What should I upgrade next?

[cpals]

I got my speakers/audio equipment two years ago for Christmas and I'm thinking (if the wife allows 😉 ) to upgrade it this Christmas. It sounds pretty good, but I'd like to look into getting surround sound going and seeing what else I can do to improve my home theater experience.

What should be the first thing I look at replacing/upgrading? Only thing I don't want to change would be the receiver since I can't afford another one for that price. I'm looking at the $100-$200 range for speakers.

Currently Have:
Receiver - Onkyo 605
Sides - Polk R30 (Deal from Outpost)
Center - Polk CSi25
Sub - Dayton SUB-120 12" 150 Watt

Thanks!

 

[PurdueRy]

Save up your money a bit more and buy some new front speakers.

 

[cpals]

Any recommendations for new fronts that would go well with my existing system? I assume I would move the R30s to the rear?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You could either attempt to keep matching the Polk center, or leave your options more open and deal with a mismatched center until you get a center that matches your new front speaker choice?

I would also recommend waiting for more funds. $100-$200 for a pair of speakers is likely not going to give you much of a performance jump unless the Polks are just a bad match for your taste.

 

[cpals]

I almost jumped on these from the Hot Deals forum: Polk Monitor 50s

Are they not much better than what I have now?

What about Polk 70s that someone recommended near the end of the hot deal thread?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: cpals
I almost jumped on these from the Hot Deals forum: Polk Monitor 50s

Are they not much better than what I have now?

What about Polk 70s that someone recommended near the end of the hot deal thread?

I wouldn't put the monitor line that much higher than what you have now, I know its tough, but save up some money and put more into it. Better that than to have regrets over a $200 purchase.

What I would do in order:

1. Replace fronts
2. Replace center when funds are available after replacing fronts
3. Upgrade sub

 

[s44]

Um, you have 3.1 now? Get surrounds.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: s44
Um, you have 3.1 now? Get surrounds.

No, that's why we suggest getting fronts. If he gets fronts he upgrades the quality in stereo audio and then his previous fronts become the surrounds.

 

[s44]

Having some surrounds vs having none will probably help more than getting new fronts until the top of his budget doubles or triples. That's a long wait. Particularly since he mentioned HT and not 2-channel music.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: s44
Having some surrounds vs having none will probably help more than getting new fronts until the top of his budget doubles or triples. That's a long wait. Particularly since he mentioned HT and not 2-channel music.

IMO having better front speakers is much more important than having surround sound considering how little of audio actually uses those channels.

 

[cpals]

I agree (however much that matters 😛 ) about replacing the fronts first. Because once I replace the fronts, the old ones will be used for decent (I hope) rears. Guess I'll up my budget and save a little and post again in a few months.