Need some advise on my HT upgrade choices please? (1 Viewer)

[LargoJr]

Sorry about typos :/

I'm about 30-45 days from upgrading my Home Entertainment setup. some of this stuff is 20+ years old now... some of its in bad shape, and some was never great to begin with (lol)

Problem is, I have very little 'inside' info on whats actually going to serve my needs, and I think the entire industry seems to pray on the fact that very VERY few people actually know the difference between significant quality and overwhelming hype.

My CURRENT setup is:

Sony STR-DE998 - Receiver
Pioneer CLD-D604 - Laser Disc (w/ Pioneer RFD-1 Demodulator)
Magnavox NB500MGX - Blu-Ray
Toshiba HD-A3 - HD-DVD
Panasonic Omnivision 4 Head Hi-Fi - VHS
Akai X-200D - Reel to Reel Deck
Thorens TD 126 MK III - Turntable
JVC TD-W103 - Double Cassette Deck
Sanyo Vizon DP37649 - LCD HD-TV (recently upgraded from a 20 y/o Sony 27" SD flat Trinitron CRT)
2x JBL Model L 150 Standing Studio Monitors - 3 way Front Drivers (WELL over 100lbs each)
1x Dynamics Eclips ECC-442 - 2 way Center Speaker
1x NHT SW-2P - Sub w/ separate amp
2x Pioneer CS-VX110 - 2 way Side Surrounds
2x Realistic Minimus 7 - 2 way Rear Surrounds

Obviously, my Surrounds are terribly weak in both clarity AND bass, having very little power capacity. My Front Drivers are actually still very nice.. I inherited them from my Grandfather. unfortunately the Crossovers in each speaker are starting to fail, and the cones themselves are starting to disintegrate. The weight alone makes shipping them in to the factory for repair/refurbish insanely unrealistic. Also, the grills have been broken and repaired so many times they look more like victims then survivors. My Sub works great, and only crackles & pops if I turn it rediculously loud.

What I'm thinking about for upgrades:

Onkyo TX-NR1007 - This looks fantastic... and since Sony pissed me off by removing S-Video inputs and not implementing THX, I've decided against the STR-DA6400ES

Sony SS-F7000 - to replace my front speakers.. any ideas for alternatives? I might just look for new foam surrounds and replace the crossovers, but Im not having much luck finding all the parts I need, and nobody has the grills

Additionally, I need new Surrounds. The Onkyo has outputs for 3 sets, so not only am I replacing both my currents, I need to add a set. Unfortunately, I am no where near anyplace that has units out for display and testing/comparisons. I was considering simply going with 3 sets of BOSE 201 or even 161... but I can't seem to find any kind of spec listing for the speakers abilities. All I found was lots of craptastic hype about how they diffuse sound so you hear everything from any point in the room. Problem is, I WANT directional sound.. what's the point in having specific surround speakers if they bleed that sound across the entire room? I also read about how their speakers are made in Mexico with a per unit cost of something like $3. I'm worried that they simply wouldn't sound good when compared to something with genuine capacity to reproduce what's asked of them. Need help with these PLEASE..

Need an additional sub, since the Onkyo supports 2. I'm not terribly sure what's good or not though, as I haven't been into a showroom in close to 20 years. Suggestions?

In any case, I look forward to hearing from you folks.. and love the update to the site.., thanks in advance!

 

[David Willow]

Hi James,

You have some vintage stuff there. Are you planning on hooking it all back into your new receiver? The Onkyo you mentioned is indeed a very nice product, but be warned that just becuase it has many inputs, you MAY not be able to use them all at once (my 705 has a 5 input limit even though there are physically 7 or more).

I suggest you listen to as many speakers as possible. I think you will find that Sony speakers have issues (not nearly as bad a BOSE, but that is another story). Also, you want to keep the front 3 speakers timbre matched. This means you should get the fronts to from the same manufacturer (ones that are designed to work together).

I also suggest you get surrounds from the same line as your fronts.

There is no 'need' for a 2nd sub just because your receiver has an output for one. Two subs can be better as long as they are similar. Putting a good sub with a bad will not make the bad sound better.

To make any specific suggestion we will need to know your budget.

 

[LargoJr]

I'm not certain I want to replace the fronts, my first impulse is to repair them. Finding the materials needed is another matter. Does JBL make good surrounds?

