I have a similar setup, but I picked up a Sub during their Black Friday sale a year ago. Even on sale it was spendy, but it does improve the sound.
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For TV, I recommend LG. Our experience is that quality and price are extremely good
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I unfortunately did not go the way of Airplay. Mine was complicated by the fact that I was trying to continue to use a mid-century cabinet. I ended up ripping out the old speakers and using a pair of powered bookshelf speakers with a new turntable with a pre-amp built-in.
However, I’m considering using a soundbar with the TV and they’re right next to each other so imagining I can plug the turntable into that and use the speakers I go with for the tv. Depends on the inputs of the soundbar.
Thanks! I just spoke to an old colleague of mine who now does set-ups like this for a living at restaurants, private homes, etc. He also recommended the Sonos set-up, but also said the Bose is great as well.
I’ve had a Sonos speaker for music in the kitchen for ages and it’s been rock solid, so that helps me lean in that direction.
@glenthompson your set-up looks awesome. That’s exactly what I’m going for. Did you also put the wires through the wall yourself? We live in an old house with horsehair plaster walls so I do have a fear that I’ll start this project and half of the wall will crumble! We do have our current tv mounted so at least that’s held.
@Ben_Wah Nice! I’m a Costco member, so I will definitely check that out. I just need to get past the Christmas AmEx bill and then I can buy some things!
Yes, did it all myself. The fireplace has a lot of empty space around it so fishing wires was very easy. There was another electrical box down low beside the fireplace to tap into power. Old houses can be challenging for wiring. Had a colleague that had an early 1900s house with a laundry chute to the basement. He ran a bunch of wiring through that chute.
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Our house was built around 1900, as well. I do believe where I have my tv used to house a fireplace and our (unused) chimney runs behind that wall. Guess I’ll find out!
Hi @jen. I’ve been meaning to chip in with my thoughts so here goes, FWIW!
TV
I echo others who’ve recommended LG OLEDs. There seems to be pretty solid consensus around the LG CX being the best TV that you can buy. Although it isn’t the most expensive TV in LG’s lineup, it doesn’t compromise on image quality and so offers excellent value too. Both The Wirecutter and RTINGS recommend it.
Speakers
As others have said here, using HomePods will work in a pinch but would be less than optimum as a long term solution. Unlike a TV, it is difficult to recommend speakers as sound is very subjective. I recommend you get an Atmos-capable soundbar that supports all the latest standards so that it is future proofed and doesn’t hold your TV back. Also ensure that it has enough inputs. Most importantly, make sure you go and listen to the speakers in a store before you buy them!
Streaming device
If you’re not a very demanding user then the in-built streaming options on your new TV should work fine so hold off on getting a streaming device till after you’ve explored what your TV has to offer. If you do think you need a dedicated streaming device then I highly recommend the excellent NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro, which is extremely powerful and will also enable you to run a Plex server if you so wish.
EDIT: Just wanted to add that when you are checking out soundbars, listen to how it performs with both movies and music. Not all soundbars handle both well and, ideally, it’d be nice to pick one that does. Features like Spotify Connect and Chromecast are also worth looking out for.
This has been an interesting thread and in reading it I have a few questions.
I always been a Sansung TV person but reading this thread I will definitely look at LG for out next TV. My first question is on OLED; our prior TV was a plasma TV and our cable provider started with SD channels and then offered HD channels. My wife would spent a lot of time still watching the square SD channels over the corresponding HD channels and the Plasma TV eventually had a square burned into it. I thought I have read that OLED also had screen retention issues. Is this an issue again moving from an LED TV to OLED?
My second question was some of you commented that you had a LG TV with the Apple TV app on it but still had a physical Apple TV connected to your TV. Not being an Apple TV user, what additional benefit does having the physical device have over just using the Smart TV app?
My last question is on remotes. We are currently trying out FUBO TV while still having our cable TV connected. The biggest thing we seem to be missing is fast channel changing by just punching in the number on the remote. I’ve looked for alternate remotes that might offer that with any non cable settop box, and it doesn’t seem to be an option. Are there any better solutions that constantly going to the guide and scrolling?
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I use mine as a HomeKit hub. It’s connected to my main TV. Our basement TV only uses the installed TV apps which works out just fine. The advantage of a physical device like an Apple TV or Fire Stick is it’s a lot easier, and cheaper, to upgrade. TV manufacturers will stop supporting TVs and apps, or app providers will stop supporting them on some TVs.
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The Apple TV hardware supports some features beyond just the Apple TV app offers, like Fitness+, and the ability to install apps from other services, which may or may not be supported on the smart TV itself (witness how long it took Roku to support the HBO Max app, for instance).
Also, privacy:
https://www.consumerreports.org/tvs/consumers-struggle-with-smart-tv-privacy-settings/
This is why my TV has never been connected to my network (which obviously prevents me from using any of the streaming apps on it).
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