upgrad front speakers or sub? (1 Viewer)

[BradZ]

Hello all,

I have the Energy Take 5.2 set-up with the 8" Energy Sub. All in all this is a very fine speaker set for my small room (12x15), but obviously you don't get the full sound of small bookshelf speaker or floorstander.

My question is- should I upgrade my front and center speakers to something like the Energy Connesoir (sp?) series bookshelves, or would a better Sub (like a baby SVS) fill in some of that midrange that seems to be missing.

any insight would be appreciated.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Well since you have a small room that is about the size of my current room I don't see where there is much of a possibility to upgrade. Your current setup is somewhat like mine:

Klipsch Quintet 5 speaker system
Polk Audio PSW250 subwoofer.

My satellites start to roll off at about 200Hz or so and don't really play anything below 125-150Hz so I have a gap. Fortunatly the Polk sub picked up some of that.

If I were to go for say floorstanding speakers then I would of course have more power in the front left/right and then my center channel would be like a whisper and wouldn't sound right.

If I got a bigger sub I would loose more of higher freq. that the Polk sub gives me (unless I find a small sub somewhat like the Polk.)

All that would really leave is a pair of bookshelves that could match your center nicely without overpowering it.

As for a sub some people say you can never have too much bass but since your room is so small I don't see how much more a bigger sub will help. I know my Polk already rocks my room and it is only 50watts cont.

I hope this helps, but my final recommendation would be a nice pair of bookshelves that wouldn't overpower your center and make it sound "out of sync" as well as the rest of your system.

It is hard choosing with smaller speakers as I am currently deciding wether I should upgrade my fronts, my center, or my subwoofer or just change everything. I think I might go for some bookshelves and a bigger center for myself.

 

[Lew Crippen]

or would a better Sub (like a baby SVS) fill in some of that midrange that seems to be missing.

I don’t know your sub, but most don’t go above 150 Hz, so getting another will not help your upper bass and lower mid-range.

Should you decide to invest in new front speakers you should be mindful of your center channel, trying to get new fronts that match (timbre) your center. You might consider replacing all three front speakers.

It is not necessary to go to floor standing models, as there are plenty of bookshelves (Chris’ point) that will go down below 100 Hz—some to say around 60 Hz.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

That's a good point Lew that many will go below 60 but for this specific application I think if you are keeping the center you have now that getting such strong bookshelves like that will overpower your center and make it sound out-of-sync. I would probably look for something with about a 5" woofer and a tweeter, anything bigger than that and I think your center channel with start straining.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Of course you are right Chris. The answer, of course is to properly calibrate the speakers. But that does not alleviate the problem when the sound level is cranked a bit. Plus (and this is not a knock on the current center) there is always the chance that a weaker center won’t handle dialogue all that well in some situations.

Given this Brad, you might want to consider replacing all three front speakers.

 

[John Garcia]

I read a review of the Take5 and it specifically singled out the sub as the weak point, so I would look at upgrading it at some point.

However, you will benefit more from upgrading the mains. This means however, as noted by a few, that you will want to upgrade all 3 of the front speakers or try to find yourself some small Energys that will work with your current center. After calibration, you may have to tweak a little (raise the center's level a dB higher than the L&R) to compensate, but I would say your best bet will be to get a new, matched front stage and use the others as your rears in a 6.1/7.1 setup.

Thoughts:
Upgrade the 3 fronts, use the current center as a rear center in a 6.1 setup. 2 left over speakers for another room - if you upgrade your sub, you now have a 2.1 setup that should work well for music.

 

[BradZ]

Thanks for all the input...

Looks like the consensus is to replace the front 3 speakers with something a little larger. I was already leaning in that direction and your advise gives me confidence that this is the way to go. Looks like its time to audition some speaks.