Check and see if your TV is set to "Sound Sync (Optical)". If it's set to (Wireless) it looks like it is just Bluetooth.
That Yamaha looks pretty good - it appears to use the RX-V495 as the receiver, which reviews well. Frequently HTIBs have some sort of oddball, unique AVR that you don't see sold separately, but not in this case!
This is totally true - I always forget just how low they've dropped those Elacs around the holidays. That combo would compete with much more expensive systems, let alone the Yamaha HTIB. Even if they don't do that same deal, Guts Of Thor would do well to watch around Black Friday, as they'll be able to get *way* more for their money than usual.
Yup - keep in mind that bookshelf speaker prices are typically listed for a pair, while towers are per each. In the case of the Elacs, the lowest price historically on Amazon for the bookshelves (the Debut 2.0 B6.2's) has been $150 (a pair), while the lowest price for the towers (the F5.2's) has been $190 (each).
I haven't tried it, but this link indicates that some Denon AVRs support it, with a firmware upgrade. Likely to sound better than Spotify, at least on the songs that are actually in HD quality.
I also recently bought the KEF Q150, managed to get them for 245€. Fantastic speakers! Before that, I had the Scythe Kro Craft Speakers, so it's quite a jump.
Do you happen to know the model number of your Bose system? With Bose Acoustimass setups, you run their wiring from the speaker terminals of the receiver to the Acoustimass module, which then goes to the cubes. This will work with any receiver, whether or not it mentions explicit support for passive subs. You'll tell the receiver that you don't have a sub, run all of the speakers as full-range (or "large"), and the Acoustimass module will play the low frequencies while passing along the high frequencies to the cubes.
Oh thanks very much! It is an acoustimass 6 series II (1996 model, ouch, i am really old i guess) , but as long i can use them decently for a while by telling the receiver that i don't have a subwoofer that's great for me so i can keep using them until i change my speakers later.
Yup! I just checked the manual for that model, and the advice I gave was (thankfully) correct. Interestingly, it says to set the speakers to Large except the center, which should be Small. This is odd, since all 5 speakers are identical, I think, but best to follow what they say.
Yes! First step is to change the receiver, but if some speakers are on offer.. who knows!!!
Sure thing! Note that getting better speakers will have a larger impact on your overall sound than just about any other change. All of the post DD/DTS sound formats like TrueHD and DTS-HD are definitely better, and a newer AVR with HDMI will be more convenient, but if you find speakers that you like the sound of, it will likely be a more noticeable upgrade.
This article has a good overview of balanced connections, as they relate to headphones.
Thank you! Can I also ask you what's the deal with high impedance headphones? Some have up to 600 ohm and I was wondering what the difference is when listening to music with high/low ohm cans?
In practice, headphones rated at 600 Ω will require a headphone amp with more robust power delivery, usually meaning that they're basically for home use only. A 50 Ω set will work with the amps inside phones, etc.
Yes, understood, thanks! It was a general "what the hell is it", so there is no worrying here. I also found a nice article on the page you linked (https://www.headphonesty.com/2019/05/balanced-vs-unbalanced-audio-connections/) about balanced versus unbalanced. Basically, every headphone can be both, it's just about the connector on the end/the cable. I am eyeing the Fiio M11 for both desktop and on-the-go use with Tidal HiFi, but it might not be necessary at all.
Hell yeah buddy!
Yeah I've been a PC guy for a long time but it's always been essentially to just play console games at higher resolution and frame rates. I don't play any keyboard/mouse games at all. even when I play Overwatch, it's with a controller (which is always endlessly amusing to the people in chat). I run "controller companion," which is a $5 steam application that lets you control all your kb/m functionality with an Xbox controller (I think you might be able to do this natively with steam now but I've never tried).
As Redline says below, do it. There are tons of great resources to help with the choosing and building, and the upsides are just huge.
