[jeremyrutman]

I got an HK TS2 sub at a local Goodwill and thinking I'd finish the job ordered a set of five satellite speakers of the same name , four labelled SAT TS2 and one labelled CEN TS2 .
Now that I've got a kind of 5+1 set of speakers what would be a suitable amp to drive them - and to enjoy 5.1 sound what sources would I use ? Is 5.1 still a thing?
cd's are stereo iiuc - are some TV signals on my Roku smart TV broadcasting in 5.1 ? Is this kind of signal sent over hdmi cables ? Sorry for my cluelessness, its been a while since I hooked up my parent's non-retro tube amp to the record player...

I do love high-quality audio and mostly listen to classical , jazz and metal thru some Bose headphones, the HK is intended for a living room setup complementing the smart TV - maybe I should just go with one of those sound-bars that do seem to do quite a respectable job?

 

[buke9]

I got an HK TS2 sub at a local Goodwill and thinking I'd finish the job ordered a set of five satellite speakers of the same name , four labelled SAT TS2 and one labelled CEN TS2 .
Now that I've got a kind of 5+1 set of speakers what would be a suitable amp to drive them - and to enjoy 5.1 sound what sources would I use ? Is 5.1 still a thing?
cd's are stereo iiuc - are some TV signals on my Roku smart TV broadcasting in 5.1 ? Is this kind of signal sent over hdmi cables ? Sorry for my cluelessness, its been a while since I hooked up my parent's non-retro tube amp to the record player...

I do love high-quality audio and mostly listen to classical , jazz and metal thru some Bose headphones, the HK is intended for a living room setup complementing the smart TV - maybe I should just go with one of those sound-bars that do seem to do quite a respectable job?

What you want is a AVR . Most models now will come with HDMI and that will do both audio and video and should be selectable for 5.1 or others .

 

[HipHopScribe]

If you're looking for one something used you can find a Marantz NR1403 for great prices these days

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I got an HK TS2 sub at a local Goodwill and thinking I'd finish the job ordered a set of five satellite speakers of the same name , four labelled SAT TS2 and one labelled CEN TS2 .
Now that I've got a kind of 5+1 set of speakers what would be a suitable amp to drive them - and to enjoy 5.1 sound what sources would I use ? Is 5.1 still a thing?
cd's are stereo iiuc - are some TV signals on my Roku smart TV broadcasting in 5.1 ? Is this kind of signal sent over hdmi cables ? Sorry for my cluelessness, its been a while since I hooked up my parent's non-retro tube amp to the record player...

I do love high-quality audio and mostly listen to classical , jazz and metal thru some Bose headphones, the HK is intended for a living room setup complementing the smart TV - maybe I should just go with one of those sound-bars that do seem to do quite a respectable job?

You need an A/V receiver.

If your HDTV has HDMI ARC, you can keep the Roku hooked up to the HDTV, then just hook up the receiver to another HDMI receiver on the HDTV. It should send audio down to the receiver.

Otherwise the Roku has to hook up to the receiver's HDMI input, receiver passes on video to the HDTV then processes audio.

 

[jeremyrutman]

Ok thanks all. The TV itself gets signal thru wifi , there's no extra box. It does have an HDMI ARC socket which iiuc I can use to run audio to an amp like the marantz or an AVR that knows how to take hdmi and break it out to 5 channels and amplify them.

 

[jeremyrutman]

If I found a little amp like this that had hdmi input, would this suffice

 

[HipHopScribe]

If I found a little amp like this that had hdmi input, would this suffice

That's not an amp, it's just a decoder. You would still need to run the RCA outputs to an amplifier

 

[jeremyrutman]

That's not an amp, it's just a decoder. You would still need to run the RCA outputs to an amplifier

Ok tkx - how about the avr146 from harmann kardon? I seem to see some reports that the hdmi connector is just a passthru and there's no audio decoding, and separate input cables are needed from TV to avr...

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Ok tkx - how about the avr146 from harmann kardon? I seem to see some reports that the hdmi connector is just a passthru and there's no audio decoding, and separate input cables are needed from TV to avr...

The HDMI pass through is for video but can also work for audio.

