soundbar/ speakers / multi room from scratch

[Lee_sec]

so - audiophiles of PH

Relocating countries next year with work and the apartment i'll be staying in looks lovely but also presents a conundrum - i'll need to buy a new TV (moving to se asia) and this has me thinking about sound setups for the new place

currently have an LG soundbar / sub and multiple JBL speakers around the house - but that is all fairly old now and not worth shipping

Google / CGPT is suggesting an array of sonos kit but what would be your suggestions? ideally a decent TV setup for movies / gaming with the option to stream music in the office / bedrooms

[Griffith4ever]

Its really down to how much you "care" about surround, and how much wiring you are happy to do. This is all really about the surrounds.

Me - I HAVE to have proper surrounds and, centre and mains (and sub) - in which case its wires, or wireless rears.

I've given up with Sonos and use mine now as amps. I use Amazon Echos as my streamers (plugged into old Sonos AMPs).

[JEA1K]

Lee_sec said:

so - audiophiles of PH

Relocating countries next year with work and the apartment i'll be staying in looks lovely but also presents a conundrum - i'll need to buy a new TV (moving to se asia) and this has me thinking about sound setups for the new place

currently have an LG soundbar / sub and multiple JBL speakers around the house - but that is all fairly old now and not worth shipping

Google / CGPT is suggesting an array of sonos kit but what would be your suggestions? ideally a decent TV setup for movies / gaming with the option to stream music in the office / bedrooms

A few options ... I suppose it also depends on whats available in the country you're moving to. For TV audio an active Soundbar (connected via ARC) and Sub from Bluesound, Sonos ... or B&W (if you want something prettier). Personally, I'd not worry about creating a surround sound TV area ... janking something together for the odd movie isn't worth it - a 2.1 or 3.1 type set up will be fine. You also don't want be investing in a load of kit that you'll be potentially leaving in the country ...

Another route would be to have a 2 channel set up with the TV using full range speakers ... this maybe better musically but you may need some restraint with the volume controls in an apartment

If you want to link zones for 'party mode' then it makes sense to stick to the same brand ... but if not, then you could cross brands and and just Airplay to the audio devices.

[LRDefender]

You need to ask yourself if it’s worth doing imo.

I spend a lot of my time outside the U.K. and I’ve often thought about putting together a nice multi-room speaker set up. The big issue for me is I know I’ll end up leaving the set up behind due to the weight of the speakers.

Additionally, most of the countries I visit people tend to go out and socialise much more than the U.K. so I find myself doing the same. I guess I’m stay in my apartment once or twice a week at most.

[Baron Greenback]

Bumped into this on youtube recommendation and like the idea of it and not heard of music assistant which can be controlled via smart home assistant. So you can send music through out the house/garage via this and all open source and free. Would be interested if you could link to an active speaker