Jonathan Takiff: New sound systems enhance TV viewing

THE GIZMOS:

Bose Lifestyle V30 Home Theater System; Onkyo TX-NR905 A/V Receiver.

EVERY PICTURE TELLS HALF THE

STORY: So you were sold on an HDTV by that knockout picture you saw at the electronics store. But I'll bet the salesperson didn't demonstrate the sound from the TV.

In today's ultrathin flat panel sets, there's precious little room for speakers to bloom. And even top TV brands cut corners in the audio, presuming that buyers will match up the screen with a separate surround-sound system for optimum home enjoyment of sporting events and movies - in which literally half the story is often "told" through sound.

But what's that? You say you haven't yet taken the plunge on a high-definition sound system, to match up with that new TV? Today let's look at a couple of freshly minted and pretty darned terrific a/v products that might get you off the fence.

HOOKUP HEAVEN: No matter whether you go for an elegant, home theater receiver and speakers bundle like the Bose Lifestyle V30 ($2,999), or build a system around a super-grade a/v receiver like the Onkyo TX-NR905 (discounted as low as $1,600), you'll find that today's best gear goes together easier and tunes up better than home electronics of the past.

Both products can connect to an HD satellite or cable TV box, a game system and a DVD (or better, high-def Blu-ray) player with a single HDMI cable that carries both video and audio signals.

The Bose's jack pack includes two HDMI inputs (and one HDMI out, to send the signal along to your TV), plus some analog connectors, component video and digital audio inputs for older gear.

The top-of-the-line, ready-for-everything Onkyo receiver has four HDMI inputs and two HDMI outputs, plus umpteen other jacks - including three component video sets, six digital audio inputs, a "multichannel" audio pack, and even an old-school phono input.

Cooler still is the way these smart electronics adjust automatically to your home environment - fine-tuning the sound output with a microphone and microprocessor-based measuring system.

Is your viewing room small or large? Do you have carpeting or hardwood floors, curtains or blinds? Are some of those surround-sound speakers positioned closer to your favorite seating spot than others? Factors like these can really effect the timing and tone of the sound.

Just plop the Bose ADAPTiQ headset microphone on your noggin, move to one of five seating spots and sit still as test tones bounce around the Bose speaker array (five tiny but surprisingly robust JewelCube speakers and a powered subwoofer).

With the Audyssey MultiEQ XT solution employed by Onkyo, the wired stereo mike is best positioned on the top of each chair (presuming that's close to where your ears will be) at up to eight different room locations. Because it can't know which speakers you've attached to the Onkyo, the Audyssey system also measures the number of speakers accommodated (up to seven full-range and a sub), their sizes and crossover frequencies. The circuitry even alerts you if positive and negative speaker wires have been crossed, creating a phasing problem.

THE GOOD LIFE: Building on the tradition of Bose Lifestyle products, the V30 is designed as an elegant, ultradiscreet a/v system. Its tiny speakers (available in white or black) are easily hung on wall brackets, table mounts or slender floor stands. The V30's RF remote-controlled switching unit and connected gear can be stashed away in a cabinet, leaving exposed just a small display panel to inform what input you've chosen, or what radio station you're listening to (the built-in tuner is terrific).

If you can live with slightly larger Bose Direct/Reflecting speakers, the Lifestyle V20 is otherwise identical and sells for a thousand dollars less. Other Lifestyle systems with ADAPTiQ (but no HDMI inputs) start at around $1,400.

ONKYO POWER: The weighty (54-pound!) Onkyo TX-NR905 is truly the connoisseur's receiver of 2008. And especially beautiful to behold in a brushed aluminum (or black) finish. It boasts top-of-the-line everything - the best Reon-VX video signal processor (so even standard definition channels clean up nicely on a high-def screen), a supercharged and room heating amplifier (140 watts per channel) for effortless performance, and decoding of every surround-sound format. Picky videophiles will relish the adjustable "A/V Synch" feature which fixes picture/sound lag issues.

The TX-NR905 also packs an onboard HD Radio tuner that pulls in old and new FM channels with pristine digital quality, ports to interface with XM and Sirius satellite radio modules, and a very rare rear panel Ethernet connection to deliver streaming audio and Internet Radio from home PCs.

Too rich for your blood? If you can live without the HD Radio and Ethernet features, the Onkyo TX-SR875 is a very close relation, discounted to around $1,135.

And even the base model in Onkyo's current line, the TX-SR505, offers HDMI switching (two sources), basic Audyssey calibration and 7x75 watt amplification for a discounted price of $230-$250. *

Send email to takiffj@phillynews.com.