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Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

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    Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

    Ive decided to spend my Best Buy dough on audio, heres a breakdown of what I have and what Im looking at.

    Ok, so ive decided to upgrade some audio, the Polks have done well but I just feel they may could be better, especially the sub. The first upgrade will be spent at Bestbuy because of numerous gift cards, so Ill list my current equipment and what Id consider going to. Thanks in advance for any input.

    RCVR
    Currently a Onkyo TX-SR605 - 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver | Model Information | Onkyo USA Home Theater Products

    Dont really know I need to mess with this, a Denon 1709 Denon - 560W 7.1-Ch. SIRIUS Satellite Radio/Apple? iPod?-Ready A/V Receiver - AVR-1709 might be an alternate, but I dunno if it gains me anything??

    SUB
    Currently a PSW10 Product Page : 10-inch Powered Subwoofer : Polk Audio , and I know there is room for improving this one.

    Maybe a Definitive Technology - ProSub 1000 10" 300-Watt Powered Subwoofer - Matte Black - PSUB1000BLA ?

    CENTER
    This is a problem area for me, I need a small center because of my tv being in a corner (hard to mount above) and to tall a center cant sit in front of the tv because it is higher than the bottom of the screen

    Currently a Polk Audio - RM 2008 Series Loudspeakers - Big Speaker Sound... Without the Big Speaker

    Looking at Definitive Technology - ProCenter 1000 4-1/2" Center-Channel Speaker - Gloss Black - PROCENT1000BLA or Definitive Technology - Mythos Seven 2-Way Center-Channel Speaker - MYTHOSSEVE

    FLOORS
    Currently M20 Product Page : Two-way floor-standing loudspeaker : Polk Audio

    Dunno whether to go back with floors or new bookshelfs

    Definitive Technology - Mythos Gem 4-1/2" 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Each) - Black - MYTGEMXLBL

    or

    Definitive Technology - ProMonitor 1000 5-1/4" Bookshelf Speaker (Each) - Gloss Black - PROMONBLACK



    Once again, thanks for any input. Ill prob be able to spend around $700-800 in this shot, so I might get two components in

    #2
    Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

    Definitely go for at least the 1909. Otherwise, you have no audio over HDMI (so no Master Audio), no video transcoding, very limited 2nd zone operation (must be on same source as zone 1, no analog outs, etc.), you lose the Faroudja processor, & have a very underpowered receiver. For the money, I think even the 1909 is relatively underpowered. I'd really think about saving a bit more & grabbing Pioneer's base model Elite (the vsx-01) or a 2309.

    There are a lot of Definitive products I like, but the Prosubs are not among them. I'd either save a few bucks & get the 8" Mirage or go for the MartinLogan Dynamo. DefTech's power & frequency ratings for those subs are absurd.

    If there's really no other space to put a center but in front of the TV, I guess either works. If you can somehow fit a Procenter 2000 there, instead, though, you'll be a lot happier.

    Do you plan on mounting the fronts if you go with bookshelves? If so, go with the ProMonitors. Just so you know, though, if you don't want them to sag, get a different mount (not DefTech's).


    ...or you could scrap all that & just buy some Purities.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

      Thanks, youre right on the 1909. I think the RCVR will be the last upgrade, the 605 should do fine for now.

      Yeah, the Procenter 2000s are a tad high. I think Ill go with the Procenter 1000 and the ProMonitor fronts. I've found stands (non DT) that should work well, thats how Ill mount them.

      After some other comments, I think Im gonna go with the Klipsch Sub-12 640w 12".

      Just have to decide now what to buy first. Im not that unhappy with the center and fronts, but I hate my sub.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

        I don't know about all of them, but a lot of stores still have the 8" Icon on sale for $499, fyi.

        I'm not a big Klipsch fan, though I guess it depends on what you want from the sub. Theirs are extremely powerful compared to other comparably priced ones, but I prefer some other ones quite a bit for accuracy.

        As for the center...I'd stare at the space for a few hours & hope for inspiration.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

          Originally posted by elwaylite View Post

          After some other comments, I think Im gonna go with the Klipsch Sub-12 640w 12".

