Team-BHP - The Home Theater thread

Finally got my hands on the Philips Fidelio B5 soundbar. Deal price was 27K. Still a bit pricey for what i would want to spend on a soundbar but i was too far into it to back out.

Compared to my previous 18k samsung soundbar this was just amazing.

Setup:
Oh so simple. HDMI through ARC and voila all done.

Stereo sound:
Good with decent voice clarity in movie mode but there is a voice mode as well which would be useful for dramas and news i guess.

Surround sound:
Now the "gimmick". The two ends of the soundbar are detachable speakers with internal batteries and which connect to the main unit wirelessly. Place them as you would rear surround speakers, fire up top gun or fast & furious and my god, this thing comes into its own.

Deep rumblings and good surround effects make it a dream for movie watching in my little flat on a 46" TV.

Have to calibrate the sound according to rear speaker placement. It should be even better i guess.

For that price i am very happy indeed!

:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdma (Post 4058968)

- 5 Infinity Speakers and the Sub Woofer.
- Onkyo 9.1 Amp
- Stepdown Transformer ( The whole system was brought from USA and hence runs on the stepdown).
- Compete wiring for the speakers.
- All the cables to and from the Amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 4059171)

Congrats Pradeep on the steal deal. Lucky you. I think you made a right choice supported by an expert friend. Can you post some pics of the set up?

Hello godhlur,

Finally, uploading the pics :).

Our Old TV

Me and my wife spent a Saturday to paint the walls, to enhance the look, and this is how it turned out to be, may be not the best but pretty happy with the DIY

Other Pics

Subwoofer

Amplifier

Step down transformer

It would have been awesome if the system was black in color, never the less very happy with the quality for the price paid :).

Cheers,
Pradeep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by civic-dk (Post 4104510)

I am still confused between the 2 stereo amplifiers norge 2060 and marantz pm 5005.

Considering the fact that norge costs less than half of marantz, will the norge be equally good with respect to sound quality and longevity?

Request fellow members to help me decide.

Finally, I have taken the plunge with the stereo amplifier Norge 2060 for my pair of Polk Audio TSi300 floor-standing speakers. Transferred the amount yesterday and they have shipped it today.

Eagerly waiting for it to arrive:). Will share my feedback once I get it and install it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by S_U_N (Post 4104309)

Please share a more detailed review as you use this more. :)

For the past few days, i have been putting this beauty through different loads.

Iron Maiden Live @ Wacken 2016 Concert.

Blu Rays of Top Gun, Transformers, Pacific Rim, Bad Boys, Matrix Revolutions.

Few music videos of average quality

TV viewing.

And it blew me away every single time. Love the "voice" mode while watching news on TV.

Watching concerts in surround mode is just amazing. Feels like you are in one :) When Bruce went "Scream for me Wacken"...!!!

The calibration option is nice so that the volume of the two rear speakers adjust as per their placement for your optimum surround experience.

The tall down firing sub is good as well. Need to get a good mat for it to avoid the windows rattling :P

I simply love the utility of it. Stereo soundbar and with a couple of pulls, voila surround mode on! Yet to finalize proper place for placing the two rear units.

Now it's time to dust off my old concert DVDs and rock on \m/

The only niggle is the ARC. I have an old 2012 model panasonic 47" 3d smart lcd. And at times the ARC link refuses to happen and it's a bit frustrating. Hopefully i manage to find a solution for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathwalkr (Post 4105668)

The only niggle is the ARC. I have an old 2012 model panasonic 47" 3d smart lcd. And at times the ARC link refuses to happen and it's a bit frustrating. Hopefully i manage to find a solution for that.

The problem must be handshaking between the two devices. I own a Samsung Plasma from a similar generation as your Panasonic TV and this is connected to a relatively modern AV receiver. ARC works flawlessly, however, there are scenarios that it does not and I have come to understand the problem. The problem for me is when I power off the devices from the main switch and I do this every night. I don't leave equipment on stand by for a long duration.

When I power on my AV equipment from the mains, for the first time in the day and try to play video content from a hard drive connected to the TV, ARC does not function. The receiver does not even detect the presence of the TV trying to send a feed, which it usually does. To solve this problem, after turning on the mains, I wait for 5-10 minutes. There is some activity that takes place as the hdmi lamp comes on for a bit on my av receiver and then goes off. The receiver is on stand by at this stage. If I give it this time and then try to play content from my tv, the receiver switches automatically and activates ARC.

HDMI is not only for video and audio signal. It is a new communication standard on AV equipment. If the proper hand shake does not take place, the two different devices can't talk to each other.

Try this out and let me know.

The other problem could be the encoding of content you are trying to watch. Especially the audio stream. Not that I own a LG tv but it was only recently they signed a contract with DTS for a permit to pass through an audio stream via any of its digital interconnects. If you owned a LG tv from 2012, it would not recognize a DTS audio stream and won't pass it through any form of a digital connection. My Samsung plasma supports DTS and Dolby Digital as a pass through. None of the HD audio standards are supported though.

@sandeep, yea that's what I figured out after spending some time on Google.

IN Panasonic TV there is something called a viera link which has to be enabled for arc to work properly with soundbar. Problem was I kept getting the error message that it was not available.

Back to Google and turns out that you have to enable the viera link function first which was buried deep inside menu. Go figure.

Did that, viera link enabled and am away from home for two days. Hopefully it works otherwise me wife is going to tease me non stop for spending good monies on something which doesn't work properly :p

And like you said, a few minutes of waiting or turning off and on with remote used to make it work. Now that the viera link has been set up I hope it works flawlessly.

Thanks for your advice :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathwalkr (Post 4105668)

For the past few days, i have been putting this beauty through different loads.

....tall down firing sub is good as well. Need to get a good mat for it to avoid the windows rattling :P

I simply love the utility of it. Stereo soundbar and with a couple of pulls, voila surround mode on! Yet to finalize proper place for placing the two rear units.

..

Nice. I am hoping the price comes down to somewhere close to your deal price.
For the rattling, there was a special device that you could buy or perhaps build (check the previous pages.)

Hello all!

So I have a Denon home theater (DHT 1312XP 5.1 channel) which I've been using for the past 4 years I guess.
Recently, I've noticed that one of the rear speakers goes off all of a sudden but turns on automatically. Have checked the wires and the connection to the amplifier but everything seems to be fine. What could be the issue here? Do you think the amplifier should be serviced after every x months/years of time? If at all it has to be taken to the service center, any leads in Bangalore?

Thanks in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by civic-dk (Post 4105641)

Received Norge 2060 yesterday and installed it today, connecting my Samsung Blu Ray player to Sony 50 inch LED tv and the audio output from the tv to the 2060 which is powering a pair of polk audio tsi 300.

While today is the first day, I am extremely pleased with the sound quality I am getting from this setup.

So it happened. Went a bit overboard yesterday morning watching Avengers on dobly surround especially the climax fight sequence.

I live on the 9th floor and the people living below came a knocking asking me to lower the volume :(

Not used to surround sound i guess i lost control and just went full on movie mode.

Apologized profusely.

I\'m guessing the culprit is the huge downfiring sub. Ideas on damping the sound/vibrations?