made.
I bought a 60$ 7.1 sony full home theater system from a old couple who's downgrading their setup. I googled the model number and it was a $1k retail when it was new few years back. Still have it till this day.
Sony sold a lot of garbo for crazy sticker prices back in the day. They did a huge Bose trick. I consider anything Home AV Sony - manufactured landfill starting back from CD players. Before that - sure, they were a noble brand.
@@NGC1433 they still do sometimes sell overpriced garbo like their headphones, which have caveats that destroy the whole premium vibe, when compared to competition at the same price. People should also be less focused on brands - all good companies can make bad, lazy products. All meh, or new companies can once in a while make a great product for the price. The chifi is getting big these days and it's only a matter of time until we see 500$ chifi setups beat 2000 or ever 5000$ big western brand ones.
@@NGC1433 They’re definitely not the best quality hence why I don’t use them in my theatre room but for a $100 7.2 surround system to listen to music while I’m working on projects in the shed they’re phenomenal 👌🏼
My father was a sound engineer in his younger days. In the 70s his job was to set up stages and recording studios. He is a musician that can play multiple instruments. I was lucky to grow up around his passion for audio. Whenever he assesses an audio set up, before he looks at the gear he looks at the room acoustics. Two things he'd always recommend for for the home listening room is put a rug in front of your front speakers and a large canvas painting on the back wall.
As someone who is deeply involved in the Home Theater industry, I have to say, this is the kind of videos we need. You don't need to spend thousands on a good home theater. Heck, my home theater, albeit partially subsidized by my job, is around the $1000 mark (though I could have looked used instead of buying through work for similar prices). A few tips. Wiring only has to be done once in a room. I always recommend splurging on Ghost Wire, and some paint that matches your walls. It's a 2 conductor tape you run along the baseboards then up to your speakers, then paint over it with wall paint. You can do the wiring in a day off and never have to worry about it again, and the Ghost Wire is almost invisible, no one who is not specifically looking for it will ever notice it. Also, if you have a decent sized TV console, you won't have to worry about the wires for your Fronts, Sub, and Center. They will be easily hidden behind the TV console, meaning only 2 wiring runs. The number one thing though is be patient. If you are patient, you can easily get 4K capable HDMI switching AVRs with ARC and HDMI CEC for dirt cheap. Especially used Denon S series receivers. If your budget is a little bit bigger, you can get a refurbished Denon or Onkyo that will even support eARC and HDMI 2.1 for around $200 US from places like Accessories4Less. Then just spend what you can on speakers. I also recommend buying piecemeal. Get your AVR and your fronts now. Save and wait, get a center, save and wait, get a sub, save and wait, get your surrounds. Next challenge for LTT? Beat the Dragon for cheaper.
OMG thank you! I have wanted a home theatre for a long time, I would even have the space for it, but the cables I couldn't figure out how not to be ugly.. that was the only reason I wanted to buy a soundbar, but I couldn't find one that was good enough for my needs (at a decent price). This Ghost Wire idea gave me hope that I could have a HT setup finally!!
@@swunt10 HDMI ARC is an Audio Return Channel, so basically you are using HDMI to transmit audio to the reciever not the banana jacks or Toslink(optical cable). HDMI CEC is Consumer Electronics Control, so if you power up the HDMI using device e.g. PlayStation, Xbox, AV Reciever it can power up the TV at the same time. If you shutdown the TV it will the same way shutdown other HDMI devices.
I have a 5.1 setup with dedicated AVR that I bought new on black friday 2014 and it was less than 800€. All matching full range premium speakers too, Magnat Verctor 207 fronts, 203 rears and 213 center. Magnat Betasub 30A is more than enough bass. Just need to search for people wanting to get rid of their old speakers.
I'd love a scrapyard wars that was just for a home theater setup. It gets even better if your budget is a little higher. AVRs have supported 5.1 over Optical or Coax for literal decades, so you can use almost all of the higher budget to get better speakers and a good quality sub or even integrate stand-alone DSP stuff that gives you modern tuning and EQ features.
It would be great, this kinda felt like a scrapyard wars with them buying lots of marketplace stuff 😄 although a competition would be very subjective. And least with scrapyard wars they got benchmarks. But can you benchmark sound systems? 🤔 Actually, maybe you can 😅
Hail eco-audiophiles (tm). Seriously though, there's not much reason to buy new when literally legendary stuff can be cheaper than... well, sound bars.
Good tip for solid state amplification and Ohm ratings is: Low into high will fly High into low will blow (Aka a low number impedance from the amp into a high number impedance on the speaker will “fly” or be good, and the reverse will blow something up!)
Except you should never use the 4 ohm switch on an AVR because it needlessly cuts the power output. You would have to be listening at stupid volume levels to produce enough heat to kill a transistor at low impedances.
@@sleepinglama14 This, that 4-8 Ohm switch led me to a rabbit hole when I searched about it back then. It's basically for clearing certifications (kinda like VW dieselgate) and could be left at 8 regardless.
It all hinges on whether the user is going to be pushing the amp hard. Which involves factoring in the room size and most imminently the speaker sensitivity. Also a factor is whether the speakers are are being given a full range signal, or whether the bass is offloaded to a sub. I’d say in most common real world scenarios, it would be preferable to leave the impedance switch at the full 8ohms with 6ohm speakers. Cause the 4ohm setting is a safety throttle, it will limit current all the time, every dynamic thrust will be nerfed, current brings allot of mojo. Even with 4ohm speakers, they’ll perform better at the 8ohm setting. But in some instances it could be catastrophic, the answer being to pair with an appropriate amp, rather than use the switch. What’s interesting is as the amp gets overwhelmed, it’s usually the speakers that fail before the amp, because the harmonic distortion of the amp rises so high that it clips the waveform into a square topped wave, which is like being fed 100% power like a toaster wire. A normal wave is a momentary crest of peak power, a square wave is a continuous plateau at that peak. So really it all goes back to the distortion inside the amp as it flows too much current into the low impedance speaker and looses it’s stability. One would hope the impedance switch would answer this problem, but really it just hinders current, lowering the audio quality. It’s put on products so they can meet regulatory compliance.
@@silotx well I didnt hide them, I just tucked them together with velcro behind shelves and paintings wherever I could. Its not perfect but at my projector setup I dont care that much about it 🤷♂️
Still rocking my thrift shop home theater setup in the basement. No arc, just an old receiver with optical audio and some mismatched speakers. Insane how much more enjoyable movies are with any type of setup like that. It kills me when people use tv speakers
i worked as a mover a while back, the guy was remodelling half the house. while taking stuff out he goes "i was gonna throw these away, they're like from the 80s or so..."... "these" happened to be a 500w yamaha receiver and a pair of 80W JBLs. i very kindly took them from the owner and gently disposed of them straight into my lliving room and added a thrift shop sub... are they pretty? no.. but nobody cared when the Rohirrim rode to Gondor and we felt it through the floor
I hate my TV speakers, luckily my parents decided to get new speakers, so my wife and I get the old receiver and 5 20-year old sony speakers. I can't wait to set it up
Totally . I started adding stereo speakers to just about anything, even mounting them outside, back in the '60's. After buying my first 'Real' Stereo in '76, the rest is history and I've been adding ever since.
I've got one of those cheap Sony 5.1 setups here. Bought it second hand, cost me more in petrol driving to pick it up! There's a case to be made for getting something better, but the shape of the room means 7.1 is out of the question, so all I'd be doing is replacing components like-for-like. I probably need a new TV first, but good luck finding something decent with all the component/composite/etc. inputs that all my consoles are plugged into.
The price isn't the problem that Soundbars solve (At least for me) - It's fitting them in. I wish I had space for a proper set up as there's literally a pair of RS6 speakers at my parents that would be epic to have for my TV, I just can't fit them anywhere 😅
I feel like even just having 2 sperate stereo setup, where you can adjust individual speakers positions goes a long way. Heck if you can add even a half decent centre channel and a small subwoofer, it'll probably give you a much better performance than just having a Soundbar.
yeah, I do have surround, (a 5.0 setup) but speakers arent in ideal spaces, because there are where it fits. I have a sub, but dont use it, cause kids bedrooms are right above it and annoys them (or they cant sleep) if it is on.
Space is a real problem, I got myself the Yamaha SR-C30A because it's one of the only short soundbars with a sub, because of size restrictions. But I got it the smart way, I searched for a company that sells products with damaged packaging and got it for like half the price.
My dad's had a 5.1 set up in his living room now for 20 years and it still sounds incredible - they can be had nowadays for £100-150... and sometimes less. And in my studio, I'm using some very brown looking KEF speakers from the mid 80s. They were FREE from a charity shop that was struggling to move them around (they're quite large) and I'm yet to find anything that even comes close. Thanks for sharing how awesome, and how much fun, used audio can be! 😊🖤
A standard isn't standard if it's changed. Encanto checks the boxes for audio and visual quality testing. Just like Linus' home theater that the average person will never make.
@@mattkevin the pint of displaying it here isn't that it is a great movie, but that it has amazing sound and visuals, making it a great point of comparison
I watched a group of professionals comparing a bunch of this years new TV's against a $40K professional monitor. The materials they used were often a decade old and still it was used for testing the latest and greatest OLED TV's. It was interesting to see how large the differences was in some cases, especially in how they handled details in shadows. Now the reference was considered "the right way" for how everything would look and I remember in one case where details in the shadows was perfectly visible on the reference but the TV's varied widely with every thing from being so dark the details disappeared to one that was almost exactly the same as the picture on the reference screen. But often they were so close that I felt like they were throwing dice to decide on the winner. But yea, the videos they tested with was not the latest of even particularly new. Often I also was surprised like when they used a scene from the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie and another test used the a scene from the Wonder Woman 1984 movie...
I have to say but your content has been banging for a while and I love the more budget oriented way things have gotten. The used market is really good at the moment and its good that someone like you is showing how good things you can get for fraction of the price
That's what happens when you get a different lead for writing, David is a fountain of great ideas and it shows in the things they create. It's not that the previous lead was bad but their mind was very clearly focused in one direction and that direction had run it's course
Gotta say, since the shutdown, it had gotten more rooted. They might still reach the sky, but still slightly rooted… more rooted than Marques these days, anyway…
@@B0TJERRYX What's funny is most content is 1080p and people worship 4k for no reason at all unless it's a remaster or newer TV Show or Movie that supports it there's not a whole lot in 4k TBH if you got an AMOLED screen with 1080p is all you really need to cut the cost and no differences from using 4k or even 8k it's trippy when you see an AMOLED screen for the first time.
@@B0TJERRYX yup get a pc, and not a gameboy 1.. and make your hamster, run faster in the powerwheel for the pc power hahaha.. because even my phone, can run this in 2160k! you must be homeless
THIS!!! I get hammered in various subreddits when I try to champion older/cheaper audio gear! I got so sick of seeing the same comments of "Junk", "Trash" and "Bro, I kno ur budget is $80 but just spend $460 on these instead" that I'm trying to get a subreddit (r/BasicAudio) off the ground to encourage people to take the first steps. e.g. A pair of reasonable PC speakers from Goodwill/Thrift/Charity shops with decimate most in-built TV speakers, a cheap 2 channel bluetooth amp and some speakers from an old hifi will whip many bluetooth speakers. The list goes on and I'd love to more of this content.... Scrapyard Wars Audio/Home Cinema Edition?
