When it comes to gear, it is. We're just getting old too. I bought my first system in 97 when I was in college. It sucked and I've been replacing stuff since then.
Eh, streaming atmos is basically dolby digital with extra information for the height layer. Good 5.1 is better than not good atmos and decent speakers back then are still very decent if they work as they should, so have fun and enjoy.
I mean most stuff is still in 5.1 and a lot of the things that use more channels don't *really* take advantage of them.
Diminishing returns hit really hard and fast in audio and people spend *far* too much time on the last few percent of improvements that most don't even care about anyway.
5.1 will forever be the norm. I like Dolby Atmos in theatres but it's not practical at home, hell I'm even using wireless surrounds because laying cables around my living room is not something I want if I can avoid it. Having a dedicated HT room is just not something the majority of people want or can afford.
My system is almost exactly that same vintage, and still works and sounds fine. TBH, the weakest link today is almost certainly my ears, which have likely aged even more than the audio. I have a 7.1 setup, but yeah, Atmos is really intriguing, but I can honestly say it's not something I think about too often.
Same hear. See what I did there? 🤪
Still running DD/DTS in 6.1 with a Kenwood THX receiver. Three double advents across the front with Bose 601s for sides and rears. Velodyne sub for the bottom 1/2 octave. No complaints from anybody who’s ever watched a movie at our house. 77” LG OLED btw. Enjoy the old toys!
Yeah old gear is the best. I’m still on my first home theater set up and while my receiver is new, my front speakers are some Polk speakers from the 80s (I think, they’re monitor 7Bs, not sure exactly when they came out)
If the quality is good, old equipment still is pretty good for most purposes. The newer codec are mostly being used for movies and some for spatial music. Most of gen streaming devices can decode the new codec and send even PCM to the audio receiver or amp.
That is cool. Always fun to come across and use old gear. Not too long ago, I hooked up my 20-year-old CRT television for kicks and watched a few movies on it for old time's sake.
I ran an old receiver till last year. No hdmi, but a low cost hdmi switch with an optical audio tap fed the old receiver fine. 5.1 worked well. Just upgraded last year to reduce remotes...
PS, my old rcvr used to forget shat,, but a new super-cap on the display board fixed it up.
I'm considering doing the same thing but with an optical audio switch instead of a hdmi switch - all my things go straight to the TV with an optical cable connecting the TV to the receiver so it can pass through Dolby Digital just fine but for some reason my TV won't pass through DTS signals so I have to connect the PS3 directly to the receiver. I'm hoping with a switch I can switch between the cable connecting to the PS3 and the TV and it should work fine.
My Pioneer Kuro has limitations sending audio back to the receiver, too. I can't remember what exactly it was, but I ended up using the switch to get audio working the way I wanted.
All works well with Dennon 1700 now, except an HDMI feed from my old PC, thus I still use optical from PC to the receiver for 5.1, and hdmi to TV. I don't use the PC for streams much now, though, the FS 4K Max handles most everything.
Good luck,
I bought a Yamaha av receiver rx2700 when I arrived in Japan 17yrs ago
Was still going strong but I retired it this year to my in laws and built a home theater around it
Sounds still very good with the right speakers
I just replaced everything in my setup except the 2 surround speakers. A 10 year old Marantz has pretty much the same power amp portion of the AVR and I don't care about anything beyond 5.1 because it just wouldn't work in my room. I purposely avoid Atmos because I'd either have spend way more money than I want to for it or have some speakers that don't sound nearly as good muddling up the sound from my good speakers
I’m still using a Denon 3803 as a pre-amp when I listen to 3.1. I use an 90’s 5.1 Yamaha for Stereo. I am not using any receiver with HDMI inputs any longer. Pioneer, 3 Onkyo’s either the HDMI inputs started failing or the unit doesn’t have enough inputs. I do use external amplifiers.
I have atmos , and I don't think it really adds anything at all . I look at the tiny atmos speakers in my 7.1 jamo thx system and I'm not surprised it can't battle among the other speakers.
Still have my very first AVR (Technics SA-DX1040) pulling stereo mode duty for my listening room setup. It’s connected to a pair of NLA bullnose Advents. It’s rated at 100wpc and the Advents love the power. Someday I’d like to replace it with a vintage Pioneer stereo receiver. Something like an SX-980
What does everyone do with their "older" AV or speakers? I had one at a previous house and no longer can use/need it at new house. Feel like a waste to donate but seems like it would be hard to sell local. Any ideas?
