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decent HT audio for ~300

D

DarkTXKnight

Senior member
I have a media room that Im tyring to beef up just a little bit for our movie and games. I got some clearance to spend a little money right now and was wondering what could I upgrade to

Current setup:
TV: Philips 50in plasma w 2 HDMI
XBOX 360
Wii
Athlon based HTPC for DVR and xvids

Audio:
7 yr old sony strk502p HTIB 5.1 system 100w per channel

room size is 13.4" W x 15" D

So the center channel speaker dies some time back and I noticed the newegg deal this morning on the polk CSi25 center and snagged one, but where else should I begin upgrading ? I was thinking that the front speakers would be next on the list unless the receiver could anything newer. The sub has been just fine for my needs but Im just curious as to what I can resuse and what needs to go?

Thanks in advance!
 
The CSi 25 is a pretty good speaker, you could always get 2 more for the fronts or 4 more to have a complete matched system, although the rears are not as important as the fronts to be matched to the center. Would be a relatively cheap solution and should definitely sound better then HTIB speakers. If you are happy with the sub there is no reason to upgrade it. The receiver would only need upgrading if you MUST have digital inputs on it.
 
I also think getting front speakers to match the new center would be a good next step.

Looks like the receiver you have does DD and DTS just fine? If so, no rush to change that out.

After the front three speakers are replaced, then I think it comes down to receiver or subwoofer next.
 
Honestly, if you have the space you might as well get two more for LCR setup. Otherwise, get a sub-$100 pair of matching Polks (R15 or R20 should do)...
 
wheere can i look for R15\20 s? my google did not turn up anything other than ebay. Would there be much of a difference betwwen 3 CSi 25's or the R15\20s? These are all going to be celing mounts if that makes much difference.
 
OK LCR is done now.... it seems the newegg shellshocker deal for these CSi25's @ 69 each was the best price i could find today so I ordered 2 more for the LCR setup. I have already promised the wife that these will not sit in a box for a year 😉

as far as the receiver, no I dont "need" digital just yet, but Im looing now to make sure I dont run out of connections on this guy from all of the systems. If I could fin a decent receiver for 100-130 or so, then I'll probably pick that up as well

about the ceiling mount... I dont *have* to do it, but the hosue was pre wired with the drops already so I could do some rerouting I guess... what are your recommendations for seting these bad boys up?

Thank you guys for all your help so far... Ive been wanting to upgrade this stuff for years and finally had the nerve to start 😉
 
$100-$130 probably isn't enough to justify changing the receiver unless there's something specific that's not going to work with your current one.

Maybe I was looking at the wrong model... does your current receiver have some digital optical or digital coaxial inputs? I ran into some dead ends looking up the model but it seemed like it had DD and DTS support.

I have guidelines for speaker placement in the sticky thread as well as links to other resources you can consult.
 
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