Got my mate hooked up like this. He wanted to plug in a $200 aldi stereo. Managed to get him an Onkyo amp for $100, 10" Yamaha sub for $60, and large Yamaha floor standing speakers for $120. This is all Australian dollars so about $182 freedom dollars converted. Such a great upgrade
Totally! I used to move around the country every couple years, just following different adventures. Each time I landed in a new home the first thing I would do, before even moving any boxes, was to run to goodwill and pick up a decent and super cheap 2.1 setup. Gotta get them tunes rocking to move and unpack by. That, and you figure out what volume you can run before neighbors aaahh "stop by to welcome you to the neighborhood" :D
Definitely, it's cool to see there's a big community behind thrifty home theater setups. Sound quality over the last 10 ish years seems like I lost art. Either ridiculously expensive, a subpar soundbar, or worthless thin panel TV speakers. I've been trying to convince people for years to get a surround setup used at a thrift store or FB mp.
This is something I have actually echoed for a long time. I have friends who spent ~2000usd on soundbars with subwoofers, that honestly does not sound that great... However, once I got my system for less than theirs and it sounds soooooo much better, they converted. I hope this will open up more people to the great experience of sound.
I bought my sound bar and subwoffer from a thrift store for 8 dollars and its paid for itself 1000x times over already. I love it. Its a decent Sony unit.
Beware that a lot of TVs do not support 5.1 surround output via optical cable. They will force 2 channel stereo output. Which means you will need to use HDMI. ARC HDMI is a thing, but some TVs and receivers are really buggy with ARC and will work one day and not work the next. You do not want to use HDMI video output from an older receiver, so that's out too. This is basically the situation I ran into with my setup. I ended up getting an HDMI splitter. One output goes to the receiver for sound, and the other output goes to the TV for video. It's jank but it works 99% of the time.
My 7.1 system uses 2 speakers from 1987 that my parents bought for a stereo system. A pair of Technics Tower speakers. They sound incredible to this day. Paired with Polk audio center channel, Polk indoor/outdoor speakers for surround, and a pair of Polk in ceiling speakers for above sound, and a large Polk subwoofer... This system crushes in the audio department.
16:27 a soundbar is definitely easier in a lot of aspects, but the extra time invested definitely pays off and also gives you a sense of accomplishment
@@a-_-botm8809 Probably the song by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno called uptown funk which contain these lyrics "don't believe me, just watch" which Linus says at that timestamp.
I bought my speakers from a nice man in 2020. They were already 6 years old when I got them, but they still to this day run perfectly fine. I have had no issues with them at all. People forget that one person's trash is another's treasure.
33 yo B&W 2.0 setup here from my parents... Still beyond awesome, and such a clean set-up! No surround, but no big deal. Audio quality and volume/warmth > surround for me. My wife always has to stop me in thrift stores. I think I'd own an entire speakerstore by now.
Stereo systems are 80% the sound for 20% the effort. I'm just enjoying a cheap panasonic micro stereo system, because it fits inside the shelf system underneath my tv. And it sounds great.
This is exactly what I did for the 2 home theater systems in my house. Total budget for both sound systems was probably just over $1000 usd and they both sound phenomenal. A big thing to consider with budget is the size of the room you're installing in. My larger system has tower fronts and dual 10" subs, but the smaller system is on all bookshelf speakers and a single 8" sub and it still fills the room just as well. If you don't have a massive room you don't need a massive system to fill it so you can budget to fit
Spent many years cobbling together a 6-speak surround system from 2nd-hand components, before I had a system that could reproduce broadband streamed audio so well, people would lean in my bedroom door just to get a better listen of what already was impressive/alluring sound. So I know exactly what it's like, Linus... and good on you!😉
Never use the 4 ohm setting on an AVR. It lowers the voltage output to help reduce heat on lower impedance speakers, but at the sacrifice of significant power loss. Always use the 8 ohm setting! Audioholics' channel has preached this for years.
And that's why they need to hire something that knows about audio . it was almost hard to watch this as I know.Quite a bit about home theaters and thrifting speakers. he paid way too much for those phillips speakers.
I used to use a Bang & Olufsen soundbar, which honestly sounded pretty great (but was not cheap.) Then one day I discovered a 5.0 pair of KEF Q speakers (Q5 left and right towers, Q9C center, and Q1 rears, all matching wood finish) on facebook marketplace for just $500 for all 5. I decided to give them a go, picked up a used Marantz 7.1 receiver (so I could run the towers in Bi-Amp mode) for $500 and was so absolutely thoroughly blown away by how much better they were than the B&O soundbar for a fraction of the price I immediately sold the soundbar and have been in home hifi bliss since. Those KEFs are 20+ years old and still sound perfect. Highly recommend them if you come across them in the wild.
Yes!!! I have a Polk Magnfi soundbar with sub and surrounds and it’s a really good performer when it comes to sound bars. Definitely one of the better options sub $1000… However.. I recently decided to buy a bundle at Best Buy since I’ve been wanting to try a WiiM amp and I was blown away by the stereo image I got from the small bookshelf speakers and a sub $300 amp. If I’m getting this kind of detail from a cheap low power amp I could only imagine how much better they are with a sub and a quality AVR with surrounds. For $675 + a sub I think it’s hard to beat this bundle when comparing to a sound bar. I don’t think any bar/sub combo close to the price would come anywhere near that setup. Maybe I’ve just been out of the audio game too long to realize what you can get from budget speakers 😂
thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!! i have been trying to explain this to my friends and family for years. but you guy can actually show it making it easier to understand
Hot take for that stage dont uuse a 2way center. Erin's audio corner masde a video about how they auddio get chewe up at the location a typical lister wwould eb sitting. I just went for a medium size 3 way standing speaker. If you are getting larger standing speakers in 5.0 setup(i beleave you can also split 3 way 2speakers into 2way + subwoofer passive) you are abvle to dodge the sub. My HECO superior 850 (140€) are capable to vibrate our whole 3stories bricklayed home.
This is awesome! It's exactly what I did a few months ago, ever since then it has amazed me and how good of a setup it is. I can't believe more people don't know how rewarding it is to set something like this up.
I used to have a Yamaha 5.1 system downstairs. But honestly? The cheap vizio 2.1 sound bar with a sub we bought a decade ago to compliment the vizio TV means the wife gets to use one remote for everything, which *does* have value. I won't pretend the sound is the same, but it isn't that far off. The important bit is don't spend much on a sound bar, and make sure it has a separate sub module.
I have a lot of LG Soundbars with. 2.1 (wireless sub) and I think they are very good for the minimal effort and space they take to set up. Also they are cheap.
2 nice speakers and no sub would sound better.. esp if ur also listnin to music trough it.. but also stages better when watchin a movie. i dont care much for the surrounds they are a hastle to instal with the wires.. and only add somethng if ur watchin movies a lot.
@@richardheumann1887 I think mine was 140 bucks (€) new and the bigger better Version.. the SJ4 at the time 180... But it was. Years on the market and also dropped to 120 for a while. If you get them used... It's a damn bargain
10:30 “do not put this in the video. People already hate me” awe, don’t say this Elijah. I enjoy when you host and write videos. And I bet the silent majority do too.
I was shocked at who could hate Elijah?!?! Like no dude. He's great. He's a young guy with a big heart and loves LTT. What more could you want out of a host/writer?!
Having gone down the used hifi setup rabbit hole years ago, I'd say the biggest upgrade you can do for the price of a half-decent soundbar is to get a good 3.1 setup. It removes the need to run cables for side/rear/top speakers, but you still get a massive improvement in sound quality. I started out with this when my last set of 4.1 PC surround speakers died. I decided that I was fed up with proprietary connectors and bad on-board DACs and set myself the challenge of building a better setup for less money than that Logitech Z something or other that was popular back then. I ended up with a very nice 3.1 setup that has since grown to a 5.1.2 setup. Over the years I just snapped up bargains on ebay here and there. The only problem is that once you've gone this route you can't ever go back, because all of the reasonably priced sound system in a box setups just don't cut it when compared to second hand hifi at the same budget.
some people overlook that center channel but it makes a big difference, especially in movies that tend to have the musical score and sound effects drown out the dialogue. I got rid of my 3.1 setup and went with a 2.1 soundbar and sub to save space and make things cleaner. honestly the soundbar sounds fine, but it's the center channel that I really miss.
Do not use the impedance (ohm) switch on the back of the receiver. This goes for all receivers! All it does is rob your speakers from power! This is put on by the manufacturers for meeting certain specifications while testing! Just leave it at 8 ohm for best performance! You can still use 4 ohm speakers at this setting.
Totally agree. Soundbars are completely convenient solutions, and that's about it. You'll essentially always get better sound and immersion from a dedicated system. It's worth the "hassle", and that's in quotes simply because people like me really enjoy the journey of putting together a home theater over a long period of time. Well done on the vid as always!
I bought Polk audio t series set of 2 large tower speakers, a center speaker and 2 book shelf speakers when I worked at Walmart on clearance for $150 with my black Friday discount. And put them is a $70 receiver I got from a friend, it was amazing compared to what I had before. I have since added a 10 inch sub and 2 additional speakers to my setup with a bigger receiver and I have to run it all at -30 since the receiver goes very loud.
Ive been living this life for years. Beat advice i can give, ask your older relatives bc they have a ton of components in storage. Always. Speakers too
another peice of advice i can give is: "Dont be afraid to get your hands dirty" old speakers may need a little loving to bring them back to thier prime but the payoff after refoaming a vintage driver or replacing a old dried out capacitor on a crossover can be well worth it also never be afraid to crack open a pair of speakers, the purists would butcher me for this but ive removed DIN connectors from speakers to install "banana plug" binding posts to use them with newer less proprietery setups
In my case it was the other way around. I was upgrading my old Denon AVR-1910, and gave it to my dad. Around the same time one of my friends was selling his surround setup super cheap to just empty his apartment before moving in with his girlfriend, so my dad got a complete 5.1 speaker set for less than $100, pretty decent quality too. I replaced my rear speakers a few months ago, and he bought my old ones for next to nothing. And he got his Blu-ray player for free when my sister and brother-in-law upgraded their player.
2.2 pc setup here, I avoided that DSP device by using a virtual stereo device listened to by my 6ch device (motherboard, soundcard, usb dac). the channel duplication and other DSP done locally with EQAPO. the problem with having 6/8ch out as default is stuff thinks you want surround sound and won't give you the option for stereo. The AVR I picked up in '16 was from '04 because pre-outs were replaced with other features. neither solution is perfect, but I do have miniDSPs calibrated microphone umik-1 though (-$125). the really expensive items for a nice speaker setup is the house and room treatment to address bass that lingers for too long.
