We need your advice! New AVR or new tower speakers?

[Patty_J4]

Hey folks,

I am new to this addictive hobby and I currently have a older Samsung AVR that is a 7.1 set up in a small room. We want to move it to a larger room which is about 12 feet by 20 feet so we can have a dedicated home theater. All of my speakers are from the Samsung set except that I bought the Fluance centre XL7c and two Fluance XL7S book shelf speakers as my front left and right. (We got those because I could afford them at the time and we are happy with them.) I know that this system needs to be upgraded for it to work in a larger room, which leads us to our questions, but please keep in mind we have to stay between $500 to $1000

1. Do we get a new AVR so I can have all of the advantages of a new and future proofed AVR or do we get new tower speakers so we can have better sound right now?

2. What product do you recommend?

p.s. Just so you know I am leaning toward the Denon S910W or the pioneer 1130K for AVR and the svs prime towers, the Elac F5 or 6 towers or the Fluance XL7 towers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Post your specific model number for the avr might help. More likely your speakers will have a much larger influence on your experience than any electronics, plus your room has a great influence with placement of speakers/subs. Generally put as much money into better/larger/higher sensitivity speakers is what I'd do...

 

[Patty_J4]

Thank you so much. My wife also wants new speakers, so she will be happy to here your advice. The model number is HW-C770S. It is 7.2 channel and has 850 Watts.

 

[DD66000]

If you're happy with the XL7c, then get a pair of the XL7F towers for the mains and use the XL7s for the side surrounds.
Right now Fluance is showing the XL7F to be $100 off/each. So $999.98 for a pair.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thank you so much. My wife also wants new speakers, so she will be happy to here your advice. The model number is HW-C770S. It is 7.2 channel and has 850 Watts.

It doesn't really provide 850W of output, that's a marketing guy likely multiplying the number of channels by the one channel rating....meaningless advertising nonsense. More likely you have sufficient power at 6 or 8 ohms, wouldn't get 4 ohm speakers for this unit. The number that means the most, to make your amp power go as far as possible, is the speaker sensitivity rating (higher the number, the more efficient use of amp power it will have, i.e. go louder with less power).

 

[Don G.]

in general, I agree with the "speakers are the most important" crowd. And for sound alone, no question. the only other consideration is how you are going to hook all of this up. Many of the older receivers won't pass 1080p and if they do, they don't do it well. There is an advantage to getting a new receiver that is 4k compliant and upscales everything to 1080p at least. Very handy to be able to run everything into a receiver and have it manage everything with just one cable to the TV.

Just a thought.

 

[lovinthehd]

in general, I agree with the "speakers are the most important" crowd. And for sound alone, no question. the only other consideration is how you are going to hook all of this up. Many of the older receivers won't pass 1080p and if they do, they don't do it well. There is an advantage to getting a new receiver that is 4k compliant and upscales everything to 1080p at least. Very handy to be able to run everything into a receiver and have it manage everything with just one cable to the TV.

Just a thought.

Then he has to also think about a new sub with a new receiver since most receivers do not offer an amp channel for his passive subwoofer as his current unit does (at least from a brief look at the manual this appears to be the case).

 

[Patty_J4]

Thanks for your input everyone! I did see that sale on Fluance XL7F. Very tempting indeed.

My receiver is 1080p and does 3D passthrough. I have a Samsung UN46D7000 3D capable TV. I calibrated it with a calibration disk. My receiver has 4 HDMI in and 1 Out. As far as picture quality goes we are very happy and all of my family, and friends always comment on how beautiful the picture is. ( I am not going to lie...that makes me feel great!). So, I think I will focus on the speakers for now. I will up grade my receiver later when I am also able to afford a very nice and large 4K HDR tv or go straight to a nice projector.

Thanks again folks for your help, but I have one more question for you:

In your opinion, what are the best speakers to get for under $1000 that are 6 or 8 ohms?

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for your input everyone! I did see that sale on Fluance XL7F. Very tempting indeed.

My receiver is 1080p and does 3D passthrough. I have a Samsung UN46D7000 3D capable TV. I calibrated it with a calibration disk. My receiver has 4 HDMI in and 1 Out. As far as picture quality goes we are very happy and all of my family, and friends always comment on how beautiful the picture is. ( I am not going to lie...that makes me feel great!). So, I think I will focus on the speakers for now. I will up grade my receiver later when I am also able to afford a very nice and large 4K HDR tv or go straight to a nice projector.

Thanks again folks for your help, but I have one more question for you:

In your opinion, what are the best speakers to get for under $1000 that are 6 or 8 ohms?

My personal favorites at that price point are the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1s.

 

[markw]

Thanks again folks for your help, but I have one more question for you:

In your opinion, what are the best speakers to get for under $1000 that are 6 or 8 ohms?

Is that for a pair or a full set of surround speakers?

 

[rojo]

@Patty_J4: Insert this eBay deal at the top of your list. You'll never have heard more transparent, revealing speakers than these within your budget, I guarantee. Add a worthwhile subwoofer and you're golden.

 

[Patty_J4]

Is that for a pair or a full set of surround speakers?

Right now, just front left and right towers. What are your thoughts?

 

[Patty_J4]

My personal favorites at that price point are the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1s.

They have very good reviews!

 

[lovinthehd]

They have very good reviews!

Indeed they do. If you can go up a bit the Sierra-2 is even better, or even better the Tower/Horizon models. Very happy with my Sierra-1s (and 170SEs and 200SEs)

 

[Patty_J4]

I want to thank you all for your help. It is tough for me to buy speakers as I live relatively far away from any dealers, so I will be relying on your input and reviews. I will let you know what we decide, but for now it will have to wait a little longer as some unexpected repairs have to be made to my driveway that may cost about $1000. Unfortunately the repair can't wait and the speakers can. Yes, I am very frustrated, but I will have them sometime in the future.

Thanks again,

Patty J