Audio system with vaulted ceilings - a bad idea? (connect, phone, channel)

[pinetreecity]

I currently live in an apartment with vaulted ceilings and lots of windows.

The old, cheap home-theater-in-a-box system finally gave up. The sound was never that impressive, but it was a good choice at the time I got it. It provided a dvd player and most everything else needed to watch movies.

The TV has a great picture, but terrible built in speakers. Therefore, I've been thinking about purchasing a new system, not a 7-8 channel all-in-one theater system with bad speakers, but a pair of decent speakers with a receiver.

I've listened to some speakers at the local Best Buy listening room, and there are a couple that sound very good to me. They have good clean sound without lots of heavy booming base. I feel no subwoofer would be needed with these speakers, which is a plus.

Retail sound rooms are designed to make the speakers sound their best. Of course, a vaulted ceiling room will never sound great, with the echo and everything. It would be a let-down to put money into a good set of speakers only to discover they don't sound anything like they did at the store.

My question is, does the vaulted ceiling make this venture a lost cause? Is there a better way to enjoy decent music and movie sound? Perhaps just a good set of headphones? Alas, the TV does not support headphones.

[bigbear99]

Vaulted ceiling s are not normally high enough to create a reverb problem, but, since they're hard surfaced, they will reflect the sound that can have subtle effects on your listening experience, for better or worse, but probably better.

In theory, a larger space needs more power, but that's not really the case here, since you're not listening up in the ceiling...

The only real issue is that your setup will never sound like BB's listening room. After all, you don't know what equalization profile they're using, what special wall treatments etc.

[irman]

Originally Posted by pinetreecity

Is there a better way to enjoy decent music and movie sound? Perhaps just a good set of headphones? Alas, the TV does not support headphones.

Maybe your TV on its own does not support that but a small dongle such as this one and a good bluetooth capable headphone will solve that problem ...

Note:
The dongle does need power so plug it into a USB port on your TV that also provides power, or in a powered USB hub. Then connect the sound out of the TV to the sound in on the dongle.
Pair it to a good bluetooth set of headphones. Do not skimp on that else you still have lousy sound.

I use that dongle with my TV and computer and all the sound (in my case) goes directly into my bluetooth hearing aids !
Caveat: The range of the dongle is about 20 feet ...