Up Grading Soon (1 Viewer)

[Junie]

I have found this to be a great resource! There is so much to learn and a lot of knowledge out there. I have a modest HT system. I had to stay in a certain range when I got started. I have a sony 945 receiver a sony DVD Player,Toshiba 27" cinema series TV. My speakers are not that great Yamaha front, center and rear and a Cerwin Vega 15" powered sub. Dont get me wrong I enjoy the set up but soon I will be looking into up grading.I'm going to start with the speakers. Since the budget is still a big part of what I can do I was wondering where to start. Should I start with the fronts, rears, sub or center or should I forget the speakers for now and consider another aspect of the system? I hope to get a wide screen in the summer. I like the Paridigms as far as price and quality of sound. Any input would be helpful.

PEACE!!!!

 

[Chauncey_G]

Welcome! First, what is your budget? How much can you spend on speakers right now?

You've got the right idea for working on a budget: upgrade slowly, spend your money on a pair at a time rather than the whole set all at once. Ultimately, this will end you up with a better package, though it will take longer (my audio upgrade took a little over 2 years).

Paradigms are very good speakers, though I preferred the B&W's. Speaker choice is highly subjective, so go with what sounds good to you.

I am unfamiliar with your receiver. If it doesn't support Dolby Digital or DTS sound, you might consider upgrading that first. I went from a Best Buy/Circuit City pro-logic receiver to a Denon 4800 (quite a jump!) and I noticed a big difference even with my old, crappy Technics speakers!

I hope this helped!

 

[Junie]

Hey! Thanks for the response.My reciever is just a year old and supports dolby digital 5.1, dts lots of different sound fields lots of hookups on the back cost 499.99 From the reviews I have read it's decent.As for the speaker budget I'm looking at around 200.00 to 300.00 for the pair and later I will get the next pair you know the drill.

 

[Mark Gurney]

My suggestion would be to upgrade the speakers that you currently have. Your receiver and TV should serve you well until you are ready to drop a more significant amount of money. I would start with your front main speakers and your center channel. One thing to keep in mind, is that when you are on a limited budget and unable to purchase a whole set, you should purchase the front mains along with the front center at the same time. Above all, these three speakers need to be tone/timber matched and probably would not "mix" well with your current center.
With $300 in hand, you could take a look at the Polk RT10, RT15 and RT25's along with the CS175. These speakers should allow you to stay within your budget, (in my opinion) sound really nice and can be found at your local Circuit City.
But, if you are willing to save a little more money, you could look into the Infinity Entra and Interludes or from Home Theater Direct (www.htd.com). Infinity and HTD speakers are pleasing to my ears, especially for entry speakers.
But as always, if possible, listen to a bunch of speakers and find which one sounds best to you (and are within your budget).

 

[Ted Lee]

to add to mark's good advice about getting your mains and center's at once...

if your budget doesn't allow it...you could also just get just the center or just the mains first. just keep in mind that you'll be picking up the remaining speaker(s) at a later time.

like mark said...timbre matching is critical for all your speakers. otherwise that harley in your left speaker will sound like a moped when it hits your center.

 

[Junie]

Great thanks for the info. What is tone/timber matched? do the rears need to be tone timber mached also?

PEACE!!!!

 

[Bill Catherall]

The Home Theater Direct website is actually http://www.hometheaterdirect.com/

 

[Ted Lee]

timbre matching means all the speakers "sound" the same.

think of it like this...

different manufacturers each have their own idea of what a speaker should sound like. if you buy speakers from different companies (or even different models within the same company) then those speakers will not have the same tonal/sonic characteristics...they'll sound different.

imagine a motorcycle on the left side of your screen. coming from your left speaker will be a nice, deep, throaty sound. as the picture and sound move to your center, if it's not a matched speaker, that cool, throaty sound will change to a tinny, moped sound!

that's a bad thing.

ideally, you want all your speakers matched. it's not uncommon for a company to manufacture a speaker "package"...where all the speakers will have the same performance level and sound qualities.