Questions on speakers..... (1 Viewer)

[Tony Amich]

OK- I have an old Panasonic with 6 speakers (2 front, one center, 1 sub and 2 rear)- cheap old receiver, 9 yrs old. Works nicely but no digital input and no 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1. Would I be better of buyng a whole new system or just using my exisiting speakers and adding a new receiver???

 

[Nhan_H]

Try buying a new receiver first and see how you like the speakers with the newer receiver. If it doesn't do it for you, then upgrade the speakers, as well.

I doubt too many people have much experience with panny speakers from 9 years ago

 

[rob-h]

If it a home theater in a box the speakers are definitely no good.

 

[John S]

I'm banking whole new system here. Panasonic 9 years ago, was still a label called Techniques to even get to mid-fi status right?

Look at Onkyo 770 systems for a complete inexpensive decent quality full system. If you were happy with the Panasonic system, this system will seem very impressive to you for around $500.

You would have to move up into the $800 to $1000 range to gain significant performance over one of these Onkyo systems. The beauty of the Onlyo systems, is they are really just full featured individual components bundled together, they allow upgrading just as if you had pieced a system together.

 

[Tony Amich]

Great input- when i first bought the Panasonic system, I just wanted something for surround sound. Now I know what I've been missing after hearing true surround sound in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1. I didn't know if the receiver is what made the difference or what? The speakers still work just fine... or do they?

any recommendations for a receiver with digital optical input? I have 2 devices that have the optical out but currently have no receiver with optical in.

 

[rob-h]

Its hard to find a reciver without at least 1 optical input.

 

[FeisalK]

stick with Panasonic

SA-XR55K (short review here)

depending on your budget, I'd agree with Nhan_h to pair the receiver with your current speakers pending that upgrade. If you are going to get new speakers too... there's gonna be tons of suggestions here and too wide a range without knowing your budget

 

[rob-h]

FeisalK, that review is useless unless you know that guy. I cant say that I would go with that model.

 

[FeisalK]

and this is his equipment list.


lots of users on AVSForum, too

 

[ChrisWiggles]

The old speakers should do fine unless they're some kind of strange proprietary connection.

However, they will sound just the same as they did before, basically. Yeah you'll have more channel separation and better source, but if the speakers suck, they'll still suck. The speakers are by far the biggest impact on sound (along with the acoustics of the room) and while you definitely will want to get a new receiver with 5.1 at least, you will also want to consider some better high quality speakers. This will make a huge improvement.

 

[rob-h]

FeisalK, not what I meant. From reading the review it was not "professional" it was not indepth. I would not put my faith in the "review" you posted unless I new the guy persoanlly.

 

[FeisalK]

it wasn't meant to be definitive - user review postings on online forums generally aren't, we just use this as a guide and heads-up stuff, even if we know the poster personally.

I guess what I'm trying to say actually is that many people have similar experiences with the Panasonic XR series receivers, 'velocity' is just one of them, 'edster922' is another, 'dbchoong' is one (whom I know personally).

it's like audioreview.com - its not the individual single or even 10 or 20 reviews; but if a particular piece of equipment gets >100 reviews and still manages to stay above 4.7 (for example) - even then its just an indication that it is worth investigating. who knows.. you might discover nirvana for less than $250