@@RNGwhydoihavetoregis Yeah, you can't get around that. Low frequency sound waves are long, so you need a thick bas trap (or multiple) for that. Still, they can be DIYed.
Man, this is me basically my whole life. I took pride in having mixed setups like this that blown my friends' ears up. Since a year I was finally able to buy myself a very nice set of set of 5.1.2 speakers, but this video brings joyful tears to my eyes :)
Holy good timing on this, I just spent $300 on some used AVR and 2 speakers and a sub, and my living room literally sounds as immersive as my local theater. Soundbars have such a massive premium for ease-of-use.
I grabbed my speakers off the street. They're pretty nice Philips ones. I just had to get a Denon AV receiver for 200 euros secondhand, and my audio is amazing.
This just in - Buying used is cheaper sometimes, but more work than buying new. I love collecting used audio technology, its so fun and goofy and dumb but I love it
Same. Its a hobby I got addicted to about 5 years ago. Its soooo satisfying to see a pair of great speakers show up cheap on marketplace, and have no competition to buy them. Though, now that Linus made this video I'll probably put the hobby aside for a while and let other people get into it.
YESSS... Been waiting for a video like this! I have built DIY surround sound systems for over a decade for myself and family, and will ALWAYS recommend picking up a used surround system or two and combining different parts of them instead of a completely brand new system or even a fancy sound bar (providing you have the space) Also I have a few tips too!... 1. If it fits within your budget I would always recommend investing in a good quality amp/receiver rather than more expensive speakers. Having the convenience of HDMI and video switching in the Receiver from the start is great and the speakers can always be updated bits at a time later. 2. If your main speakers (fronts, centre and/or surrounds) have a terrible bass response, you can send those low frequencies to the subwoofer instead as most receivers will have the option in the speaker setup to set the speakers to SMALL and set a subwoofer "crossover" frequency. 3. At the end of the video Linus mentioned some "fine tuning" you can do which I recommend, this includes things like individual speaker levels and even distance settings to delay certain speaker outputs in milliseconds so they hit your ear at the right time if you have speakers that aren't evenly spaced. 4. If you are missing a certain speaker like a centre channel for example, most Receivers will allow you to disable the Centre or other channels, in this case the 5.1 surround will actually be 4.1, mixing the center channel into the left and right front speakers. EDIT: 5. Don't feel like you need to use a specific speaker for a specific position, you can use floor standing front speakers as surrounds and bookshelf speakers as front speakers if you want! If you have a pair of bookshelf speakers laying around and one of them is damaged for example, you can use the good one as a centre speaker! Mix and match and have fun with it 😊
Love it Linus ! Audiophile here and loving hearing you talk about the subject! Give us more please! Fan of yours since before Linus cat tips came out and my beloved Bengal was still around, ( I will see you someday again Felix) . Nothing but the deepest admiration.
No Brainer for me, since the '60's, before I was even a teenager. I guess I was influenced by my Father who was one of 3 Techs that started the Audio / Visual Dept. at SFU in '66. They had full size theaters built and used Altec Lancing VOTT's. At 12, I was removing speakers from anything I could collect and made speaker boxes. Learned the hard way about electro magnet speakers when I wanted to remove one from an old large radio my father gave me and extend the cable and put the speaker in it's own cabinet. Yes, even unplugged, the cables through me across the room. Undeterred I brushed myself off and measured the voltage across the power lines running to the electromagnet, I believe it was at 600v before bleeding down.( what fun ) I added a Heathkit tube amp my father had built and 'voila', I had my own Stereo using two different power amps and a hand me down stereo record player. Ten years later, after joining the Armed Forces as a Tech, I spent 10 months wages on my first 'Real' Stereo. My Father and I had visited a lot of his connections and listened to many high end systems pushing Altec Lancing, JBL and Tannoy's. I decided on all SONY equipment, including the flagship TC-177SD, which I still have and Tannoy Berkleys. Liked the Berkleys so much I acquired an additional 2 Tannoy Ardens which sometimes I stacked the Berkleys on top of since they had identical 15" drivers. So Yes, why not hook up your TV to your 'Sound System' . Been doing it for over 50 years and still to this day, except with multiple 7.2 and 9.2 systems. I've collected dozens of older flagship speakers and receivers used, as low as 20 cents to the dollar. Paradigm Studio, KEF, Energy, ( mostly towers) Onkyo and Pioneer. Don't get me started on Flagship TV's. KURO, Panasonic, Samsung and Hitachi Directors Series Plasmas along with a rare ELITE pro-70x5fd. What do you do with over 60 speakers? ( hint - picture your ceiling as another floor ) Makes for great surround for movies, I've even tried a newer Atmos receiver for a second height system. All my Systems and rooms are linked together with distribution amps, switches and active HDMI cables, some components with RCA's ( 400CD Player ). Another thing I've discovered is using an older RCA Distribution Amp to allow Multiple Subs to reach their maximum volume. I've also hooked up my Museum of semi-flagship Computers (Z77, X99's, X299's, X399, Z390, Z490's, Z590 to all my surround systems. So, you have to start somewhere, you won't regret hooking up speakers to your TV or computer and the upgrade path is infinite.
I have pieced together my setup thanks to the generosity of others (a friend cleaning out the estate of his late family member), FB Marketplace, and rubbish piles on the side of the road. I paid a grand total of $39, and have ended up with a pretty sweet 6.1 audio setup made from a mix of Sony (amp), Dali (centre), GLL (L+R), Harman (sub), and Voll (surrounds). I spent an afternoon to wire up, set up, balance and adjust levels, etc. for my room, but it sounds *phenomenal*. Paired with the 65” LG OLED I picked up on Marketplace, and my place is now the go-to for movie nights with friends and family. So worth it!
ok i bought all the equipment now I just need to insulate my whole apartment so my neighbors doesn't kill me! jokes aside I'm not sure any tip including facebook market place works outside Us or Canada.
Facebook marketplace is just one of the best options they have, but pretty much every country has some equivalent platform for buying/selling used things. Yeah, the deals might not necessarily be replicable, but it's still likely that you find something similar for a good price if you look for it.
put your sub on a cement plate and put thick foam under it to decouple your sub from the floor. Makes noise for your neighbour alot more tolerable and the bass sounds even better
There are milk pack speakers you know? They are small and will fit in any house/room. And are a dime a dozen ... At least in Europe. I own Sony ones and they sound great.
I have lived with an av receiver since about 1994. Its the best way to go for sound quality and stereo separation 😎 I started off with a Kenwood av receiver, now using a Denon DD 7.1 system with monitor audio bronze 50 front speakers, mission centre & rears & a powered sub. The monitor audio"s really come alive when cranked above -35db ❤️ I do use a soundbar at my desk when I work, but only used instead if the crappy laptop speakers
One thing you do have to keep in mind tho is that people also buy soundbars because they don't have space for speakers and stuff. I personally could fit a soundbar in my apartment but could definitely not fit several large speakers
@maheshbhutada yeah I mean I don't think Linus is unaware that most ppl don't have a home theater, if u had like a suburban house you could probably do this in your living room, it's just unhelpful if you are someone who lives in the city in an apartment where your living room is also your bedroom or your kitchen...
true but, there are also smaller book speakers even some that dont care if they are closer to the walls, i would always try go go for a 2.0 or 2.1 system with dedicated AVR and speakers u get so much more for ur money and can upgrade down the road..
It's legit point and if one isn't really into entertainment and just wants like more clarity to people speaking in TV. I absolutely understand the choice. But if even like occasional movie usage and there's bit of room. One can get small sized setup for very little money.
I gave my friends a decent 2.1 setup with a chipamp volume controlled over hdmi cec. This isn't really an excuse. If you need to drop the .1 thats fine. realistic minimus 7 Cambridge soundworks pc works mini sub and amp Hdmi earc audio extractor. All under $100 Had a tpa3116 board lined up but fell on the soundworks that allready had the sub circuitry so just went with that. The pc sub dosen't have really deep bass so it's good for the tiny apartment.
As a person who regularly watches marketplace/Craigslist/Offerup for audio gear, I can confirm you can easily pick up a 5.1 speaker set up and HDMI capable receiver for $285 US. It might take you a couple weeks of checking but this kind of entry level gear doesn’t tend to sell quickly so you do not have to worry about jumping on the listing as soon as it is posted. One caveat, this assumes you are in a larger metro area. Secondhand audio gear can be harder to find, and often more expensive, in smaller communities.
People are practically giving away these things on Facebook. I picked up an awesome Yamaha 5.1 surround system on Marketplace for buttons and the entire house shakes when watching movies. I love it!
I am a student in college and I did this exact thing because I am majoring in Film production and I wanted to mix my short films in 5.1 and be able to hear what they sound like. Best decision I’ve ever made. I use it to watch movies and everything and it is great.
this may be heresy - but I prefer simple 2.0/2.1/2.2 setups over any surround systems. Two giant tower speakers with a ton of power, supplemented by a subwoofer or two for the subbass - that is all I need. No worries about center channel, rear channels, matching different kinds of speakers/volumes/positions - simple 2 channel stereo is genuinely underrated and can still absolutely fill a room with sound.
When I was stationed in England I met a dude that had an insane basement sound studio. It was the best quality I ever heard but dude had close to 500k worth of random stuff hooked up! One of those rare electrical geniuses that just wanted the perfect sound.
I am 63. Been trying to teach this for years.. All NAD amps have a surround sound feature with only 4 speakers.. Sound is air pressure, the bigger the speaker, the more power it requires to work at its best.. And you overpower your room.. never run the speaker efficiently because they are Too loud.. The JBL soundbar with 300 watt subwoofer.. separable surround speakers.. That will fill the whole room easily.. And make the floor upstairs vibrate.. trust me..
Every hifi enthusiast knows the waf - the wife acceptance factor. Women seem to have a biologically engrained hatred against hifi speakers. And the better the speakers, the more they hate them.
I don’t understand how you marry someone and need approval for things. Get your balls out of your wife’s purse. Or better yet ask your wife’s boyfriend to help
Literally just upgraded my home theater set up with polks elite series speakers and upgraded my avr with a new denon and I ca say I have never been happier with my purchase movies really come alive now and music is deep and clear love it!
Or, if you want better sound than a soundbar, but not the cost and trouble of a full "proper" system, you could just buy some Edifier or Klipsch "bookshelf" speakers. That way you can have great sound for a cheap price. Mind you, it won't be surround, but it's not like a soundbar gets you surround sound anyways. I find the Edifier R1700 speakers I have for my living room are way more than loud enough (usually only have videos playing at like 5-20% volume. They also have plenty bass for watching shows and such. In fact, I've got the bass turned down on them a bit because there was just TOO much bass for some things at anything higher than 50% bass.
The amount of time you have to run cable and pick and mix products you could do literally anything else with your time though. It's convenience not laziness.
As an audio nerd, I would love to have a home theater system with independent channels and amp. However, I live in a small dorm/apartment, so a soundbar with a dedicated sub and independent surrounds does us fine. Once I have more space, I will definitely be upgrading it. I might even get Atmos, if I get lucky.
