Newbie question (somewhat receiver related)

[DaveAP]

Hey everybody,
This is my first post at Audioholics, and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few home theater/stereo questions.

Bit of background on my current stereo setup. My receiver is a NAD 712 with a blown out display backlight. I've had the backlight fixed a couple times and have finally given up on it. My NAD CD player died a few years ago so I just use my cheap DVD player to play CDs. Honestly I can't tell the difference and the NAD CD player had the blown display backlight issue too. I have KEF UNI-Q bookshelf speakers that I think are fantastic.

Listening to music has always been a passion of mine, and this set -up has been great for the relatively small space I live in. I'm perfectly happy with it.

Here's the thing, we built a new conference room at my office recently and my boss installed a cheap Sony HTIB (HT-DDW670 I believe) to go with our new flat panel TV. I guess I've been out of the loop as I had no idea that a 200 set-up could sound so great (well great to me anyway). Of course now I want surround sound at home! What I don't want is 2 systems or to spend a lot of money. My initial thought was to just by the cheap sony and replace the 2 front speakers with my KEFs. Would this be a bad idea? I still want to enjoy music but get the bonus of surround sound when I'm watching movies. Any opinions out there?

Thanks in advance

-dave

 

[abboudc]

It will sound better if you get 5 of the same speaker. What's your budget?

 

[krzywica]

I would'nt say 5 of the same, but the 3 up front should be timbre matched, IE the same driver model. Driver size does'nt matter, but the front 3 should be the same brand and line in that brand.

So try and get a matching center channel, say like a KEF UNI-Q center? Splurge on your center channel as it is the most important in a surround setup. A good sub would be runner up.

 

[DaveAP]

Honestly I don't really have a budget. I had no plans on getting any sort of HT until I heard the cheapie Sony HTIB. It might not hold a candle to the systems that people in this forum have, but it sure beats no HT. My main a concern was the reciever when listening to music, will I be losing something as compared to my old NAD? I figure I could always get a better center channel down the road when I decide to stop spending all my money on mountain bikes.

-dave