Need receiver suggestions!

[Lothar1974]

I currently have this receiver: Pioneer - 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver
Model: VSX-517-K - I got this cheap on sale, do I need to upgrade my receiver? Or is this model good enough? Not running anything special as far as playing DVD's. TV is a 32" Samsung 720 P LCD.



I have these speakers:

Klipsch - Synergy III 8" 2-Way Dual-Woofer Floorstanding Speaker Handles up to 600 watts peak power and 150 watts RMS (continuous) power @ 8 ohms; 98dB sensitivity
Features two 8" woofers and one 1" tweeter, Aluminum tweeter with high-frequency response up to 23kHz faithfully reproduces high-resolution formats, such as SACD and DVD-Audio

Klipsch - Synergy III 6-1/2" 2-Way Dual-Tweeter Surround Speakers
Each speaker handles up to 440 watts peak power and 110 watts continuous RMS @ 8 ohms; 93.5dB sensitivity, Each speaker features one 6-1/2" woofer and two 1" tweeters positioned to create a 90° dispersion pattern, Aluminum tweeters with high-frequency response up to 23kHz faithfully reproduce high-resolution formats, such as SACD and DVD-Audio

Klipsch Reference Series RC-62 Center Channel Speaker
The RC-62 utilizes dual 6.25-inch woofers, twin front-firing ports and a 1-inch tweeter with a neodymium magnet motor structure, FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 57Hz-23kHz +/-3dB
POWER HANDLING: 150W RMS / 600W Peak
SENSITIVITY: 96dB @ 2.83V / 1m

Onkyo SKW-204 Powered Subwoofer
10 Inch Bass Driver / 230 Watt Integrated Amplifier / 50Hz to 200Hz Frequency Range

All input is greatly appreciated!!!! Oh and my budget is not more that $400!

Thanks!

 

[vi edit]

If you have no need for HDMI switching/processing or want the new lossless formats on BR or HDDVD, then you would likely be best served upgrading your sub.

At 50hz you are missing out on a good amount of low frequency "thump" to many movies. Upgrading to some thing from an internet direct company like Hsu research or Elemental Designs will give you a much more "theater like" experience than you have right now.

 

[Lothar1974]

vi edit:

What do you think of this sub? Link

I have a restricted budget and this is a good price from what I have seen online. I am somewhat of a newb at this. What frequency would you suggest to look for as a standard minimum?

 

[vi edit]

For the money I like these choices:

eD A2 300

Bic 100

STF-2

Most music won't go below 30hz, but a number of movies are now going as low as 16hz or so...but very few subwoofers are able to reproduce that in a meaningful manner. 18-20hz is kind of the sweet spot, but very hard to get in the sub 400 range. If you are able to get into 20-24hz and can get another few hz of in room gain that will get you most of the LF sound in a majority of movies.

With a sub everything is a tradeoff. Those three I listed are pretty well recommended for their compromises in regard to costs.

 

[vi edit]

Also - be sure to look through the stickied thread at the top by YoYo and read up on the receiver info and the subwoofer sections.