Newbee here.. Looking for Home Theater Advice... Jamo?

[jrhunkler]

I currently have a Yamo set up that sounds way better than my friends $4k Bose LIfestyle System he bought a couple of years ago... I paid $350 on eBay for theA 102 HCS 5 system, and hooked it up to a Harman Kardon AVR247 for anytoher $450... BUT... A) I would like to have 7.1 (I think Blue Ray is recorded in this format?) and B) Maybe a little more clarity? Thery sound great for what I paid... but I'm looking at other options...

Years ago, when I used to read Home Theater magazine, Jamo was highly spoke about. Are they still good? Any other suggestions? My Budget is around $1000-1500.. is my Receiver still ok?

Thanks in advance!!!

[UncasMS]

1.st: Blu-ray MAY come with 7.1 sound but in many cases 5.1 is all you get.

next thing is this: if you want to take full advantage of latest Blu-ray audio streams we will have to talk TRUE HD or DTS Master which are the best available audio streams you could ask for BUT you will need a receiver which is capable to decode these formats or otherwise you will "only" get the core of these audio streams which will be (a more than decent) DD or DTS core

and then even you you have a capable receiver and say 8 or more speakers (there is also 7.2 or the option to run more than one subwoofer so 8 is not the limit) you may not be able to HEAR the difference between a decent (normal) DTS or the lossless DTS MASTER AUDIO sound stream

furthermore speakers are very much subject to personal taste so what may sound excellent to me may not do so for you or the other way around which leads me to the advice: listen to a couple of speaker systems YOURSELF and make up your mind but also take into consideration that speakers react to their environment and thus the very same speakers may sound top notch at place A and rather mediocre at spot B

then there is the issue of meassuring the speakers to your AVR and the location you have placed them - this is very important and not to be underestimated.
some AVR have a special setup and an additional mic to do the job for you and it can be very helpfull if your receiver does have an option like this

if your receiver does provide 7.1 output i'd think about keeping the current set and adding two more speakers as front left/right to them - ideally some bigger floor standing ones like the jamo C 809

the four jamo satellites should be fine as mid and rear speakers and in case the center is fine keep it or otherwise maybe exchange the center too but in many case it may help if you push the center a little more in your AVR setup in case you find voices too limited - make sure to have a decent test bd for this or otherwise you blame the speakers for something they have nothing to do with.

well done (if not sort of reference) blu-rays for me are The Dark Knight, Casino Royal and Baraka and they should be a good basis for evaluating tv, avr and speaker (and bd player to some extend).