Replacing my Bose 321 with the Onkyo HT-S990THX 7.1 How much of a difference in overall sound quality?

Question

Love the sound of my Bose 321, but intrigued by the new audio formats and looking to upgrade my DVD player. I'm aware THX is a great certification to have, just wondering if I change my Bose 321 to the Onkyo HT-S990THX 7.1 will it be a monumental upgrade or just a different system? Obviously one is simulated surround sound and one is a 7.1 system so there are fundamental differences there. Just looking for whatever comparison can be made. What if I use my progressive scan DVD player until the Blu Ray / HD DVD is settled? Plus I read there is a Blu Ray 2.0 now.

Answer 1

This is an apples and oranges comparison. Bose is a completed and closed system that uses 2 speakers and a bass module to simulate 5.1 (Vaguely effective) It is much better than TV speakers and perfect for some people with limited space.  The Onkyo is an open system allowing for future upgrades and greater features. To meet THX specs the Onkyo would need to have a much flatter frequency response (more accurate, fuller range).

The HT-S990THX system should be  much better, BUT for the price I would get a system with HDMI upconversion for future compatability so I would pick a Sony STRDG910 (Gasp....Sony? over an Onkyo? Are you MAD?) and an Energy Classic take 5.1 speaker package or Paradigm Cinema 70s or something like that. More future proof and excelent user and critical reviews all around. Either way. Have Fun.

Edit: The reviewer on Amazon had bad info. Dolby True-HD and dts-HD REQUIRE HDMI and CANNOT be transmitted over digital coax or optical. Dolby digital or dts can be carried by optical, coax or HDMI. So you can get both picture and sound over 1 HDMI cable and in fact that was the whole point of HDMI.

As to Blu-Ray profile 2.0. This is a machine that has an ethernet port to update firmware automatically and allow for internet movie extras and playing games VS. internet players on the Blu-Ray player. If the player isn't 2.0 you need to download the update, burn it to CD and play the CD on the machine to update the firmware. These players will be out later this year.

Answer 2

HUGE, but i hope your not going to use those bose gem speakers becuase that will greatly limit the performance of the reciever.