A capable AVR will often have all the amp channels you need built-in. But you are correct about the extra work of wiring and drilling. For me personally the better sound and features are worth a bit of extra work. To each their own.
Audio lag/sync is one of the key issues that drives me toward a dedicated AVR with hdmi pass through
No it won't.
Instead of eARC I wish TVs would add a 5th dedicated HDMI that serves as audio only. Allow eARC to still work if the user so chooses, but that seems like such an obvious no brainer solution that it's frustrating that no one has considered it. That 5th port would go straight to a receiver similar to audio extractor and would eliminate all eARC issues, wouldn't rely on the TV to support Atmos/DTS:X, yes it would add cost to the TV, but it would be a much better solution and would allow receivers/soundbars to stay relevant for much much longer. It wouldn't need to be a full bandwidth HDMI port either. My receiver is only as good as long as HDMI 2.1 stays relevant.
It's really no different with an AVR over a soundbar in that aspect. You need the device to support what HDMI spec your TV does.
Yes, exactly. That's what the audio extractor is doing. If even handles having HDMI-cec related to audio get directed to the audio only port, so your TV won't mess with what capabilites your set up has. I also wish TVs would work this way, especially since the extractors lagged 6-12 months from with HDMI 2.1 TVs and the game consoles came out.
Yes it will. A Denon S750H can do 5.2.2 with the built-in speaker terminals. A Sony STRDH790 is significantly cheaper and will do 5.1.2
Neither have close to enough power to power those speakers.
At the price, I hope so.
Uh no?
They work fine as long as you use your crossovers with a sub and aren’t trying to pump reference levels of audio. 85db reference average is too high for many people in their living room, 75db is probably a more realistic expectation. If you want reference, then yes you’d probably need higher wattage on the amps (as well as much more expensive speakers).
Why I said a AMP to give them all the juice they need.
But the Sony doesn’t support HDMI 2.1
The receiver has to be 100% HDMI 2.1 compliant if you want to pass through it. You can get get VRR/ALLM/4K120 if you run to the TV and use eARC back to receiver, but as myself and others have stated you may get sync issues especially when it comes to Dolby Atmos on Xbox Series X and PC. I never noticed lag when using Atmos on PS5 even with eARC.
ha, nope.
I can't confirm these sync issues for PS5 and PC which I've had set up like that for years now with an Atmos system. Sometimes when the data stream starts there is a split second scrambling sound until the AVR gets the format right but that's it.
Not for Atmos
Except this thread is talking about gaming and movies. No matter how accurately your speakers can recreate the original audio, you are still limited to sound coming from two directions and with proper placement and panning you can cover the area between the speakers as well.
Same - my AVR that has a feature called LFC (Low Frequency Containment). Attenuates bass frequencies that travel through walls which is perfect for late night viewing.
I was going to say the exact same thing..
I used to read a lot of recommendations like ~8 years ago to route the console into the soundbar first and then into the TV via eArc. That is my current setup but I doubt it matters much with current tech.
Nice. Take it you have external amplification as that denon only has 9 discrete amps. You got a dirac licence for it? Im just running audyssey on mine.
This is ridiculous, there is something called sound saturation from the drivers, with only 2 drivers theres is a physical limit to instrument separation and quality you can achieve, no matter how good or expensive your setup is.
Using an AIYIMA A07 TPA3255 amp to power the +2 channels, works pretty well for what it is. (small apartment and trying to keep things in the ~70 dB range to avoid hearing damage)
Actually very close to what I just started looking for to help out my nephew setting up his apt at College for his bedroom but needing to also power a sub