This is such a great time to put together a high end budget system. 25 years ago I put together a system that I was very happy with for £1100 (about £2000 in today's money). Up until now I've used the same speakers and upgraded the amp once. If I was to put together the same original system, it would probably cost around £200. If you don't need an amplifier with HDMI input, then you can get a decent amp for very little money. Old speakers are cheap too and as long as they haven't been abused, they will perform well. So an old system, with no HDMI and you'll probably be able to match or better a mid range system today for a fraction of the price... if you're happy with 5.1.
Amazing timing. In 2020 when I was stuck at home I upgraded my TV upstairs and also bought an actual quality soundbar with ATMOS. My dog at the time was 15 and wouldn't go downstairs, and besides if I was spending ALL of my time at home then it wasn't all going to be in the basement where my home theatre was. A year later I added the wireless rear surround speakers which are like 50w each. But downstairs I still had my abandoned home theatre room with a real 5.1 setup. All the time in between I've wondered whether that wireless system could drive the 110w rears from downstairs. Just last week I was prepping my old gear to help troubleshoot my kid's setup at a different house so I tried it. NO PROBLEM. It sounds so much better. Now the only problem is why I went soundbar in the first place. Even those rears are 4 times the size of the little speakers. It looks terrible and they are in the way. Maybe I'll buy them some stands.
About 5 years ago I scored one of the best deals for a 5.1 surround sound system. I got a full set of Klipsch Quintet 3 5.1 speakers and the accompanying 12 inch, 300 watt powered sub and a Pioneer VSX-917V for basically a steal. I paid $100. When it was all new it would have been over $1200. It was only 3 years old and she was going thru a divorce and wanted everything of her ex's out of the house. I still to this day use those speakers, but have since swapped out to a more powerful Onkyo TX-SR494. It rocks the room I have it set up in. The sub I have set at 0 on the receiver and only 1/4 of the gain on the sub and it will vibrate the walls to point you think stuff will come down.
I have a Klipsch and OSD 5.2.4 home theater. I also have a 20 year old Kenwood receiver, those exact same Philips FWB-MC50 speakers, and a subwoofer in my workshop. The Philips work amazing, have a decent mid-bass response, and fill my entire workshop with a ton of sound. They're not on the same level as my Klipsch in my theater, but for something I got for so little, I am extremely satisfied. Big money or little money, I always recommend looking at used markets for gear rather than buying the first big-box store option.
I've been upgrading my set with second hand and good value new equipment like this for years, while also encouraging friends to do the same, especially when they don't have anything proper or are considering a soundbar. Often when I've made an upgrade my old stuff goes to friends as well. Even some cheap stereo speaker set + amp of a brand that you've never heard of was a significant upgrade from listening music/videos on their TV and they are always very happy and grateful for it. It's nice to be able to make your friends happy with stuff you don't use anymore, while also giving that equipment a new life. Some of those friends still use the set I gave them, some have gotten into audio themselves and have upgraded to very nice sets too :) My own main set was not even that expensive, but it sounds great!
Thrift shops are perfect for this type of build. I have a 5.1 system, $25 for a Sony Dolby Sound 7.1 receiver, another $50 for a Boston Acoustics Center, Left, and Right Speaker, and Subwoofer and receiver (I sold the receiver for more than $50). And 8 dollars for two Sony left and right surround speakers. Sounds amazing.
My first theater setup was quite janky. It was amazing to me. A year passed and then I wanted better. Over the last 7 years, I have been gradually upgrading everything. You really can piece a fantastic system together from marketplace OR some aggressive deal shopping in stores or online. Now, I'm rocking 7.2 system driven by a 4K Denon receiver. I even added bass shakers to the underside of my couch. The only caution I give is that once you start, it's addictive to get it to perfection.
Years ago my grandparents gifted me a pair of Sapphire ST2 tower speakers along with an Onkyo TX DS484 receiver. Over the years I bought some box speakers from Goodwill, tied them into the left and right channels, and put them by my bed so I could hear people talking better without having the volume too high. I then found some random 6 inch sub with proprietary connectors so I just connected the left and right channels to the speaker itself because I couldn't get the center channel working on my receiver. Most recently I've replaced that center sub with a JBL S2-1224SS that fell into my lap for free. I cannot use anything else as PC speakers now. They make games and movies so immersive. I totally don't have the surround set up properly, but just because the way its set up, its a super convincing effect.
Stand behind this 100% about 2 months ago I was looking into a new soundbar for our living room. Found a complete klipsch sound system with an onkyo receiver and 5 foot tower speakers all for 600 bucks. Would never go back to a soundbar now!
all that the sony amp needs is an old pc power supply 24 pin socket, break it up to pairs and you got your connectors... worked without issues for 5 years lol.. you just have to figure out phase, but that's easy honestly no proprietary bs
I did the same thing with an older Yamaha receiver (5.1) and random decent speakers. The only New item was the powered subwoofer. It really leveled up the experience and about doubled the system cost😂 Really happy with the overall performance!
My dad bought a used Denon receiver with a set of JBL speakers, he hid a cable in the crawl space under the floor for the back channels so the wires do not look ugly, it's the best thing we did for the tv setup
One thing to remember looking at speakers is that they don't get worse just maybe a little less convenient (size, cables, amps. etc) but if it was good when it came out it's still good.
You made me want to calibrate, my home theater and boy, i'm glad I did a night and day difference .It's like a different system all parts I got used on fb and such. Well worth the time and effort to have great sounding audio
People have been saying the entire time never to buy a HTIB but for somebody who just wants to upgrade from TV/soundbar audio to proper surround it's still going to be a huge upgrade even if it isn't the best value known to mankind. For movies and TV I'd rather have a cheap 5.1 HTIB than an expensive quality 2.1 setup without a doubt.
The two best tips I have for budget audio: - Use a cheap TOSLINK/HDMI to RCA adapter and get a 20 year old high-end AVR, I've bought this setup multiple times under $50. - Sony SS series speakers were the best value underdogs, but nobody valued them. Their price is usually $10 per good quality (but poorly crossovered) floorstanding speaker pair. They have such good bass that this setup can rival entry level 5.1s in 5.0 configs. Also, if you play content from a PC, you could use either REW or my Cavern for Dirac-level calibration for free, and calibration is the single best thing you could have. I'd argue getting a MiniDSP Dirac box is the only $200(?) upgrade ever worth mentioning for old systems.
Big props to LTT for working so hard to remove the stigma that surrounds used gear. Such a good thing on so many levels.
I like buying new. I like having new. I like seeing what the best new bang/buck is. New features, tech, etc. I have never and likely will never use Facebook marketplace. Not only do I not want to buy used and run that risk, I just don't wanna meet up with random people from the internet haha. I'd buy used from a friend or someone whom I can verify trust, but that's about it.
Absolutely. Buying used, I saved $19k on gear. All high end equipment
@@hoofhearted4 And that's totaly fair! As long as you keep that gear until it breaks, or give it / sell it after, that's a good solution too!
yes, and the most relevant thing for me is - most of times, you do NOT get ripped off and stuff just works. There are less "bad" people than honest ones, from my experience. You also just have to be aware of some red flags. Buing used is the way to go for so many things...
I didn't know there was a stigma. Besides my CD- and my Bluray-player, all my audio stuff is used/vintage gear. And my 4k TV was saved from the trash. I could not have afforded this amount of high-end stuff otherwise.
Saw the title and already know there’s Facebook marketplace incoming
Not a bad thing. Love these used deal finds - staying scrappy saves a buck and saves landfill
Crazy how terrible deals on those amps though. I got a Sony one with Atmos and 4k plus speakers for 200€
Same
They have just gone up $60
Good luck finding these marketplace deals if you don’t live in Vancouver/Toronto in Canada
I'm glad this idea is getting pushed by larger UA-camrs. This is the exact reason I started my channel.
Older tech can still be usable and even superior in some cases to modern stuff. If you spend some time really searching the web, you can get some very high-quality equipment at bargain bin prices. That's how I built my home theater, and I've never been disappointed by it.
@@2ndHandHomeTheater I'm always using a 5.1 with receiver it's way better than any soundbar I've ever heard
You just got a new subscriber
I find older to be Much better, bonus is I find the stuff for free! I scored 3 5.1's in the past year at the side of the road in Mint condition. They tend to get the big stuff out and move in the little soundbar ... I find that stuff to be crap (imo). Youre correct mate, a little time spent researching will get you some great deals. Heck even if theyre blown, a repair shop and a few bucks can save you even More.
It's amazing how much quality there is in older AV equipment. If you don't take the time to get the right stuff you could end up with a crappy setup but with proper research and the drive you can end up with something amazing for a small price. And like Linus said, it is quite fun and addicting to upgrade your home stereo
I just inherited a component stereo from my parents that's older than me (the CD player is 1989, rest is a couple years older). Everything is Sony from when Sony meant quality, and it's all Japanese made.
I bought a 60$ 7.1 sony full home theater system from a old couple who's downgrading their setup. I googled the model number and it was a $1k retail when it was new few years back. Still have it till this day.
What a steal 🤭🤭
Is that the Sony Muteki? I always see these going cheap as. I’ve got one for my shed and even grabbed one for a mates place 😂
Sony sold a lot of garbo for crazy sticker prices back in the day. They did a huge Bose trick. I consider anything Home AV Sony - manufactured landfill starting back from CD players. Before that - sure, they were a noble brand.
@@NGC1433 they still do sometimes sell overpriced garbo like their headphones, which have caveats that destroy the whole premium vibe, when compared to competition at the same price.
People should also be less focused on brands - all good companies can make bad, lazy products.
All meh, or new companies can once in a while make a great product for the price.
The chifi is getting big these days and it's only a matter of time until we see 500$ chifi setups beat 2000 or ever 5000$ big western brand ones.
@@NGC1433 They’re definitely not the best quality hence why I don’t use them in my theatre room but for a $100 7.2 surround system to listen to music while I’m working on projects in the shed they’re phenomenal 👌🏼
My father was a sound engineer in his younger days. In the 70s his job was to set up stages and recording studios. He is a musician that can play multiple instruments. I was lucky to grow up around his passion for audio. Whenever he assesses an audio set up, before he looks at the gear he looks at the room acoustics. Two things he'd always recommend for for the home listening room is put a rug in front of your front speakers and a large canvas painting on the back wall.
As someone who is deeply involved in the Home Theater industry, I have to say, this is the kind of videos we need. You don't need to spend thousands on a good home theater. Heck, my home theater, albeit partially subsidized by my job, is around the $1000 mark (though I could have looked used instead of buying through work for similar prices).
A few tips. Wiring only has to be done once in a room. I always recommend splurging on Ghost Wire, and some paint that matches your walls. It's a 2 conductor tape you run along the baseboards then up to your speakers, then paint over it with wall paint. You can do the wiring in a day off and never have to worry about it again, and the Ghost Wire is almost invisible, no one who is not specifically looking for it will ever notice it. Also, if you have a decent sized TV console, you won't have to worry about the wires for your Fronts, Sub, and Center. They will be easily hidden behind the TV console, meaning only 2 wiring runs.