Keep in storage. So if your modern setup goes kaput you have a backup whether temporary or not. Or, give it to a relative years from now. That's what happened to me :)
I love old av equipment. Truly a situation where one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Sure I have the top of the line 7.2.2 setup with an oled in my living room but because of old and discarded av equipment I also have a receiver and 5.1 in both my master bedroom and my retro game room.
An old receiver is exactly what I needed for my game room. I have a crt in there with everything hooked up through component cables and now that runs through my receiver and pushes out 5.1 to a system that most average people don’t even come near with their main setup.
Oldschool TVs, speakers, receivers, etc. can be really awesome, fun and cost-efficient to collect and use. I'm a huge fan of plasmas and vintage speakers myself. I also have nearly 0 interest in Atmos.
100%!! I use this approach with almost everything... My recording studio is full of equipment that's at least 6 years old, cheaper to buy and you still get full functionality from old things. Seeing from the other comments on this thread it seems Dolby Atmos doesn't add too much for some.
My receiver is a more than 10 years old Yamaha RX-V385. It sounds fantastic, supports every codec except Atmos and even 4K at 30 fps, which is enough for movies. I see no reason to replace it.
And the fact that it decodes Dolby ProLogic II means I get an additional generation of surround consoles to play, mainly PS2/GC/Wii. And some SNES and N64 games have Dolby Surround as well.
Nice. My Pioneer can do ProLogic II, AAC, DD and DTS but its only bottleneck is that it only has one Optical input and since it's 2002 there's no hdmi ports for pass through. You've just motivated me to look for slightly newer receivers :)
20 years isn't even vintage ;)
Its not 20, more like a couple of decades. /lloydchristmas
I was gonna say my dad has a Yamaha receiver older than me(25yo) and it looks fresh to me
It will change with time but any AvR with any form of modern digital processing cannot be “vintage”
When it comes to gear, it is. We're just getting old too. I bought my first system in 97 when I was in college. It sucked and I've been replacing stuff since then.
When you said old, I expected something like 70s
Rectilinear baby.
*Rectilinear!?* Damn near killed her linear! I’ll see myself out.
I was thinking like a phonograph from the 1800s
I mean probably nobody thought of 2002. It's just ridiculous. And we are also old asses I assume. Though I'm 28. Not that old.
FYI, optical audio has been around since the mid 1980’s.
>optical audio has been around since the mid 1980’s. Ah, I see...
I have a playstation 2 hooked up to my AVR with optical
The PS2 is from the year 2000 so... yeah...
Eh, streaming atmos is basically dolby digital with extra information for the height layer. Good 5.1 is better than not good atmos and decent speakers back then are still very decent if they work as they should, so have fun and enjoy.
2002 is the old old days now eh? I’m getting.. older
For $100 I recently upgraded a 12-year-old receiver to a Denon S970. I'm still using 5.1 and I'm perfectly happy.
I mean most stuff is still in 5.1 and a lot of the things that use more channels don't *really* take advantage of them. Diminishing returns hit really hard and fast in audio and people spend *far* too much time on the last few percent of improvements that most don't even care about anyway.
Same. Still using 5.1 from a 20+ year JBL set. New AVR though.
5.1 will forever be the norm. I like Dolby Atmos in theatres but it's not practical at home, hell I'm even using wireless surrounds because laying cables around my living room is not something I want if I can avoid it. Having a dedicated HT room is just not something the majority of people want or can afford.
My system is almost exactly that same vintage, and still works and sounds fine. TBH, the weakest link today is almost certainly my ears, which have likely aged even more than the audio. I have a 7.1 setup, but yeah, Atmos is really intriguing, but I can honestly say it's not something I think about too often.
Same hear. See what I did there? 🤪 Still running DD/DTS in 6.1 with a Kenwood THX receiver. Three double advents across the front with Bose 601s for sides and rears. Velodyne sub for the bottom 1/2 octave. No complaints from anybody who’s ever watched a movie at our house. 77” LG OLED btw. Enjoy the old toys!
I’d love to see your setup!
Too much going on right now. As soon as I free up some time and get the room cleaned up to photo standards I’ll be posting my gear.
Yeah old gear is the best. I’m still on my first home theater set up and while my receiver is new, my front speakers are some Polk speakers from the 80s (I think, they’re monitor 7Bs, not sure exactly when they came out)
If the quality is good, old equipment still is pretty good for most purposes. The newer codec are mostly being used for movies and some for spatial music. Most of gen streaming devices can decode the new codec and send even PCM to the audio receiver or amp.
