Newbie- advice required for HT under $1000 (1 Viewer)

[Murthy]

I'm very glad I found this forum. Finally posting my RFA (Request For Advice) after going through the New comer's primer and various other threads on this subject. Please excuse me on any jargon mix-up. Unfortunately, I own a Bose LS 8, and planning to sell it and replace with a non-Bose setup. Fortunate part of owning Bose,I think, is, it has a fair resale value and I'm hoping I will get at least 500 to 600 on it. Coming to my requirements, I use my HT more to listen music than watch movies, but sound is equally important to me while watching movies. I have a Sony 27" TV. I like deep bass a lot and I'm looking forward to that in my new setup. Looking at various options in other places on this forum, I thought I will go for Denon-1603 receiver, found to be retailing at $275, Sony SA-WM40 Subwoofer $161, Paradigm speakers for Front, Paradigm CC-170, Paradigm ADP-10 for rear channels. Would appreciate if anyone can review this and tell me
1.How good this combination could be particularly keeping in mind my requirements of deep bass and clarity of sound ?
2. Which Paradigm Fronts would be good for me Titan or Atom ? BTW, I live in an apartment and I place my HT in a 12x20 room. Or are there any other good alternatives ? I couldn't find prices for any of these (Front,CC,Rear) Paradigms, what would be the price range ? I would prefer to keep my entire cost close to $800 and would go for $1000 in worst case.
3. Is Sony SA-WM40 a good Subwoofer given my requirements ?
4. Any suggestions on good HT vendors in Stamford,CT area ?
Since I have never heard any other HT system than Bose (though soon will be visiting couple of places to review),I will have to compare the new setup's sound with the one I own now.
Thanks in Advance,
Murthy

 

[Kevinkall]

Is Sony SA-WM40 a good Subwoofer given my requirements ?

Yes this is a GREAT sub, but if you get it do the pollyfill mod. It's simple, easy, and takes about 10 minutes. The difference is night and day. You won't find a better sub for the price.

You might also want to check out the Kenwood 6070 receiver. You can find it for under $300 and you won't find anything better for the price.

Happy buying.

 

[Murthy]

Thank you Kevin for the advice. I'm sorry, I don't yet understand how to do Polyfill mod and what is the use of it. Can you point me to some resources on it ?

 

[brentl]

The poly mod is a little tweak that you do by unscrewing the sub, pulling it out and adding around 16OZ of poly-fill(or similar) into the enclosure cavity.

It is supposed to tighten up the sound some.

I'd wait until the warranty runs out in case there is a problem.

I'd stick with the Denon, they are a great match for the sound of the Paradigms you are looking at.

I'd stick with the Atoms, even audiophiles speak of them as fantastic values.

IF you are looking for more maximum volume, you may get a little more out of the Titans, but 5 Atoms and the Sony sub is a very nice speaker system.

Brent

 

[Murthy]

Thanks Brent. Found info on Polyfil mod subject in this forum. This URL http://www.nonsensicalgibberish.com/sony.html was good. I will get onto my project now.

 

[Jeffrey_K]

Murthy: If you are looking for ratings, try http://www.audioreview.com.

They have user ratings from just about every piece of AV equipment under the sun.

Good Luck.

 

[Murthy]

ok, I'm having little difficulty finding a good price and auditioning place for the Paradigms. Meanwhile thinking about Acoustic Research, AR-PS2262 to be specific, as main speakers. Anyone thinks AR would also match with Denon 1603 and Sony WM 40 ? AR speakers are easy to find and quite few stores have them, I'm yet to audition them.

 

[Kevinkall]

If I were you I would be more concerned with how the speakers sound with the sub, espically in the price range that you're looking at. Maybe more so in higher end systems, but speaker/receiver match isn't a big issue. Just get what sounds good to you.