The number one thing though is be patient. If you are patient, you can easily get 4K capable HDMI switching AVRs with ARC and HDMI CEC for dirt cheap. Especially used Denon S series receivers. If your budget is a little bit bigger, you can get a refurbished Denon or Onkyo that will even support eARC and HDMI 2.1 for around $200 US from places like Accessories4Less. Then just spend what you can on speakers.
I also recommend buying piecemeal. Get your AVR and your fronts now. Save and wait, get a center, save and wait, get a sub, save and wait, get your surrounds.
Next challenge for LTT? Beat the Dragon for cheaper.
Ok, can you explain what HDMI ARC and CEC is? What they do and what the difference is. Even googling that confuses me.
OMG thank you! I have wanted a home theatre for a long time, I would even have the space for it, but the cables I couldn't figure out how not to be ugly.. that was the only reason I wanted to buy a soundbar, but I couldn't find one that was good enough for my needs (at a decent price). This Ghost Wire idea gave me hope that I could have a HT setup finally!!
i thought they already did that (beat the dragon for cheaper). didn't they make that video when they built the room they're in?
@@swunt10 HDMI ARC is an Audio Return Channel, so basically you are using HDMI to transmit audio to the reciever not the banana jacks or Toslink(optical cable).
HDMI CEC is Consumer Electronics Control, so if you power up the HDMI using device e.g. PlayStation, Xbox, AV Reciever it can power up the TV at the same time. If you shutdown the TV it will the same way shutdown other HDMI devices.
I have a 5.1 setup with dedicated AVR that I bought new on black friday 2014 and it was less than 800€. All matching full range premium speakers too, Magnat Verctor 207 fronts, 203 rears and 213 center. Magnat Betasub 30A is more than enough bass. Just need to search for people wanting to get rid of their old speakers.
I'd love a scrapyard wars that was just for a home theater setup.
It gets even better if your budget is a little higher. AVRs have supported 5.1 over Optical or Coax for literal decades, so you can use almost all of the higher budget to get better speakers and a good quality sub or even integrate stand-alone DSP stuff that gives you modern tuning and EQ features.
That's a great idea
That would be Sick!
It would be great, this kinda felt like a scrapyard wars with them buying lots of marketplace stuff 😄 although a competition would be very subjective. And least with scrapyard wars they got benchmarks. But can you benchmark sound systems? 🤔 Actually, maybe you can 😅
Raise the budget and go to the complete setup with seats/couch TV decorations and the sound setup. This should be a nobrainer!
@@Ga11onatorcue the labs team…
Recycle, reuse, reduce, and get savings by doing so. Great advice that many might overlook
And if you want to save even more money, refuse :)
actually the order of importance is as follows Reduce first, Reuse second and Recycle third and last.
Hail eco-audiophiles (tm). Seriously though, there's not much reason to buy new when literally legendary stuff can be cheaper than... well, sound bars.
@@leviathan19 That's what I was going to comment. The order is very important.
Depending on how one’s wife reacts. “Repent” might be in that R list as-well. Revorce before you Divorce, that’s what I always say.
Good tip for solid state amplification and Ohm ratings is:
Low into high will fly
High into low will blow
(Aka a low number impedance from the amp into a high number impedance on the speaker will “fly” or be good, and the reverse will blow something up!)
Except you should never use the 4 ohm switch on an AVR because it needlessly cuts the power output. You would have to be listening at stupid volume levels to produce enough heat to kill a transistor at low impedances.
@@sleepinglama14 This, that 4-8 Ohm switch led me to a rabbit hole when I searched about it back then. It's basically for clearing certifications (kinda like VW dieselgate) and could be left at 8 regardless.
It all hinges on whether the user is going to be pushing the amp hard. Which involves factoring in the room size and most imminently the speaker sensitivity. Also a factor is whether the speakers are are being given a full range signal, or whether the bass is offloaded to a sub.
I’d say in most common real world scenarios, it would be preferable to leave the impedance switch at the full 8ohms with 6ohm speakers. Cause the 4ohm setting is a safety throttle, it will limit current all the time, every dynamic thrust will be nerfed, current brings allot of mojo. Even with 4ohm speakers, they’ll perform better at the 8ohm setting. But in some instances it could be catastrophic, the answer being to pair with an appropriate amp, rather than use the switch.
What’s interesting is as the amp gets overwhelmed, it’s usually the speakers that fail before the amp, because the harmonic distortion of the amp rises so high that it clips the waveform into a square topped wave, which is like being fed 100% power like a toaster wire. A normal wave is a momentary crest of peak power, a square wave is a continuous plateau at that peak. So really it all goes back to the distortion inside the amp as it flows too much current into the low impedance speaker and looses it’s stability. One would hope the impedance switch would answer this problem, but really it just hinders current, lowering the audio quality. It’s put on products so they can meet regulatory compliance.
Meanwhile at Linus's neighbours: "Why the fuck is Linus watching Encanto 36 times in a row?"
He gets paid to promote it.
Linus’s Neighbors are total freaks! They are suredly unphased.
He has kids, you gotta pump those numbers up man, those are rookie numbers!
@CasepbX Disney isn't paying LTT ya dweeb 😂😂
Old audio solutions rock! I bought a 10 year old LG blu ray player with 5.1 for 80 bucks that used to cost 500 and it is great!
Its great if you have the space for it and running cables everywhere unless you have wiring in your walls.
Unless ur cripplingly lazy you can hide the wire under the baseboards or behind them
Nice
@@silotx well I didnt hide them, I just tucked them together with velcro behind shelves and paintings wherever I could. Its not perfect but at my projector setup I dont care that much about it 🤷♂️
Same here, 15 yo sony 5.1 to which I still did not buy a sub. Just place them where they should be and it's great!
Still rocking my thrift shop home theater setup in the basement. No arc, just an old receiver with optical audio and some mismatched speakers. Insane how much more enjoyable movies are with any type of setup like that. It kills me when people use tv speakers
i worked as a mover a while back, the guy was remodelling half the house. while taking stuff out he goes "i was gonna throw these away, they're like from the 80s or so..."... "these" happened to be a 500w yamaha receiver and a pair of 80W JBLs. i very kindly took them from the owner and gently disposed of them straight into my lliving room and added a thrift shop sub... are they pretty? no.. but nobody cared when the Rohirrim rode to Gondor and we felt it through the floor
I hate my TV speakers, luckily my parents decided to get new speakers, so my wife and I get the old receiver and 5 20-year old sony speakers. I can't wait to set it up
Totally . I started adding stereo speakers to just about anything, even mounting them outside, back in the '60's. After buying my first 'Real' Stereo in '76, the rest is history and I've been adding ever since.
You’re gonna hate this, my parents have a sound bar but they use the TV speakers
I've got one of those cheap Sony 5.1 setups here. Bought it second hand, cost me more in petrol driving to pick it up! There's a case to be made for getting something better, but the shape of the room means 7.1 is out of the question, so all I'd be doing is replacing components like-for-like.
I probably need a new TV first, but good luck finding something decent with all the component/composite/etc. inputs that all my consoles are plugged into.
The price isn't the problem that Soundbars solve (At least for me) - It's fitting them in.
I wish I had space for a proper set up as there's literally a pair of RS6 speakers at my parents that would be epic to have for my TV, I just can't fit them anywhere 😅
I feel like even just having 2 sperate stereo setup, where you can adjust individual speakers positions goes a long way. Heck if you can add even a half decent centre channel and a small subwoofer, it'll probably give you a much better performance than just having a Soundbar.
yeah, I do have surround, (a 5.0 setup) but speakers arent in ideal spaces, because there are where it fits. I have a sub, but dont use it, cause kids bedrooms are right above it and annoys them (or they cant sleep) if it is on.
I've never had room to properly place rear speakers
there's a q acoustic TV sound bar, which hooks onto your TV with decent speakers left and right. could be a start :)
Space is a real problem, I got myself the Yamaha SR-C30A because it's one of the only short soundbars with a sub, because of size restrictions. But I got it the smart way, I searched for a company that sells products with damaged packaging and got it for like half the price.
Fun Fact: This video was teased WAAAY back in their All Wish Home Theater Setup video almost a year ago in 2 days. It's nuts!
My dad's had a 5.1 set up in his living room now for 20 years and it still sounds incredible - they can be had nowadays for £100-150... and sometimes less. And in my studio, I'm using some very brown looking KEF speakers from the mid 80s. They were FREE from a charity shop that was struggling to move them around (they're quite large) and I'm yet to find anything that even comes close. Thanks for sharing how awesome, and how much fun, used audio can be! 😊🖤
The year is 2058, LTT uploads a video about Linus' home theater. They are testing it with Encanto again
the thing is, it would actually be a good way to keep comparisons fair over time
A standard isn't standard if it's changed. Encanto checks the boxes for audio and visual quality testing. Just like Linus' home theater that the average person will never make.
I watched Encanto with my family and thought it was mid.
@@mattkevin the pint of displaying it here isn't that it is a great movie, but that it has amazing sound and visuals, making it a great point of comparison
I watched a group of professionals comparing a bunch of this years new TV's against a $40K professional monitor. The materials they used were often a decade old and still it was used for testing the latest and greatest OLED TV's. It was interesting to see how large the differences was in some cases, especially in how they handled details in shadows. Now the reference was considered "the right way" for how everything would look and I remember in one case where details in the shadows was perfectly visible on the reference but the TV's varied widely with every thing from being so dark the details disappeared to one that was almost exactly the same as the picture on the reference screen. But often they were so close that I felt like they were throwing dice to decide on the winner.
But yea, the videos they tested with was not the latest of even particularly new. Often I also was surprised like when they used a scene from the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie and another test used the a scene from the Wonder Woman 1984 movie...
I have to say but your content has been banging for a while and I love the more budget oriented way things have gotten. The used market is really good at the moment and its good that someone like you is showing how good things you can get for fraction of the price
I've noticed that change too! Love it
That's what happens when you get a different lead for writing, David is a fountain of great ideas and it shows in the things they create. It's not that the previous lead was bad but their mind was very clearly focused in one direction and that direction had run it's course
Gotta say, since the shutdown, it had gotten more rooted. They might still reach the sky, but still slightly rooted… more rooted than Marques these days, anyway…
That crisp 4K tho ✨
Oh yess. I can totally see the 4k specs while watching in 480p.......
If only he yelled "Let's go gambling" during that bit
@@B0TJERRYX What's funny is most content is 1080p and people worship 4k for no reason at all unless it's a remaster or newer TV Show or Movie that supports it there's not a whole lot in 4k TBH if you got an AMOLED screen with 1080p is all you really need to cut the cost and no differences from using 4k or even 8k it's trippy when you see an AMOLED screen for the first time.
@@danrulz98 lmao wrong channel for that
@@B0TJERRYX yup get a pc, and not a gameboy 1.. and make your hamster, run faster in the powerwheel for the pc power hahaha.. because even my phone, can run this in 2160k! you must be homeless
THIS!!! I get hammered in various subreddits when I try to champion older/cheaper audio gear!