          Just have to decide now what to buy first. Im not that unhappy with the center and fronts, but I hate my sub.
          I have a Klipsch Sub (150w) and it can shake the walls really well. I have been very satified with it. I fist movie I played with the sub running was Top Gun. A very awsome experiance.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

            Originally posted by RonV View Post
            I have a Klipsch Sub (150w) and it can shake the walls really well. I have been very satified with it. I fist movie I played with the sub running was Top Gun. A very awsome experiance.
            Cool.

            There is a guy on another forum I frequent whos a hifi installer. He recommend them for that price range.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

              If you are going to buy a new receiver plan on spending the money to really upgrade. I purchased the Denon AVR-2808CI about a year ago and really like it. I wish I'd have gone one step up and gotten the 3808CI which was another $300 or so. I think Aaronwt and Redwein both have the 3808CI. But the 2808 is about $1100 and the 3808 about $1500 so that's more than what you were planning on spending.

              For only $700 in spending, you won't get all that much in the way of speakers either if you are wanting to go high end. Speakers are probably the most important element and probably what people spend the least on. I purchased a set of Bose bookshelf speakers (301 model) and a Bose Center Speaker. They aren't as great as some of the speakers mentioned here but they are OK.

              I bought the Bose because it was in my price range at the time and the size was perfect for what I needed. Due to the way my entertainment center is set up and the space I have available I had to sacrifice my DCM towers for these Bose speakers - I couldn't really take much bigger. Would love to have some nice floor speakers but sadly, there is literally no room.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                While I wont knock Denon, for someone that watches mostly ota hd programming and vudu movies, a $1000 rcvr is way overkill. Im actually very happy with the Onkyo, I just want more out of my center and sub.

                The floors work well, but when I bought the plasma and moved, the new setup required a smaller center. I have an older more expensive Polk center that runs circles around the one I have now, but its just too big. The Polk sub was the first I ever bought, plus I was in an apartment. Now that Im in a house, I want a revamp and a louder sub.

                I think the DT speakers and a Klipsch sub will do it. Ill prob buy a receiver down the road, when this one dies, because the Onkyo has 1080p HDMI switching that passes audio. I really dont need anything else.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                  I was looking at the denon 2309 for my next upgrade. It seems to do everything that I would need - dual zone/dual input audio, 7.1, 4 hdmi inputs, video upscaling. It also comes with some fancy audio processing, that I guess you need to do these days to sell a recvr in that market... Amazon has it for less then $800.

                  For speakers I would look at the SVS SBS-01 system. We have that in our demo room here and the sound is pretty good... ...and it got really good reviews as well.

                  Hagen.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                    It's very easy to get caught up in features with the newer receivers, but keep in mind that they're still amplifiers & D/A converters. Even if you never go beyond 5.1 & two HDMI devices & never add speakers in another room, a $2,000 receiver is still going to sound a lot better than, say, a Yamaha 663 (the reigning king of the 'I have all the features for cheap!' struggle).

                    That said, the 2309 is a good piece of equipment. It's a huge upgrade over the 1909, & unless you just can't live without a folding faceplate, the 2809's slight differences aren't enough to justify that next leap in pricing.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                      ...the one thing to add is that you will have to spend more on every piece of equipment if you want to get more quality. E.g. I doubt that you hear a difference between a setup using the Denon 2309 and the 5808 using the SVS SBS-01 series speakers.

                      Even better speakers probably won't make a big difference unless you spend some money on more "sound design" in you living room/home theater. E.g. in my case my living room is my "home theater" and my living room is wide open with a vaulted ceiling. ...so even a set of reference speakers with the 5808 will not sound all that great in my environment.

                      On the other hand if you have a separate home theater room and are willing to spend some money on "passive acoustic" elements (like wall pannels and stuff like that) plus if you can put theater seating in it and position the seats properly, then yes it makes sense to buy a pre-amp for a couple grand plus power amps for each speaker plus some nice reference speakers... ...and yes, I wish I had the space and money to do that.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                        Originally posted by Hagen View Post
                        ...the one thing to add is that you will have to spend more on every piece of equipment if you want to get more quality. E.g. I doubt that you hear a difference between a setup using the Denon 2309 and the 5808 using the SVS SBS-01 series speakers.
                        There's a significant difference even between the 1909 & 2309 on a DefTech ProCinema 1000 package.