It passes through for video because your HDTV is better for decoding that. HDMI puts audio and video in the same cable, unlike component analogue and optical/75ohm digital audio waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when HT set ups were a 32in Sony Trinitron with a huge arse (ie the picture tube), which, when LCDs became a thing, quickly had people realize two things: a 32in sitting farther because it doesn't have any arse now looks smaller, and ooooh look at that, we can go all the way up to 50in+++ without having a huge arse on the TV.

If there was no audio decoding possible within the AVR146 then it wouldn't have those speaker binding posts, which indicates an amplifier stage that works on analogue signals, given that the inputs are all in digital.

If it has HDMI 2.1 then the passthrough is more of from cable box to HDTV to the AVR146, so you can use only the HDTV if you're not even watching 5.1 content or any content within a situation where the HDTV's speakers are loud and clear enough (or for example grandma is watching the kids and doesn't want to mess around with the AVR), without having to switch the AVR146 on and having parasitic power through some channels. Or it might have a passthrough so even if the AVR146 was on and the cable box was hooked up to that, you can just use the HDTV's speakers for those similar situations, but the AVR146 might be able to cut power to the amplifier stages...or at the very least, grandma wouldn't have to mess around with the AVR, apart from that she has to make sure it's also on.

 

[jeremyrutman]

The HDMI pass through is for video but can also work for audio.

It passes through for video because your HDTV is better for decoding that. HDMI puts audio and video in the same cable, unlike component analogue and optical/75ohm digital audio waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when HT set ups were a 32in Sony Trinitron with a huge arse (ie the picture tube), which, when LCDs became a thing, quickly had people realize two things: a 32in sitting farther because it doesn't have any arse now looks smaller, and ooooh look at that, we can go all the way up to 50in+++ without having a huge arse on the TV.

If there was no audio decoding possible within the AVR146 then it wouldn't have those speaker binding posts, which indicates an amplifier stage that works on analogue signals, given that the inputs are all in digital.

If it has HDMI 2.1 then the passthrough is more of from cable box to HDTV to the AVR146, so you can use only the HDTV if you're not even watching 5.1 content or any content within a situation where the HDTV's speakers are loud and clear enough (or for example grandma is watching the kids and doesn't want to mess around with the AVR), without having to switch the AVR146 on and having parasitic power through some channels. Or it might have a passthrough so even if the AVR146 was on and the cable box was hooked up to that, you can just use the HDTV's speakers for those similar situations, but the AVR146 might be able to cut power to the amplifier stages...or at the very least, grandma wouldn't have to mess around with the AVR, apart from that she has to make sure it's also on.

sorry i couldnt quite make heads or tails of this. Can the avr146 handle hdmi audio or not? Reviews on amazon claim not.

 

[jeremyrutman]

Can I just use an optical cable instead of hdmi? Older amps seem to still have the rounded-off square optical connector which i blv. handles 5.1 too, and the smart tv has one as well.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

sorry i couldnt quite make heads or tails of this. Can the avr146 handle hdmi audio or not? Reviews on amazon claim not.

Can't make heads nor tails of it either because I just found the manual and it does say it doesn't. And I looked through the Amazon reviews, and that's only the second biggest problem. Even if it functioned like 99.999% of other HDMI-equipped receivers, I'd avoid it like the plague just based on how many reviews said something burned inside the thing and the whole house smells like burned electronics.

Honestly that thing looks like an utter POS. I'd avoid it all costs.

 

[jeremyrutman]

Would an Onkyo TX SR-507 do the trick ? Its a little old but supports hdmi - has the hdmi standard shifted around or will an old hdmi-supporting device work with a new hdmi ARC TV output? How about the Sony STR-KS370 - and generally is there some easier approach to this than painstakingly running down specs on every avr I run across??

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Would an Onkyo TX SR-507 do the trick ? Its a little old but supports hdmi - has the hdmi standard shifted around or will an old hdmi-supporting device work with a new hdmi ARC TV output?

HDMI will just work even with newer versions, but it won't have the newer features. If it doesn't have ARC then you can't have for example a cable box hooked up to the TV that you can easily send the sound down to the receiver when whatever you're watching on cable has 5.1 audio for example.

How about the Sony STR-KS370...

I'm not really a fan of Sony (and Yamaha) receivers' amp sections.

...and generally is there some easier approach to this than painstakingly running down specs on every avr I run across??

Unfortunately, no, especially if convenience is important to you.