I got so sick of seeing the same comments of "Junk", "Trash" and "Bro, I kno ur budget is $80 but just spend $460 on these instead" that I'm trying to get a subreddit (r/BasicAudio) off the ground to encourage people to take the first steps.
e.g. A pair of reasonable PC speakers from Goodwill/Thrift/Charity shops with decimate most in-built TV speakers, a cheap 2 channel bluetooth amp and some speakers from an old hifi will whip many bluetooth speakers.
The list goes on and I'd love to more of this content....
Scrapyard Wars Audio/Home Cinema Edition?
Got my mate hooked up like this. He wanted to plug in a $200 aldi stereo. Managed to get him an Onkyo amp for $100, 10" Yamaha sub for $60, and large Yamaha floor standing speakers for $120. This is all Australian dollars so about $182 freedom dollars converted. Such a great upgrade
Honestly, goodwill is a game changer, you can regularly find av recievers for 20-$40, find some vintage towers for $20-50 and add in your fill
Totally! I used to move around the country every couple years, just following different adventures. Each time I landed in a new home the first thing I would do, before even moving any boxes, was to run to goodwill and pick up a decent and super cheap 2.1 setup. Gotta get them tunes rocking to move and unpack by. That, and you figure out what volume you can run before neighbors aaahh "stop by to welcome you to the neighborhood" :D
Definitely, it's cool to see there's a big community behind thrifty home theater setups. Sound quality over the last 10 ish years seems like I lost art. Either ridiculously expensive, a subpar soundbar, or worthless thin panel TV speakers. I've been trying to convince people for years to get a surround setup used at a thrift store or FB mp.
damn I need a goodwill like yours.
Too bad at a lot of them the scum employees keep all the good stuff for themselves or take them home and sell them online
Nothing boils my blood more
my goodwill sells empty smuckers jars for $5 (they are $3 at the supermarket with jam in them)......
This is something I have actually echoed for a long time. I have friends who spent ~2000usd on soundbars with subwoofers, that honestly does not sound that great... However, once I got my system for less than theirs and it sounds soooooo much better, they converted. I hope this will open up more people to the great experience of sound.
I bought my sound bar and subwoffer from a thrift store for 8 dollars and its paid for itself 1000x times over already. I love it. Its a decent Sony unit.
This video was pretty spot on with how my home audio setup has evolved over the years.
Beware that a lot of TVs do not support 5.1 surround output via optical cable. They will force 2 channel stereo output. Which means you will need to use HDMI. ARC HDMI is a thing, but some TVs and receivers are really buggy with ARC and will work one day and not work the next. You do not want to use HDMI video output from an older receiver, so that's out too. This is basically the situation I ran into with my setup. I ended up getting an HDMI splitter. One output goes to the receiver for sound, and the other output goes to the TV for video. It's jank but it works 99% of the time.
10:31 No, we love you. You are entertaining. You are everyone's goofy friend.
I'm so glad this comment is here. That part made me so sad to hear that he feels that way
My 7.1 system uses 2 speakers from 1987 that my parents bought for a stereo system.
A pair of Technics Tower speakers. They sound incredible to this day. Paired with Polk audio center channel, Polk indoor/outdoor speakers for surround, and a pair of Polk in ceiling speakers for above sound, and a large Polk subwoofer... This system crushes in the audio department.
Seems ya like Polk... A LOT!
Still have my technics tower floor speakers.
That's a great setup
Panasonic ruled the world back then no matter what sony ponies tell you
16:27 a soundbar is definitely easier in a lot of aspects, but the extra time invested definitely pays off and also gives you a sense of accomplishment
0:40 is this a reference to Uptown Funk???
@@JezzVega uptown funk? what do you mean sir, i want to learn, pls teach me
@@a-_-botm8809 a song by bruno mars:
Saturday night and we in the spot
Don't believe me, just watch, come on
@@a-_-botm8809 Probably the song by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno called uptown funk which contain these lyrics "don't believe me, just watch" which Linus says at that timestamp.
I bought my speakers from a nice man in 2020. They were already 6 years old when I got them, but they still to this day run perfectly fine. I have had no issues with them at all. People forget that one person's trash is another's treasure.
33 yo B&W 2.0 setup here from my parents... Still beyond awesome, and such a clean set-up! No surround, but no big deal. Audio quality and volume/warmth > surround for me. My wife always has to stop me in thrift stores. I think I'd own an entire speakerstore by now.
Stereo systems are 80% the sound for 20% the effort.
I'm just enjoying a cheap panasonic micro stereo system, because it fits inside the shelf system underneath my tv. And it sounds great.
This is exactly what I did for the 2 home theater systems in my house. Total budget for both sound systems was probably just over $1000 usd and they both sound phenomenal. A big thing to consider with budget is the size of the room you're installing in. My larger system has tower fronts and dual 10" subs, but the smaller system is on all bookshelf speakers and a single 8" sub and it still fills the room just as well. If you don't have a massive room you don't need a massive system to fill it so you can budget to fit
18 seconds in and going to see how this compares to my system at home
*smell
Spent many years cobbling together a 6-speak surround system from 2nd-hand components, before I had a system that could reproduce broadband streamed audio so well, people would lean in my bedroom door just to get a better listen of what already was impressive/alluring sound. So I know exactly what it's like, Linus... and good on you!😉
Never use the 4 ohm setting on an AVR. It lowers the voltage output to help reduce heat on lower impedance speakers, but at the sacrifice of significant power loss. Always use the 8 ohm setting! Audioholics' channel has preached this for years.
And that's why they need to hire something that knows about audio . it was almost hard to watch this as I know.Quite a bit about home theaters and thrifting speakers. he paid way too much for those phillips speakers.
I used to use a Bang & Olufsen soundbar, which honestly sounded pretty great (but was not cheap.) Then one day I discovered a 5.0 pair of KEF Q speakers (Q5 left and right towers, Q9C center, and Q1 rears, all matching wood finish) on facebook marketplace for just $500 for all 5. I decided to give them a go, picked up a used Marantz 7.1 receiver (so I could run the towers in Bi-Amp mode) for $500 and was so absolutely thoroughly blown away by how much better they were than the B&O soundbar for a fraction of the price I immediately sold the soundbar and have been in home hifi bliss since. Those KEFs are 20+ years old and still sound perfect. Highly recommend them if you come across them in the wild.
Yes!!! I have a Polk Magnfi soundbar with sub and surrounds and it’s a really good performer when it comes to sound bars. Definitely one of the better options sub $1000…
However.. I recently decided to buy a bundle at Best Buy since I’ve been wanting to try a WiiM amp and I was blown away by the stereo image I got from the small bookshelf speakers and a sub $300 amp. If I’m getting this kind of detail from a cheap low power amp I could only imagine how much better they are with a sub and a quality AVR with surrounds.
For $675 + a sub I think it’s hard to beat this bundle when comparing to a sound bar. I don’t think any bar/sub combo close to the price would come anywhere near that setup. Maybe I’ve just been out of the audio game too long to realize what you can get from budget speakers 😂
I really love how much clearer the audio becomes even for the audio the mics pick up
thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!! i have been trying to explain this to my friends and family for years. but you guy can actually show it making it easier to understand
Hot take for that stage dont uuse a 2way center. Erin's audio corner masde a video about how they auddio get chewe up at the location a typical lister wwould eb sitting. I just went for a medium size 3 way standing speaker. If you are getting larger standing speakers in 5.0 setup(i beleave you can also split 3 way 2speakers into 2way + subwoofer passive) you are abvle to dodge the sub. My HECO superior 850 (140€) are capable to vibrate our whole 3stories bricklayed home.
This is awesome! It's exactly what I did a few months ago, ever since then it has amazed me and how good of a setup it is. I can't believe more people don't know how rewarding it is to set something like this up.
I used to have a Yamaha 5.1 system downstairs.
But honestly? The cheap vizio 2.1 sound bar with a sub we bought a decade ago to compliment the vizio TV means the wife gets to use one remote for everything, which *does* have value. I won't pretend the sound is the same, but it isn't that far off.
The important bit is don't spend much on a sound bar, and make sure it has a separate sub module.
Most receivers and TV's post 2010ish should have hdmi arc and cec for a simple install and only needing 1 remote
I have a lot of LG Soundbars with. 2.1 (wireless sub) and I think they are very good for the minimal effort and space they take to set up. Also they are cheap.
2 nice speakers and no sub would sound better.. esp if ur also listnin to music trough it.. but also stages better when watchin a movie. i dont care much for the surrounds they are a hastle to instal with the wires.. and only add somethng if ur watchin movies a lot.
@@DxCBuG What is cheap for you?
@@richardheumann1887 I think mine was 140 bucks (€) new and the bigger better Version.. the SJ4 at the time 180... But it was. Years on the market and also dropped to 120 for a while. If you get them used... It's a damn bargain
10:30 “do not put this in the video. People already hate me” awe, don’t say this Elijah. I enjoy when you host and write videos. And I bet the silent majority do too.
I was shocked at who could hate Elijah?!?! Like no dude. He's great. He's a young guy with a big heart and loves LTT. What more could you want out of a host/writer?!
Elijah is a legend, love his appearances in any video from LMG.
@@carrionwithout_me only thing I hate is how old he makes me feel lmao.
@transformerstuff7029 i mean that's fair I feel the same sometimes! But I love that he invokes that emotion.
Having gone down the used hifi setup rabbit hole years ago, I'd say the biggest upgrade you can do for the price of a half-decent soundbar is to get a good 3.1 setup. It removes the need to run cables for side/rear/top speakers, but you still get a massive improvement in sound quality.
I started out with this when my last set of 4.1 PC surround speakers died. I decided that I was fed up with proprietary connectors and bad on-board DACs and set myself the challenge of building a better setup for less money than that Logitech Z something or other that was popular back then. I ended up with a very nice 3.1 setup that has since grown to a 5.1.2 setup. Over the years I just snapped up bargains on ebay here and there.
The only problem is that once you've gone this route you can't ever go back, because all of the reasonably priced sound system in a box setups just don't cut it when compared to second hand hifi at the same budget.
Just a basic stereo system is worlds better than a soundbar. They're small, cheap, clear and loud. Soundbars are just bad.
some people overlook that center channel but it makes a big difference, especially in movies that tend to have the musical score and sound effects drown out the dialogue. I got rid of my 3.1 setup and went with a 2.1 soundbar and sub to save space and make things cleaner. honestly the soundbar sounds fine, but it's the center channel that I really miss.
Do not use the impedance (ohm) switch on the back of the receiver. This goes for all receivers! All it does is rob your speakers from power! This is put on by the manufacturers for meeting certain specifications while testing! Just leave it at 8 ohm for best performance! You can still use 4 ohm speakers at this setting.
Totally agree. Soundbars are completely convenient solutions, and that's about it. You'll essentially always get better sound and immersion from a dedicated system. It's worth the "hassle", and that's in quotes simply because people like me really enjoy the journey of putting together a home theater over a long period of time. Well done on the vid as always!
