You Don't Need a Receiver to Have a Surround Sound System!

In this modern era, audio/video receivers are becoming less and less common because soundbars have taken over the industry! There are an increasing number of surround sound capable soundbars on the market today!

Soundbars and other products mentioned in this video are below.
Sonos Products:

Bose Products:

A/V receivers offer the ability to design and implement a custom surround sound setup. Running cables from the receiver to the different speakers can be extremely difficult for some people. Soundbars with surround speakers are an excellent solution for people wanting an easier setup!

[TheBigern]

the price for a reciever and a cheap 5.1 speaker system can be bought for less than one of these sound bar systems hes mentioning and will blow away any soundbar thats available..its simple to set up..left goes to left speaker..right goes to right speaker..center goes to center..sl is surround left..sr is surround right and subwoofer goes to subwoofer.

[o.c.g.m]

NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can replace a physical speaker being present. Dont let Dolby or another corporation that sells soundbars fool you. Sounds r super pricy today to

[johannjohann]

One thing people don't ever think about and that is creating an acoustically neutral room, or any kind of sound proofing to make the room your stereo is in work better with your stereo. There are crazy expensive "foam" products out there and I'm not sure if they deliver for the price. However, having a room with double walls where there is a 2 - 6 inch open air gap between them I do know works great at making a room shine acoustically. And allows you to crank it up without annoying the whole neighborhood. The most bohemian and cheap way to help a room out is hanging moving blankets from the ceilings along the outer edge of the walls, again leaving that so important gap of air space and making sure the blankets extend to the floor. And by the way, can you ever have too many speakers, really? :)

[CajunReaper]

Sorry but After using sound bars for so many years I can confidently say once I bought a 5.2.2/7.2 receiver I can confidently say running a 5.1.2 setup blows any soundbar I’ve had out the water and any soundbar with DTS-x or even a 4.1 sound bar with rear “wireless speakers just doesn’t sound any were close to to my 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos surround sound, once I fired up a movie with a good Atmos mix in it I was blown away with the clarity of the sound and getting goose bumps especially when it a jet flies over from back to front and the transition to each speaker was amazing and I couldn’t even tell the audio was being reproduced by speakers it felt like i was there in the movie which is something I’ve never gotten from a sounds bar, the only time I see a sound bar as an actual Choice is for an area where you don’t need surround sound so like a living room or a teenagers room for gaming but saying you don’t need a receiver to have a surround sound system is completely disingenuous and misleading for the simple fact that a soundbar has a receiver built in not to mentioned in the case of “wireless rear speakers” you need a receiver to catch the signal being sent out by the main unit and the issue with that is it’s able to have to interference causing issues with the audio cutting out and it’s another part to fail same with sound bar subwoofers which are wireless and the less wireless, I’m sorry to say but sound bars while they’re useful they’re not replacing a full setup with proper receiver that can handle proper Dolby Atmos and not needing upward during speakers and using the ceiling as an acoustic mirror and you hoping you get the desired effect which can be hit or miss, i would advise changing the title!

[Antibackgroundnoise]

I've had my fair share of audio setups, from surround sound packages to budget AVRs right up to my current system, which is an audiophile grade 5.2.4 setup but if I could go back and start again, I would've invested in a good 2.2 system, if you got good speakers and their are positioned correctly, the imaging would be good enough!

[phillipallen]

dude nakamichi shockwave is like the ultimate soundbar ive seeen one with two subs and dolby atmos support

[badluk]

Deleting my receiver from the system because it’s old and malfunctioning. I can use existing hardwire speakers for stereo. But I am interested in wireless sound bar surround system but don’t want to break the bank. Suggestions? Surround speakers and base.

[cybersoufiane]

I bought a home cinema surround system 5.1 from sony and couldn't be happier.

[drsinghtastic]

A 6channel receiver is a hybrid between a 5.1 channel decoder and an amplifier. (Combines the two)

Alternatively:
You could just buy a cheap 5.1 decoder and connect the output of the decoder to an signal amplifier.

There is definitely some hassle upfront but once you’re set, you don’t seem to notice it at all. The results are phenomenal.

The overall cost comes down dramatically, also the above setup allows for practically endless number of any type of speakers through daisy chained amplifiers and not just the ones you get with your receiver.

[johannjohann]

I would like to add, that from my experience to have enjoyed better fidelity out of passive than active speakers. Sure a powered sub for your car is one thing. But at home, I just think passive speakers, including subs sound more musical than powered ones. That's the beauty of 5.1 surround systems. From quality companies the A/V receivers and speakers should match excellent together, better than any other brand regardless of price. I have a number of quality receivers, and tested them all with my speakers, but nothing sounded better than the receiver that came with the surround system (JBL). That really surprised me. But I imagine that will largely depend on the stereo company you prefer. Building a set of speakers, or speaker kits I have heard are a great way to really increase the quality of your stereo while not mortgaging the house. Which kits, that I cannot say regretfully. But when it comes to cabinets, finding a quality pair of speakers with nice cabinets but "blown" drivers I think is the way to go. You just replace the drivers, that way the speaker cabinet is already built. Used cabinets with bad speakers in them go real cheap too. You will need to watch and find new drivers that match the crossover unless you wish to replace them as well. And that is something I am having a hard time to understand - the high cost of speaker crossovers with low end Chinese parts. Parts Express anybody? Peace.

[geraldmcmullon]

For surround sound you need some device that splits the signal to multiple channels. A sound bar splits to the signal to the drive units it has and possibly to bass and rear speakers.

To balance the sound between left and right, front and back a receiver has the most features for easy adjustment. You can have a HDMI debedder that takes the audio out to 8 channels and passes through the signal to a television, projector or display monitor. If the source is a computer then the computer treats the debedder as a sound card and you have some control over the arrangement. Passive speakers and active analogue speakers do not have a lip sync latency issue. Anything digital and particularly wireless introduces delay or compression or both. Not all systems give you the control and set up features to make the adjustments. Usually the audio is delayed but can sometimes precede the action.

[ronedwards]

I use a pristine condition Bose AM-7 with a high end receiver in the bedroom for TV/movies.
Better than any soundbar that I have tried. The sub is passive so the bass level is perfect not overwhelming.

[leonardhindmarsh]

You do not need an AV receiver or AV pre-sound processor or anything else that often is both superfluous, undersized and expensive in order to get a DTS / AC-3 decoder with 5.1 or 7.1 audio out via DAC to discrete analog outputs. There are plenty of products that even have HDMI and HDCP v2 and higher with ARC and CEC support etc on the market that have that function and support for much less price even counting the amplifiers that can drive the speakers.

[andrewdocherty]

Thank you for not sounding like a cartoon or having wacky edits

[Aviation_Professional]

I for one am tired of playing with complicated receivers. Anyone that wants to use the system has to be trained and frankly it's very frustrating in the end. Just one mans' opinion

[allenreynolds]

Very interesting; sound bar; WOW! May just get one. The video; cool.

[lgmunde]

Hare Krishna
Sir I like to listen heart touching music, sound separation, surround sound, and music with low pass frequency, which AVR receiver would you suggest me

[konstantinlapshin]

Great video! You explained it very well. Thank you !

[jamskof]

i cant believe in this day and age, that a receiver needs to be that big

[Usman]

Great video! Can you please do a video of your wire setups for your surround sound with your Nakamichi sound bar. Would be great to see exactly which cables go where. Thanks and subscribed!