Can't decide between Horizon LCR, or Sierra 2s LR with Horizon C

[sludgeogre]

It certainly sounds like an incredible system, but certainly geared for ultra-high end, massive rooms and/or ultra high-end theaters for professionals (perhaps). My new house will have a 14x19 room, and I'm never going beyond 5.2.4 or 7.2.4 at the most and I'm really happy with 5.2 for right now.

I got my Marantz AV7701 on Accessories 4 Less for 700 bucks, but if that Trinnov unit that Curtis has was around when I was looking I definitely would have gotten that.

I'm either going to wait for Emotiva to release a processor with balanced outputs and Dirac with a full Atmos setup, or I'll just get the MiniDSP 8 channel dirac processor and stick with 5.2 or maybe 7.2.

Can't make up my mind, but the stuff I'm reading from guys that have Atmos upscaling turned on are totally loving it.

[curtis]

The Arcam looks VERY interesting. Arcam usually isn't on my radar...but it is now.

[Todd WI]

The Arcam looks VERY interesting. Arcam usually isn't on my radar...but it is now.

Mine too. Thanks Yesplease for all the information!

[N Boros]

Just saw an article today that Dirac is coming to Pioneer receivers:

https://www.audioholics.com/av-news/...ac-partnership

Prior to this announcement, getting Dirac in your system was quite expensive. Either with a mini DSP on top of a receiver or prepro with seperate amps, or an Emotiva prepro (no immersive audio yet) where you again need seperate amps or the Arcam receiver mentioned. When I upgrade my receiver I am only interested in immersive audio, probably 7.1.4, uhd hdmi and hdcp specs for high dynamic range and some good room eq. Maybe in a year or two Pioneer with have all of this at a reasonable price with Dirac. Here's hoping.

[yesplease]

Just saw an article today that Dirac is coming to Pioneer receivers:

https://www.audioholics.com/av-news/...ac-partnership

Prior to this announcement, getting Dirac in your system was quite expensive. Either with a mini DSP on top of a receiver or prepro with seperate amps, or an Emotiva prepro (no immersive audio yet) where you again need seperate amps or the Arcam receiver mentioned. When I upgrade my receiver I am only interested in immersive audio, probably 7.1.4, uhd hdmi and hdcp specs for high dynamic range and some good room eq. Maybe in a year or two Pioneer with have all of this at a reasonable price with Dirac. Here's hoping.

Nice! It's great to see Dirac getting into more mainstream receivers at lower price points. If they were smart, they'd also put it the Onkyo receivers.

[N Boros]

Nice! It's great to see Dirac getting into more mainstream receivers at lower price points. If they were smart, they'd also put it the Onkyo receivers.

That is a big if. What has been going on over at Onkyo (who now owns Pioneer's receiver line) has not been too smart, lately. I own two older Onkyo receivers and love them. They were very competitive for price and performance ratio at the time. I hope they do come back around by putting in Dirac, with 7.1.4 immersive audio and everything necessary for 4k with HDR. Everything else like ridiculously overbuilt DACs (384 kHz/32 bit, yet no decent room EQ !?), etc. they can leave out to get a competitive price.

[sludgeogre]

Onkyo receivers have become bargain-basement designs that just have all of the new buzz words with the lowest possible cost parts. I bought one a couple years ago and it fried on me in 3 months and it sounded terrible the whole time. I was very unimpressed, and it's the device that got me into this hobby, because I knew that I was getting screwed and I wanted good sound finally.

[yesplease]

One more thing about my Atmos placement testing, I did try using only 2 speakers (TM position) and it was pretty bad for me. The biggest issue was having the 2 speakers so close to the LP. It was very distracting for me and felt unbalanced.

Also, the panning effects from back to front/front to back sounded small and were just lacking something. It didn't have the same effect as 4 speakers where the plane (or whatever) flew across the whole room and comes right at you before going over your head. It was more of an effect that was above you briefly and then just went away or ended at the lower surrounds.

I was surprised at how much you can really hear the directional sound work it's way through the top speakers to the front speakers, or vice versa. Of course once you stop just paying attention to it and watch the movie, it blends seamlessly with the rest of the speakers.

So I would definitely recommend going with 4 ceiling speakers.

[Todd WI]

Hey yesplease,

What is your impression of the HTM-200s as surrounds? Are there Sierra Sats in your future or do the 200s match your fronts well enough to not move up?

While I really like the idea of Having RAALs all around by adding Sierra Sats to my existing Sierra 2 fronts, the reality of limited funds chasing multiple things has me considering the 200s for surrounds.

[curtis]

Hey yesplease,

What is your impression of the HTM-200s as surrounds? Are there Sierra Sats in your future or do the 200s match your fronts well enough to not move up?

While I really like the idea of Having RAALs all around by adding Sierra Sats to my existing Sierra 2 fronts, the reality of limited funds chasing multiple things has me considering the 200s for surrounds.

I'm not yesplease, but I am very happy with the HTM-200SE as surrounds with my Sierra-2 LCR.

That said, I will go to Sierra Sats when funds permit. Until that happens, I am not un-happy and not in a hurry.