5.1 sound system advice

[Stephen1991]

I had a home theater in a box that gave up the ghost. I'm looking to upgrade by getting an AV receiver and 5.1 speaker setup. I'm looking to start with the AV receiver and a pair of floor standing speakers. Depending upon price and cash flow, I'm looking over the next 6 months at then getting the subwoofer, followed by a center speaker, and finishing up with the surround speakers.

Does this seem like a reasonable order to get the components?

 

[zieglj01]

Is your budget under or over $7,000 dollars?

 

[ImcLoud]

lol, What is your budget?

You can do very well this time of year, and there are some really nice budget systems you can put together that will easily perform past their price point...

for example
denon avr DENON AVR-1613 5.1ch Networking Receiver w/AirPlay 3D ready | Accessories4less
towers and matching center EMP Tek E55Ti Tower Speakers
EMP Tek E5Ci Center Channel Speaker
sub VTF-2 MK4 Subwoofer
then the surrounds can be pretty much anything you want....

 

[Pyrrho]

Yes, that is a reasonable order to buy things. If you want specific advice on what to buy, you will want to say what your budget is.

Also, you might want to consider bookshelf speakers for all channels (other than subwoofer obviously), as it will save money over getting floorstanding speakers of the same quality. The deep bass, after all, is going to be handled by the subwoofer, so the other speakers need not deal with it. One can instead opt for either better bookshelf speakers, or a better subwoofer, with that extra money. It is what I did, and I had a pretty high budget (compared with most people). On a tight budget, I absolutely would go with bookshelf speakers all around. It is what I recommend for most people, though obviously what you should get will depend on your particular interests and situation.

 

[Stephen1991]

I'm not looking for suggestions as to what to buy, just on the order to get things. Thanks!

 

[3db]

I would change up the order by purchasing the center channel last if and only if, there is no danger of a model discontinuation between the main left and right speakers. Good bookshelves that image well will anchor the sound to the display provided you don't move too far from center. During a house move, I had to pack up the center channel for several monthes and I did not miss it all.