Superorb Wrote:You need something to power the speakers, usually a receiver. The receiver will also accept the audio from the ATV2 or from the TV and play it through the speakers. Even the cheapie Walmart systems should do this fine.

exiledone1 Wrote:I was thinking about getting this sound bar. Looks pretty good for the price.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/VIZIO-High-Definition-Sound-Bar-VSB200-B-Refurbished/16914359?findingMethod=rr

So would something like this hook up to the ATV 2 or to the flat screen or either way?

Superorb Wrote:I'm not a big fan of soundbars, but it would work. You just run the optical audio from the ATV2 to the sound bar, or you run an HDMI from the ATV2 to the TV and then an optical audio cable to the soundbar. I'd recommend the latter so you can play sound from the TV as well as the ATV2.

exiledone1 Wrote:Hey,

What is the issue with soundbars?? Just personal preference?? Thanks for the advice though. I'm sure anything is better then the factory speakers in my plasma tv.

Thanks
Josh

Superorb Wrote:Personal preference. But, you can't get big sound or accurate surround sound from a bunch of tiny speakers all in a line. You can have smaller speakers as surrounds, but you need dedicated surrounds. Also, there will be almost no bass form a sound bar, the drivers are too small. Will it sound better than the stock speakers? Probably. Will it be a home theater? Absolutely not.

exiledone1 Wrote:Ahh....okay, cool. I get it now. I'll keep that in mind. Hell, might as well wait then and get one that I can do the surround with. Thanks for the info. Really helpful.

Superorb Wrote:Personal preference. But, you can't get big sound or accurate surround sound from a bunch of tiny speakers all in a line. You can have smaller speakers as surrounds, but you need dedicated surrounds. Also, there will be almost no bass form a sound bar, the drivers are too small. Will it sound better than the stock speakers? Probably. Will it be a home theater? Absolutely not.

exiledone1 Wrote:So would something like this be better? Since this can be moved around better than a bar.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pioneer-5.1-Receiver-with-Klipsch-Speakers/13045152

Superorb Wrote:I don't care for Sony much. All our Sony cameras, and our Canon camera with a Sony CCD sensor all died. I haven't touched anything Sony in ages.

That bundle will be $178 for just the receiver unless you only want a 2-channel receiver, and you don't want only 2-channels for any home theater application.

You can keep an eye out for Newegg's home theater combo deals that pop up about once a week for around $3-400. It's better to save up for another month or two and get something good then buy something crappy now that you just won't be satisfied with. The Newegg ones include a discrete reveiver and a set of speakers. Don't confuse that with big box HTIB which is usually a cheapie dvd player and receiver in one, plus some crappy speakers.

exiledone1 Wrote:Okay...cool. I'll keep an eye on Newegg. Could you recommend a good system for $500 or less from the newegg site? It would help for me to see what is considered a decent/good home threater system?

Thanks

Josh