Regarding the audio:So guys I'm picking up one of these new TCLs for my (tiny) game room. It just barely has the space to cram a 65" in there so that's what I'm getting. If all goes well I'll upgrade next year to an OLED once we get VRR and all the other new buzzwords and send this TCL to the bedroom. But before I start painstakingly looking at a billion reviews I have a few general questions. I've never really set up a proper "game/movie room", I've just used PC monitors in my bedroom to watch movies and play games.
- I really really don't have the space for a 5.1 or 7.1 or any fancy Atmos things. I am cramped enough that I don't even know for sure that I'll be able to fit a 2.1 setup unless I legit put the speakers below my TV on whatever desk contraption I end up getting for the media devices. Between a good soundbar and a 2.1 speaker setup - is the difference huge? I'm looking at an ELAC UNI-FI B5 + Sub vs. some nice $700ish soundbar.
- Will whatever receiver I buy now end up being obsolete next year when the new HDMI standard comes out with VRR support? Also I know literally nothing about this - what's a reasonable "Watts per channel" to drive those ELAC speakers if I end up going for those rather than a soundbar?
- I don't wanna go all out this year on the TV (hence why I'm skipping OLED until next year), but is there an "upgrade pick" above the TCL where I can get something better without going, say, past $500 above its MSRP? I can do $1,500 max and I really want it to be 65". If it's like "nah you either spend 1k on the TCL or double that for the next level" I'll just stick with the TCL.
1. As someone who owns the Uni-Fi floorstanders (and has a dim view of soundbars in general), DO IT. This goes double if you're planning to listen to music on the setup at all.
2. AVRs will likely need specific VRR support, probably not until next year or so. Regarding power, quoting myself from the audio thread (so ignore the bulleted numbers, as I cut some non-relevant stuff out)
2. Wattage is tricky, inasmuch as receiver makers want to have the biggest number to put on the box, so that their product looks more powerful than the rest. The problem is that there many different ways to measure wattage - if I want my AVR to look really beefy, I'll measure the wattage at "1k, 1 channel driven, .9% THD." Let's break this down:
2a. The human range of hearing is usually given as 20kHz (really high frequencies) to 20Hz (really low frequencies.) 1kHz is right in the middle, and can be less difficult to drive than the two extremes, so by measuring my AVR there, the measured wattage is higher.
2b. Modern receivers have at least 5 channels. By measuring my AVR while driving only one speaker, I'm giving it a far easier task than if it were trying to power all 5. Again, wattage number goes up.
2c. THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion, and can be summed up as "how much of what I'm playing is distorted from the original." Therefore, a lower number is better: we want as little distortion as possible! .9% sounds pretty low, but better receivers will be measured at .09% or even lower. By not worrying about the distortion as much, the wattage number is higher.
2d. The wattage rating on speakers is a range of the least and most amount of power they can handle. Here's Klipsch's data sheet on them, it's listed under "Power Handing." But as we see above, it's hard to know how "honest" a given watt is, right? Luckily, this leads us to...
3. All of this is largely academic at this level of gear - most receivers will power most speakers in this price range, and will do so pretty well.
5. Resistance or impedance is a measure of how much resistance (!) the speaker gives to the power being fed to it. The lower the number, the more resistance, and the tougher the speaker is to drive. The majority of speakers in this range are 8ohm. Note that this number doesn't necessarily have to match with the AVR: impedance changes based on the frequency in question, and so the "8ohm" number is a nominal measurement, usually referring to the lowest impedance needed. My speakers are rated at 4ohm, so they are tougher to drive...but they play just fine on a Denon AVR that is "only" rated for 8ohm.
