I recently set up my Denon 4311 with the Audessy xt 32 multieq. If you guys truely care about sound quality, I would highly recommend a receiver with the Audessy xt 32. It really made my speakers come to life. I love it. It's currently driving my Infinity Preludes, and it's the best sounding setup I've ever had.
I just watched MadMax in Dolby Atmos the other night and it sounded amazing with junk speakers not setup for atmos really. I think I am going to wait at least another year before I buy a better receiver for the room. It seems like most of them don't have enough channels at the moment to really do it the right way. My Pioneer has MCACC or something like that, it does a nice job with the mismatched gear at least. I really don't know what I'll end up with, but technology is fun.
Agreed about UHD TV's and I have a fairly pedestrian $699 50" Vizio UHD from last year. No OLED, no full array with tons of picture zones, but it's still enjoyable. I have CenturyLink Prism TV (with gigabit internet!) which is also IPTV, but I've been somewhat disappointed with the persistent over compressed images on every channel. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu look superior in virtually every case. To me, the next frontier of quality are the new TV's with true HDR rendering capabilities and expanded color gamuts. That is more important to me than resolution now. I still prefer watching movies and sports on my Epson 1080p projector in the basement. I have a very "poor man's" home theater setup. Not a ton of bells and whistles but decent sound and a bright, punchy, absolutely HUGE 150" image that I enjoy immensely.
Yeah, kinda ghetto but at least the wood beams don't reflect too much back on the screen. Plenty immersive for my tastes.
Currently a Samsung 60" led smart tv with an old onkyo reciever/5.1 surround system. It's so old it doesn't have hdmi ports so I just run optical out from the tv to the reciever. The tv is essentially the reciever and the reciever is just the amp, it suits my needs with pandora/netflix app and direct tv with nba leaghe pass. In the future I plan to replace the stock powered sub which I think is maybe an 8" driver tuned too high for my taste, far too easy to bottom out below 40hz. Id like to replace it with a 15" Dayton hf http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rss390hf-4-15-reference-hf-subwoofer-4-ohm--295-468 And a bash 500w plate amp http://www.parts-express.com/bash-500s-digital-subwoofer-plate-amplifier-500w-rms--300-752 Id then build a custom box about 9 cubic feet tuned to 20hz ish. Should rattle the whole house during a good war movie.
Here's my living room setup. What's a home theater without some blazer swag? Head bands fit perfectly on my surround speakers.
48" Samsung with a Vizio sound bar. Sly helped me set up the whole thing. He knows a lot about high tech gear including TVs.
I've got Blazer gear up the ying yang. It's all in my office except for the approx. 60 bobble heads. The bobble heads are in some built in book shelves in the Master bedroom. No room for them in the office.
If Sly set-up your tv everything probably looks a little too pink if you catch my drift. Old habits die hard.
I have a Sharp Aquos 2006 mounted on a swivel mount on the family room wall. Totally great TV. I once had a Chinese Pioneer sound system but Pioneer is NOT as good as the Japanese Pioneer 70's amps, turntables and speakers, made of metal and real teak wood, of which, I have along with two pairs of 1970's large Klipsh horn Walnut speakers (made in Hope, Arkansas-you could play your guitars or basses through them). I acquired a Sony amp, Aiwa and Teak speakers from "the trading post" where they cost a fraction of their original costs. I abide by the Billy Joel theory that you get more mileage out of a cheap pair of speakers. In my private enclave, I have a Vizio connected to an Aiwa stereo system also acquired from the Trading Post.
