Keep older 5.1 system or buy new Bose Cinemate II? (1 Viewer)

[tyldani]

Just found the forum and couldn't come at a better time!
Okay so here's my situation: About 5 years ago we moved into a huge house with a great family room that had pre-existing surround sound speakers built into the ceiling.

We purchased from Best Buy's (now defunct) Magnolia Home Theater dept, an LG 60" HDTV, a Denon AVR-2309CI receiver, a Definitive Technologies ProSub 1000 Subwoofer, a Sony Blu-Ray DVD player and various other items, i.e. universal remote, ipod dock etc.

We recently moved into a smaller home that does not have installed speakers and in fact, the family room is smaller and not conducive to a surround sound set up unless we have speakers installed in the ceiling, an expense I'd rather not get into.

So we have a really nice system other than speakers and it's been sitting here for over a year while we watch tv with the tv speakers.

With all that in mind, my question is: Do I purchase JUST some speakers and find a qualified home theater installer to figure a way to get a surround sound system set up using my existing equipment, or do I consider selling the subwoofer and receiver on ebay or craigslist and buy the Bose Cinemate II "Home Theater" System that is currently on sale at costco for $439.00? The demo in the store sounds pretty good but I've seen reviews that since there is no center channel speaker, dialogue is horrible even though the f/x are great.

Please keep in mind that I'm not an audio perfectionist nor am I very adept at hooking up all the cables I still have from the original install at the old house.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[schan1269]

Before you "go Bose" (anytime people "go Bose"...audiophiles shed a tear and drink heavily that night they hear about it)...

What kind of budget do you have?

Leon(Michigan) has the Horizon series of LCR bars that are custom made to match the width of your TV. There are(I think) 6 series to choose from.

James Loudspeakers also makes really good LCR bars.

Pinnacle started it with the QP. There are numerous other companies out there with LCR bars. Basically you have no excuse to mount your speakers "wrong" when there are so many LCR bars to choose from.

And to mesh your speakers "to the room" there is the KEF T series of flat speakers that are getting rave reviews...although I have no direct research.

You can even custom do your speakers(with whatever colors you want) with many manufacturers. Grills do not have to be black. Speaker fabric is sold at Jo-Anns(and every other fabric store) and can be whatever color you wish(even camouflage) or even silkscreened to look sorta like a t-shirt in a picture frame.

 

[tyldani]

Thanks for your reply. Please keep in mind that I am definitely NOT an audiophile. I just want something that sounds good with fx. As for budget, I guess the bottom line is that considering we spent almost 5 grand on the initial setup in our old house (including the hdtv) I'm reluctant to spend a lot of money.
I hadn't even considered LCR bars so I'll start doing some research on that.
Thanks!