                        I understand your point, but at this level, these are proportionally huge differences, and there's nothing that's operating at its fullest potential (except maybe the HDMI cables), so an improvement in any single piece of equipment will have a noticeable impact.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                          Originally posted by inconspicuous View Post
                          There's a significant difference even between the 1909 & 2309 on a DefTech ProCinema 1000 package.

                          I understand your point, but at this level, these are proportionally huge differences, and there's nothing that's operating at its fullest potential (except maybe the HDMI cables), so an improvement in any single piece of equipment will have a noticeable impact.

                          From what Ive read on AVS, the diff between a 1909 and a 2309 is a lot less than you are making it out to be, at least for features that matter to me.

                          I think a 1909 will be a great fit for me. All I need is a good rcvr with 1080p passthru and 3 HDmi inputs. I dont need multizone, upconversion or any of that hooey. Sometimes I think you do let the features it comes with skew your view. IMHO, I should buy a good receiver that has only the features I need.

                          Now that you guys got me looking at the 1909, I have to decide again on what to buy first




                          http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1050097
                          Q. I noticed that the AVR 2309ci/889 is only a couple hundred more. Is it worth it to step up to the higher model?

                          A. The primary benefit of the 2309/889 vs the 1909/789 is the addition of the fourth HDMI input.

                          Both 1909/789 and 2309/889 have identical audio decoding capability, identical video processing capability, identical multizone functionality, and identical Audyssey feature sets.

                          This is a list of features you gain stepping up from 1909/789 to 2309/889:

                          1. 2 lbs heavier, and slightly more power (100Wx7 instead of 90Wx7)
                          2. A fourth rear HDMI input
                          3. A fourth rear S-video input
                          4. S-video and optical audio inputs on front auxilliary input
                          5. Dedicated phono input with pre-amp stage
                          6. Component video bandwidth is rated at 100MHz (up from 60MHz on 1909/789)
                          7. Slightly better DAC
                          8. Detachable power cord
                          9. RS232 and 12V Trigger ports (2309ci only)

                          Only you can decide if these features are "worth it", please do not ask

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                            Slightly better DAC can be a big deal.

                            Increase power out can be a big deal.

                            But I think the biggest desire to go with the more expensive receiver is that 4th HDMI input. My Denon 2808 only has 3. I wish it had a fourth. With the number of HDMI devices proliferating, it should be a major consideration. What if you decide in 4 months to get that TivoHD. It has HDMI output but now your receiver you just bought only has 3 inputs and they are all used. Now you have to buy an HDMI switch and integrate that into your system.

                            It might seem like just an input but it could be a big deal. Think for the future...

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Upgrading audio, opinions welcome

                              Originally posted by NA9D View Post
                              Slightly better DAC can be a big deal.

                              Increase power out can be a big deal.

                              But I think the biggest desire to go with the more expensive receiver is that 4th HDMI input. My Denon 2808 only has 3. I wish it had a fourth. With the number of HDMI devices proliferating, it should be a major consideration. What if you decide in 4 months to get that TivoHD. It has HDMI output but now your receiver you just bought only has 3 inputs and they are all used. Now you have to buy an HDMI switch and integrate that into your system.

                              It might seem like just an input but it could be a big deal. Think for the future...
                              I dont disagree, its just when you set a budget for a project, you have to pick and choose. By all accounts, the 1909 is a great rcvr for me.

                              After doing a little more weighing, replacing the L/C/F with the Def Tech 1000 series is first order of business.

                              My Bday is in March, so ill plan to spend $400-$600 on a sub, prob a Klipsch.

                              Ill leave the rcvr for my black friday purchase next year, that way I can spend $800-1000 and get a really good Denon.

                              Thanks all for the input.

                              Comment

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