I bought Polk audio t series set of 2 large tower speakers, a center speaker and 2 book shelf speakers when I worked at Walmart on clearance for $150 with my black Friday discount. And put them is a $70 receiver I got from a friend, it was amazing compared to what I had before. I have since added a 10 inch sub and 2 additional speakers to my setup with a bigger receiver and I have to run it all at -30 since the receiver goes very loud.
Ive been living this life for years. Beat advice i can give, ask your older relatives bc they have a ton of components in storage. Always. Speakers too
another peice of advice i can give is: "Dont be afraid to get your hands dirty" old speakers may need a little loving to bring them back to thier prime but the payoff after refoaming a vintage driver or replacing a old dried out capacitor on a crossover can be well worth it
also never be afraid to crack open a pair of speakers, the purists would butcher me for this but ive removed DIN connectors from speakers to install "banana plug" binding posts to use them with newer less proprietery setups
In my case it was the other way around. I was upgrading my old Denon AVR-1910, and gave it to my dad. Around the same time one of my friends was selling his surround setup super cheap to just empty his apartment before moving in with his girlfriend, so my dad got a complete 5.1 speaker set for less than $100, pretty decent quality too. I replaced my rear speakers a few months ago, and he bought my old ones for next to nothing. And he got his Blu-ray player for free when my sister and brother-in-law upgraded their player.
6:40 You can hook up all the subs you want, with a MiniDSP 2x4 HD digital signal processor. Of course, that's an additional $300.
2.2 pc setup here, I avoided that DSP device by using a virtual stereo device listened to by my 6ch device (motherboard, soundcard, usb dac). the channel duplication and other DSP done locally with EQAPO. the problem with having 6/8ch out as default is stuff thinks you want surround sound and won't give you the option for stereo. The AVR I picked up in '16 was from '04 because pre-outs were replaced with other features. neither solution is perfect, but I do have miniDSPs calibrated microphone umik-1 though (-$125).
the really expensive items for a nice speaker setup is the house and room treatment to address bass that lingers for too long.
@RNGwhydoihavetoregis Bas traps aren't that hard to make. Or absorbers or diffusers, for that matter. The problem is where to put them.
@@akyhne GIK has tuned traps to address down to 30Hz~50Hz where my nulls are but it's still 10 inches thick.
@@RNGwhydoihavetoregis Yeah, you can't get around that. Low frequency sound waves are long, so you need a thick bas trap (or multiple) for that.
Still, they can be DIYed.
Man, this is me basically my whole life. I took pride in having mixed setups like this that blown my friends' ears up. Since a year I was finally able to buy myself a very nice set of set of 5.1.2 speakers, but this video brings joyful tears to my eyes :)
Holy good timing on this, I just spent $300 on some used AVR and 2 speakers and a sub, and my living room literally sounds as immersive as my local theater. Soundbars have such a massive premium for ease-of-use.
I grabbed my speakers off the street. They're pretty nice Philips ones. I just had to get a Denon AV receiver for 200 euros secondhand, and my audio is amazing.
the dutch's audio chops are MASSIVLY overlooked and tbh I'm kinda glad they are otherwise they'd end up like those douchebags at Voxx running Klipsch
This just in - Buying used is cheaper sometimes, but more work than buying new. I love collecting used audio technology, its so fun and goofy and dumb but I love it
Same. Its a hobby I got addicted to about 5 years ago. Its soooo satisfying to see a pair of great speakers show up cheap on marketplace, and have no competition to buy them.
Though, now that Linus made this video I'll probably put the hobby aside for a while and let other people get into it.
If you call having fun work then sure
PSA: please do not sit on your receiver.
It will be fine
YESSS... Been waiting for a video like this! I have built DIY surround sound systems for over a decade for myself and family, and will ALWAYS recommend picking up a used surround system or two and combining different parts of them instead of a completely brand new system or even a fancy sound bar (providing you have the space) Also I have a few tips too!...
1. If it fits within your budget I would always recommend investing in a good quality amp/receiver rather than more expensive speakers. Having the convenience of HDMI and video switching in the Receiver from the start is great and the speakers can always be updated bits at a time later.
2. If your main speakers (fronts, centre and/or surrounds) have a terrible bass response, you can send those low frequencies to the subwoofer instead as most receivers will have the option in the speaker setup to set the speakers to SMALL and set a subwoofer "crossover" frequency.
3. At the end of the video Linus mentioned some "fine tuning" you can do which I recommend, this includes things like individual speaker levels and even distance settings to delay certain speaker outputs in milliseconds so they hit your ear at the right time if you have speakers that aren't evenly spaced.
4. If you are missing a certain speaker like a centre channel for example, most Receivers will allow you to disable the Centre or other channels, in this case the 5.1 surround will actually be 4.1, mixing the center channel into the left and right front speakers.
EDIT: 5. Don't feel like you need to use a specific speaker for a specific position, you can use floor standing front speakers as surrounds and bookshelf speakers as front speakers if you want! If you have a pair of bookshelf speakers laying around and one of them is damaged for example, you can use the good one as a centre speaker! Mix and match and have fun with it 😊
Love it Linus ! Audiophile here and loving hearing you talk about the subject! Give us more please! Fan of yours since before Linus cat tips came out and my beloved Bengal was still around, ( I will see you someday again Felix) . Nothing but the deepest admiration.
8:45 When you go to the store and they have music playing through the ceiling speakers.
No Brainer for me, since the '60's, before I was even a teenager. I guess I was influenced by my Father who was one of 3 Techs that started the Audio / Visual Dept. at SFU in '66. They had full size theaters built and used Altec Lancing VOTT's. At 12, I was removing speakers from anything I could collect and made speaker boxes. Learned the hard way about electro magnet speakers when I wanted to remove one from an old large radio my father gave me and extend the cable and put the speaker in it's own cabinet. Yes, even unplugged, the cables through me across the room. Undeterred I brushed myself off and measured the voltage across the power lines running to the electromagnet, I believe it was at 600v before bleeding down.( what fun ) I added a Heathkit tube amp my father had built and 'voila', I had my own Stereo using two different power amps and a hand me down stereo record player. Ten years later, after joining the Armed Forces as a Tech, I spent 10 months wages on my first 'Real' Stereo. My Father and I had visited a lot of his connections and listened to many high end systems pushing Altec Lancing, JBL and Tannoy's. I decided on all SONY equipment, including the flagship TC-177SD, which I still have and Tannoy Berkleys. Liked the Berkleys so much I acquired an additional 2 Tannoy Ardens which sometimes I stacked the Berkleys on top of since they had identical 15" drivers. So Yes, why not hook up your TV to your 'Sound System' . Been doing it for over 50 years and still to this day, except with multiple 7.2 and 9.2 systems. I've collected dozens of older flagship speakers and receivers used, as low as 20 cents to the dollar. Paradigm Studio, KEF, Energy, ( mostly towers) Onkyo and Pioneer. Don't get me started on Flagship TV's. KURO, Panasonic, Samsung and Hitachi Directors Series Plasmas along with a rare ELITE pro-70x5fd. What do you do with over 60 speakers? ( hint - picture your ceiling as another floor ) Makes for great surround for movies, I've even tried a newer Atmos receiver for a second height system. All my Systems and rooms are linked together with distribution amps, switches and active HDMI cables, some components with RCA's ( 400CD Player ). Another thing I've discovered is using an older RCA Distribution Amp to allow Multiple Subs to reach their maximum volume. I've also hooked up my Museum of semi-flagship Computers (Z77, X99's, X299's, X399, Z390, Z490's, Z590 to all my surround systems. So, you have to start somewhere, you won't regret hooking up speakers to your TV or computer and the upgrade path is infinite.
@@ArKay-nj2nh Honestly, that sounds awesome.
Mrwhosetheboss's theatre setup is a dream, LTT's theatre setup a reality and mine is non-existent. 😅😅😅.
I have pieced together my setup thanks to the generosity of others (a friend cleaning out the estate of his late family member), FB Marketplace, and rubbish piles on the side of the road. I paid a grand total of $39, and have ended up with a pretty sweet 6.1 audio setup made from a mix of Sony (amp), Dali (centre), GLL (L+R), Harman (sub), and Voll (surrounds). I spent an afternoon to wire up, set up, balance and adjust levels, etc. for my room, but it sounds *phenomenal*. Paired with the 65” LG OLED I picked up on Marketplace, and my place is now the go-to for movie nights with friends and family. So worth it!
Elijah I think you have been an amazing addition to the team. Don’t let the haters in the comments get you down. You rock dude!
this is literraly just what I needed right now, I couldn't find many of these on youtube, thanks!
ok i bought all the equipment now I just need to insulate my whole apartment so my neighbors doesn't kill me! jokes aside I'm not sure any tip including facebook market place works outside Us or Canada.
What happens to stuff people want to get rid of? They throw it out? Something is happening to it.
Facebook marketplace is just one of the best options they have, but pretty much every country has some equivalent platform for buying/selling used things. Yeah, the deals might not necessarily be replicable, but it's still likely that you find something similar for a good price if you look for it.
@@enderduck4253 of course there are other sites. but as you said the deals are very different. I was just trying to point that out.
put your sub on a cement plate and put thick foam under it to decouple your sub from the floor. Makes noise for your neighbour alot more tolerable and the bass sounds even better
@0:40 how about, I don't have the room for such equipment
Exactly what I was thinking but it's a cool excuse for a video nonetheless.
That’s honestly kind of crap. Speakers are the size of a few books and can be made to fit in any space. It’s just a matter of priority
@@AAllinsonNN Damn you must have massive books then
There are milk pack speakers you know? They are small and will fit in any house/room. And are a dime a dozen ... At least in Europe. I own Sony ones and they sound great.
Well if you don't have much room I would look at a mini amp with just 2 speaker's. These mini amps put plenty of power out there.
I have lived with an av receiver since about 1994. Its the best way to go for sound quality and stereo separation 😎
I started off with a Kenwood av receiver, now using a Denon DD 7.1 system with monitor audio bronze 50 front speakers, mission centre & rears & a powered sub.
The monitor audio"s really come alive when cranked above -35db ❤️
I do use a soundbar at my desk when I work, but only used instead if the crappy laptop speakers
damn that intro, I reached for the settings icon to put it back to 4K
One thing you do have to keep in mind tho is that people also buy soundbars because they don't have space for speakers and stuff. I personally could fit a soundbar in my apartment but could definitely not fit several large speakers
@@samk2407 my thoughts exactly... A lot of people live in apartments with small living room's instead of dedicated media rooms
@maheshbhutada yeah I mean I don't think Linus is unaware that most ppl don't have a home theater, if u had like a suburban house you could probably do this in your living room, it's just unhelpful if you are someone who lives in the city in an apartment where your living room is also your bedroom or your kitchen...
true but, there are also smaller book speakers even some that dont care if they are closer to the walls, i would always try go go for a 2.0 or 2.1 system with dedicated AVR and speakers u get so much more for ur money and can upgrade down the road..
