Amps - Onkyo-TX-SR608 vs Bose Lifestyle V35

[Amadeus1756]

Dumb question(s) alert - if you have high blood pressure, stop reading now!

I was in my local Comet and I saw the Bose V35 demo - and was very impressed. Having read some historical posts on this forum, it seems that you can get (considerably) more for your money with other products, but I liked the Bose system for a number of reasons - the main box was relatively small compared to (say) the Onkyo (which is probably at the top of my current list, tho I've yet to experience one in the flesh), and the speakers are very compact, which I also like.

In what regard does the Bose match the Onkyo? I see it has 3 HDMI sockets (I have a DVD player (multiregion), a PS3 and a Topfield PVR) which I think would be enough. Am I right in thinking that the Bose system does not do upscaling of video? And would something like the Onkyo bethe best place to do upscaling - i.e. turn it off on things such as the DVD player?

If I bought the Onkyo, would I be able to continue to use the speakers on the TV initially, using it just for video upscaling, and then moving to better (i.e. external to the TV, as well as surround) speakers when funds and space permit?

Having read a bit, it seems that using an amp leads to delays in sound; does the set up of the amp sort it all out, or will I need to tweak it, little by little until it looks ok to me (i.e. the sound and video seem in sync)?

This really is a minefield for someone learning about it, so any comments (even with the odd joke at my expense! []) would be more than welcome. If anyone knows of a "for dummies" guide to this sort of thing, I'd be glad to read it! [8-|]

Thanks very much

 

[John Duncan]

Four. Thousand. Five. Hundred. Pounds?!?!?!?!?

 

[grdunn123]

Are you saying that you have £4500 ish to spend on a home cinema set up?? If so then the world is your lobster!

 

[naughty573]

looked at in isolation Bose is a decent lifestyle type of system with all the inherent limitations that small lifestyle systems suffer from - but given its price it really is not any value for money

at 1/10th of the price it would be excellent value for money or at 1/5fh the price it would land up being "par for the course" albeit a bit pricey - but as it stands they charge a premium price for what is a regular "par for the course" product

this leads to many people considering Bose to be bad - which it isnt, but for the price you will definitely get equipment that does the job better ie at 4500 quid i can think of plenty of full size complete 7.1 setups with comparatively very high end speakers that will positively embarrass any Bose system

your question about the amp - well any speaker including the Bose setup will need amplification of some sort - the source will generally output a signal that is a low level signal and this needs to be increased to levels that will be able to give you decent output - the sync between video and sound is dependent more upon the source material (disc) because most modern equipment will either not have the problem or generally will have adjustments that can rectify it if it is present in the source material

if you did purchase the onkyo then you will be able to use the speakers on the TV only if you are using an HDMI connection and if the onkyo allows audio bypass with HDMI - this means that the amplifier will not route the audio via the surround sound but passes it on to the TV - but remember the TV speakers are poor and generally the idea behind a surround system is to get a better audio experience. If your funds are low then you can do it step by step but all you will be using the amplifier for is to do video switching initially ie multiple sources into one unit then the output of that one unit to the TV - but if all sources are not connected via HDMI then you wont get sound from those eg if the DVD player is connected via composite or component then there is no audio connection and you will need speakers connected to the receiver to output any audio

 

[Amadeus1756]

When I was in Comet, I thought the V35 was £2k. That does seem like a mighty big discount, so maybe I wrote that down wrong. I wasn't planning on spending £4.5k on a home cinema setup. For that price, I'd buy something cheaper and employ a YTS (does that still exist?) person to press the buttons on the remote and feed me grapes!

I really liked the small (minute) size of the Bose speakers, but now I know it's possible I can look into alternatives.

Thanks for the info guys - much appreciated, esp naughty573 for the detailed reply.

Now I know about the audio bypass, I know what to look for, so I'll do some more research. All my current hardware has HDMI connections, so I'd use those but more out of convenience rather than expecting much from it - the DVD player and PVR aren't HD, would be interesting to see what something like the Onkyo did in terms of upscaling with those.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Paul.]

I dont think its fair to compare a bose setup to a full size hifi setup, of course its not going to sound as good. Bose stuff is designed to seamlessly fit in to a room, rather than be the centre piece or 'point' of the room. Its just not designed for people that hang out on hifi forums

Its kinda like comparing an imac to a gaming rig.