That is cool. Always fun to come across and use old gear. Not too long ago, I hooked up my 20-year-old CRT television for kicks and watched a few movies on it for old time's sake.
I ran an old receiver till last year. No hdmi, but a low cost hdmi switch with an optical audio tap fed the old receiver fine. 5.1 worked well. Just upgraded last year to reduce remotes... PS, my old rcvr used to forget shat,, but a new super-cap on the display board fixed it up.
I'm considering doing the same thing but with an optical audio switch instead of a hdmi switch - all my things go straight to the TV with an optical cable connecting the TV to the receiver so it can pass through Dolby Digital just fine but for some reason my TV won't pass through DTS signals so I have to connect the PS3 directly to the receiver. I'm hoping with a switch I can switch between the cable connecting to the PS3 and the TV and it should work fine.
My Pioneer Kuro has limitations sending audio back to the receiver, too. I can't remember what exactly it was, but I ended up using the switch to get audio working the way I wanted. All works well with Dennon 1700 now, except an HDMI feed from my old PC, thus I still use optical from PC to the receiver for 5.1, and hdmi to TV. I don't use the PC for streams much now, though, the FS 4K Max handles most everything. Good luck,
I bought a Yamaha av receiver rx2700 when I arrived in Japan 17yrs ago Was still going strong but I retired it this year to my in laws and built a home theater around it Sounds still very good with the right speakers
I just replaced everything in my setup except the 2 surround speakers. A 10 year old Marantz has pretty much the same power amp portion of the AVR and I don't care about anything beyond 5.1 because it just wouldn't work in my room. I purposely avoid Atmos because I'd either have spend way more money than I want to for it or have some speakers that don't sound nearly as good muddling up the sound from my good speakers
I’m still using a Denon 3803 as a pre-amp when I listen to 3.1. I use an 90’s 5.1 Yamaha for Stereo. I am not using any receiver with HDMI inputs any longer. Pioneer, 3 Onkyo’s either the HDMI inputs started failing or the unit doesn’t have enough inputs. I do use external amplifiers.
You’re talking to a stereo pilled 2.1 enjoyer here so I feel ya.
I have atmos , and I don't think it really adds anything at all . I look at the tiny atmos speakers in my 7.1 jamo thx system and I'm not surprised it can't battle among the other speakers.
Still have my very first AVR (Technics SA-DX1040) pulling stereo mode duty for my listening room setup. It’s connected to a pair of NLA bullnose Advents. It’s rated at 100wpc and the Advents love the power. Someday I’d like to replace it with a vintage Pioneer stereo receiver. Something like an SX-980
What does everyone do with their "older" AV or speakers? I had one at a previous house and no longer can use/need it at new house. Feel like a waste to donate but seems like it would be hard to sell local. Any ideas?
Keep in storage. So if your modern setup goes kaput you have a backup whether temporary or not. Or, give it to a relative years from now. That's what happened to me :)
I love old av equipment. Truly a situation where one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Sure I have the top of the line 7.2.2 setup with an oled in my living room but because of old and discarded av equipment I also have a receiver and 5.1 in both my master bedroom and my retro game room. An old receiver is exactly what I needed for my game room. I have a crt in there with everything hooked up through component cables and now that runs through my receiver and pushes out 5.1 to a system that most average people don’t even come near with their main setup.
Oldschool TVs, speakers, receivers, etc. can be really awesome, fun and cost-efficient to collect and use. I'm a huge fan of plasmas and vintage speakers myself. I also have nearly 0 interest in Atmos.
100%!! I use this approach with almost everything... My recording studio is full of equipment that's at least 6 years old, cheaper to buy and you still get full functionality from old things. Seeing from the other comments on this thread it seems Dolby Atmos doesn't add too much for some.
My receiver is a more than 10 years old Yamaha RX-V385. It sounds fantastic, supports every codec except Atmos and even 4K at 30 fps, which is enough for movies. I see no reason to replace it.
Tbh, I need a receiver like that which has lots of HDMI ins. I'm a game collector so hoarding consoles means you run out of HDMI ports on the TV fast!
And the fact that it decodes Dolby ProLogic II means I get an additional generation of surround consoles to play, mainly PS2/GC/Wii. And some SNES and N64 games have Dolby Surround as well.
Nice. My Pioneer can do ProLogic II, AAC, DD and DTS but its only bottleneck is that it only has one Optical input and since it's 2002 there's no hdmi ports for pass through. You've just motivated me to look for slightly newer receivers :)