It's legit point and if one isn't really into entertainment and just wants like more clarity to people speaking in TV. I absolutely understand the choice. But if even like occasional movie usage and there's bit of room. One can get small sized setup for very little money.
I gave my friends a decent 2.1 setup with a chipamp volume controlled over hdmi cec. This isn't really an excuse.
If you need to drop the .1 thats fine.
realistic minimus 7
Cambridge soundworks pc works mini sub and amp
Hdmi earc audio extractor.
All under $100
Had a tpa3116 board lined up but fell on the soundworks that allready had the sub circuitry so just went with that.
The pc sub dosen't have really deep bass so it's good for the tiny apartment.
15:25 So 325 CAD = 235 USD, but 329 CAD = 279 USD? Something's not quite adding up lol
As a person who regularly watches marketplace/Craigslist/Offerup for audio gear, I can confirm you can easily pick up a 5.1 speaker set up and HDMI capable receiver for $285 US.
It might take you a couple weeks of checking but this kind of entry level gear doesn’t tend to sell quickly so you do not have to worry about jumping on the listing as soon as it is posted.
One caveat, this assumes you are in a larger metro area. Secondhand audio gear can be harder to find, and often more expensive, in smaller communities.
People are practically giving away these things on Facebook. I picked up an awesome Yamaha 5.1 surround system on Marketplace for buttons and the entire house shakes when watching movies. I love it!
I am a student in college and I did this exact thing because I am majoring in Film production and I wanted to mix my short films in 5.1 and be able to hear what they sound like. Best decision I’ve ever made. I use it to watch movies and everything and it is great.
09:09 linus pee-pee shows
this may be heresy - but I prefer simple 2.0/2.1/2.2 setups over any surround systems. Two giant tower speakers with a ton of power, supplemented by a subwoofer or two for the subbass - that is all I need. No worries about center channel, rear channels, matching different kinds of speakers/volumes/positions - simple 2 channel stereo is genuinely underrated and can still absolutely fill a room with sound.
3.1 also is the way too, i find center a must for movies.
It’s okay to be wrong
Oh good lord that bad audio
When I was stationed in England I met a dude that had an insane basement sound studio. It was the best quality I ever heard but dude had close to 500k worth of random stuff hooked up! One of those rare electrical geniuses that just wanted the perfect sound.
I am 63. Been trying to teach this for years..
All NAD amps have a surround sound feature with only 4 speakers..
Sound is air pressure, the bigger the speaker, the more power it requires to work at its best..
And you overpower your room.. never run the speaker efficiently because they are Too loud..
The JBL soundbar with 300 watt subwoofer.. separable surround speakers..
That will fill the whole room easily..
And make the floor upstairs vibrate.. trust me..
me and my tiny off brand amazon sound bar are offended. i just dont trust people off facebook to buy things lol
Those bed bugs livin in the sound mesh...
If you can't trust your neighbors you might as well go live innawoods
15:30 when is the movie coming out?
Good luck getting your wives to approve all those bulky speakers and subs everywhere in the living room.
Don't worry, you can replace those too!
Every hifi enthusiast knows the waf - the wife acceptance factor. Women seem to have a biologically engrained hatred against hifi speakers. And the better the speakers, the more they hate them.
I don’t understand how you marry someone and need approval for things. Get your balls out of your wife’s purse. Or better yet ask your wife’s boyfriend to help
Literally just upgraded my home theater set up with polks elite series speakers and upgraded my avr with a new denon and I ca say I have never been happier with my purchase movies really come alive now and music is deep and clear love it!
Or, if you want better sound than a soundbar, but not the cost and trouble of a full "proper" system, you could just buy some Edifier or Klipsch "bookshelf" speakers. That way you can have great sound for a cheap price. Mind you, it won't be surround, but it's not like a soundbar gets you surround sound anyways.
I find the Edifier R1700 speakers I have for my living room are way more than loud enough (usually only have videos playing at like 5-20% volume. They also have plenty bass for watching shows and such. In fact, I've got the bass turned down on them a bit because there was just TOO much bass for some things at anything higher than 50% bass.
sooo 15:50 its just laziness no need to sugar coat it..
People have a lot going on and maybe they don't want to spend a month learning, checking facebook marketplace and setting up an audio setup
The amount of time you have to run cable and pick and mix products you could do literally anything else with your time though. It's convenience not laziness.
As an audio nerd, I would love to have a home theater system with independent channels and amp. However, I live in a small dorm/apartment, so a soundbar with a dedicated sub and independent surrounds does us fine.
Once I have more space, I will definitely be upgrading it. I might even get Atmos, if I get lucky.
This is such a great time to put together a high end budget system. 25 years ago I put together a system that I was very happy with for £1100 (about £2000 in today's money). Up until now I've used the same speakers and upgraded the amp once. If I was to put together the same original system, it would probably cost around £200. If you don't need an amplifier with HDMI input, then you can get a decent amp for very little money. Old speakers are cheap too and as long as they haven't been abused, they will perform well. So an old system, with no HDMI and you'll probably be able to match or better a mid range system today for a fraction of the price... if you're happy with 5.1.
Amazing timing. In 2020 when I was stuck at home I upgraded my TV upstairs and also bought an actual quality soundbar with ATMOS. My dog at the time was 15 and wouldn't go downstairs, and besides if I was spending ALL of my time at home then it wasn't all going to be in the basement where my home theatre was. A year later I added the wireless rear surround speakers which are like 50w each. But downstairs I still had my abandoned home theatre room with a real 5.1 setup. All the time in between I've wondered whether that wireless system could drive the 110w rears from downstairs. Just last week I was prepping my old gear to help troubleshoot my kid's setup at a different house so I tried it. NO PROBLEM. It sounds so much better. Now the only problem is why I went soundbar in the first place. Even those rears are 4 times the size of the little speakers. It looks terrible and they are in the way. Maybe I'll buy them some stands.
About 5 years ago I scored one of the best deals for a 5.1 surround sound system. I got a full set of Klipsch Quintet 3 5.1 speakers and the accompanying 12 inch, 300 watt powered sub and a Pioneer VSX-917V for basically a steal. I paid $100. When it was all new it would have been over $1200. It was only 3 years old and she was going thru a divorce and wanted everything of her ex's out of the house. I still to this day use those speakers, but have since swapped out to a more powerful Onkyo TX-SR494. It rocks the room I have it set up in. The sub I have set at 0 on the receiver and only 1/4 of the gain on the sub and it will vibrate the walls to point you think stuff will come down.
I have a Klipsch and OSD 5.2.4 home theater. I also have a 20 year old Kenwood receiver, those exact same Philips FWB-MC50 speakers, and a subwoofer in my workshop. The Philips work amazing, have a decent mid-bass response, and fill my entire workshop with a ton of sound. They're not on the same level as my Klipsch in my theater, but for something I got for so little, I am extremely satisfied. Big money or little money, I always recommend looking at used markets for gear rather than buying the first big-box store option.
I've been upgrading my set with second hand and good value new equipment like this for years, while also encouraging friends to do the same, especially when they don't have anything proper or are considering a soundbar. Often when I've made an upgrade my old stuff goes to friends as well. Even some cheap stereo speaker set + amp of a brand that you've never heard of was a significant upgrade from listening music/videos on their TV and they are always very happy and grateful for it. It's nice to be able to make your friends happy with stuff you don't use anymore, while also giving that equipment a new life.
Some of those friends still use the set I gave them, some have gotten into audio themselves and have upgraded to very nice sets too :)
My own main set was not even that expensive, but it sounds great!
Thrift shops are perfect for this type of build. I have a 5.1 system, $25 for a Sony Dolby Sound 7.1 receiver, another $50 for a Boston Acoustics Center, Left, and Right Speaker, and Subwoofer and receiver (I sold the receiver for more than $50). And 8 dollars for two Sony left and right surround speakers. Sounds amazing.
You've put more work into this one sound system than I have in my last 5 primary sound systems. Kudos!
My first theater setup was quite janky. It was amazing to me. A year passed and then I wanted better. Over the last 7 years, I have been gradually upgrading everything. You really can piece a fantastic system together from marketplace OR some aggressive deal shopping in stores or online. Now, I'm rocking 7.2 system driven by a 4K Denon receiver. I even added bass shakers to the underside of my couch. The only caution I give is that once you start, it's addictive to get it to perfection.
Years ago my grandparents gifted me a pair of Sapphire ST2 tower speakers along with an Onkyo TX DS484 receiver. Over the years I bought some box speakers from Goodwill, tied them into the left and right channels, and put them by my bed so I could hear people talking better without having the volume too high. I then found some random 6 inch sub with proprietary connectors so I just connected the left and right channels to the speaker itself because I couldn't get the center channel working on my receiver. Most recently I've replaced that center sub with a JBL S2-1224SS that fell into my lap for free. I cannot use anything else as PC speakers now. They make games and movies so immersive. I totally don't have the surround set up properly, but just because the way its set up, its a super convincing effect.
Stand behind this 100% about 2 months ago I was looking into a new soundbar for our living room. Found a complete klipsch sound system with an onkyo receiver and 5 foot tower speakers all for 600 bucks. Would never go back to a soundbar now!
all that the sony amp needs is an old pc power supply 24 pin socket, break it up to pairs and you got your connectors... worked without issues for 5 years lol.. you just have to figure out phase, but that's easy honestly
no proprietary bs
I did the same thing with an older Yamaha receiver (5.1) and random decent speakers. The only New item was the powered subwoofer. It really leveled up the experience and about doubled the system cost😂
Really happy with the overall performance!
My dad bought a used Denon receiver with a set of JBL speakers, he hid a cable in the crawl space under the floor for the back channels so the wires do not look ugly, it's the best thing we did for the tv setup
One thing to remember looking at speakers is that they don't get worse just maybe a little less convenient (size, cables, amps. etc) but if it was good when it came out it's still good.
You made me want to calibrate, my home theater and boy, i'm glad I did a night and day difference .It's like a different system all parts I got used on fb and such. Well worth the time and effort to have great sounding audio
People have been saying the entire time never to buy a HTIB but for somebody who just wants to upgrade from TV/soundbar audio to proper surround it's still going to be a huge upgrade even if it isn't the best value known to mankind.
For movies and TV I'd rather have a cheap 5.1 HTIB than an expensive quality 2.1 setup without a doubt.
Finally, LTT touching my hidden gem hobby, sigh.
Older, chonky, well made and rigid but cheap af speakers are the real deal.
The two best tips I have for budget audio:
- Use a cheap TOSLINK/HDMI to RCA adapter and get a 20 year old high-end AVR, I've bought this setup multiple times under $50.
- Sony SS series speakers were the best value underdogs, but nobody valued them. Their price is usually $10 per good quality (but poorly crossovered) floorstanding speaker pair. They have such good bass that this setup can rival entry level 5.1s in 5.0 configs.
Also, if you play content from a PC, you could use either REW or my Cavern for Dirac-level calibration for free, and calibration is the single best thing you could have. I'd argue getting a MiniDSP Dirac box is the only $200(?) upgrade ever worth mentioning for old systems.