I'm looking at around 2k for my upgrade, with the Onkyo available for $1200. Leaves me $800 for 3 sets of surrounds. Not terribly worried about a 2nd sub, will just keep my eyes open for a second excellent condition NHT SW-2P. I see people improperly listing items AS them online all the time.. so I know about paying attention before closing the deal. Mine works great and isn't 'bad'.

I can spend more if I have to one the surrounds, but not looking to spend more then $1000 on 3 sets of speakers

I don't have a 'dedicated' closed or separate room for my HT, its my living room conveniently shaped and spaced. I'm optimizing the speaker placement/positioning for a traditional 'sweet spot', but still getting good results from the entire room. The simple fact that I have 3 large aquariums in the room keeping the room from being totally silent just means I'm doing this for it to sound great, not matchless. Since it already sounds great with what I have, I'm simply interested in opening more options for an even better experience (DTS-HD Master and DD-True HD being a part of that).

What can folks suggest for surrounds? Anythings got to be better then the pair of $20 Radio Shacks I use for my rears (LOL)

 

[David Willow]

James,

I suggest you look at a cheaper receiver and spend the savings on the speakers. Pairing a $1200 with $200 speakers is the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

Keeping the fronts may not be such a good idea. If the crossovers are failing, it may be very hard to get them fixed. You can't just buy off the shelf drivers and crossovers and expect them to preform the same. The whole speaker works as a system. You should get replacement directy from the manufacturer. The other problem you will have is finding a center to match them. I doubt the one you have now is a match.

Also, the receiver you were looking at does not have 3 sets of surrounds. It is 7.1 or 9.1 with wide or height speakers (new Audyssey and Dolby technology). The extra front speakers should be more similar to the mains (timbre matched). Again, finding ones to match your current speakers will be difficult.

 

[Frank A]

I agree with David about spending more on speakers and less on the receiver (although I would like to spend that much on one).

 

[JohnRice]

Don't forget the moonrock needle.

Sorry, I couldn't resist, and I doubt anyone gets it anyway. You don't need to fill up every conceivable capability, just because the receiver might have it. 2 quality, well placed surrounds is always better than 6 cheap, tossed together ones.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Originally Posted by JohnRice (yes, I got it).

I do agree that filling up every capability of the receiver does not always make sense. Spend your money wisely on a complete 5.1 speaker setup -- you can always add two matching rear center surrounds later. If your budget is $2k for the speakers and receiver, I would allocate at least $1,200 to the speakers and sub. Also, at that budget, a single sub instead of two makes more sense.

 

[RickGagne]

I have to echo the sentiments of those that suggest using more of your budget on speakers. In the receiver world nowadays you're not going to hear too much difference between $500 to $1500 units, and I think that has a lot to do with the processing hardware getting both cheaper, and having to have higher resolution capabilities to handle the new codecs.
The best advance in audio has been the inclusion of automatic room corrections, my favorite being Audyssey's MultEQ XT platform, but there's quite a few other decent ones.

It's also a good idea to at least have your main five speakers timber matched. Being a Canadian I have a thing for Canadian speakers, but most reviewers tend to always espouse their value for dollar performance. PSB, Energy and Paradigm are some that come to mind.

Look at the used market to make your money go farther - there's a ton of good deals on one generation old receivers that will do all but the 9.1 stuff which is overkill anyways. You might not know it because your gear is getting up there in age, but there's a real OCD thing going on in this hobby with people constantly upgrading for the latest bells & whistles and there's a thriving used market because of that, with people selling virtually new stuff at half price or less. So your $2k can get you $4k worth of gear....

 

[Robert_J]

If your foam surrounds on the JBL's are deteriorating, then it should only cost about $10 to $20 to fix those. If you need them completely reconed, look at $50 to $100 each to fix. There are dozens of places that will recone a JBL driver.

If the caps in your crossover are failing, just replace them. Parts Express has THOUSANDS of different capacitors. One or a combination of caps will fix the issue. Your coils should not be failing. They are just wire. Finally, if they are quality crossovers there will be resistors. I'm not sure they can fail but it only costs a few dollars to replace them with non-inductive resistors from PE.

Even if you don't use them in your new system, don't trash classic speakers.