Budget Upgrade From a HTIB

[majicplicity]

First off, I want to thank everyone here on the forums, as I have been reading non stop for the last week and found out if I had done my original plan, I would have been really dissapointed (was going to basically mix and match all my speakers, classic mistake I am sure on here from rookies such as myself).

I have been running a Onkyo HT-S6300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker System for the last year, and have been quite content with it living in an apartment, and not being able to go too crazy. I just purchased a house last month, got all moved in, and found myself wanting more from my home theater setup. I am not looking for anything too extravagant, but something that will give better sound.

My Current Setup:
Onkyo HT-S6300 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver and Speaker System
LG 55" LED 3d TV
Custom Built PC
PS3
Toshiba HDDVD (I know I know, I chose wrong in the beginning, but bought a bunch of HDDVD movies dirt cheap after they lost the war)

So I am trying to stay on a strict budget, since the whole house purchase pretty much tapped me. I am hoping to continue use of the receiver and sub, and upgrade my speakers. My goal is to be in the 4-500 range for speakers keeping the 7.1 setup.

My initial plan was:

Polk CSR BLACK 2-way black center-channel speaker (I bought this already because it was on sale, but can return)
Polk Audio R300 x2
Polk Audio R150 x4

Been watching the Frys ad, was initially interested in the Sony SS-F6000's as they were 107 for a pair. Reading through a lot of people's feedback, they haven't been overly happy with those. Also saw the JBL ES80's @ 288 for a pair, which from what I have read seem to get rated higher, but still some mixed reviews.

I know for my price range, I am not going to get life shattering results, but just want something for when friends and family come over, to have a good movie watching experience. For reference, my tv room is approximately 20x13 feet a rectangular.

All thoughts/advice/criticism are all welcome.

 

[sholling]

I'd be hard pressed to decide if I'd upgrade the front three speakers first or the subwoofer first and I guess that would depend on whether the priority is music or movies. I really wouldn't worry about replacing the surrounds until after the front three and the sub. It's only the front three that absolutely positively have to match. Matching the surrounds is a plus but not a must unless your thing is 5 channel music and there isn't that much if it. A good quality sub like a Hsu Research VTF-2 ($529 + 67S&H) should make a real difference when viewing action movies but I'd really want to replace the front three speakers with something better for music. Or you could wait for Outlaw Audio's next sale (usually $100 off) on their flagship LFM-1 EX but that could be 6-10 months there is no way to tell.

Since you're shopping at Fry's I'd listen to some Infinity P363 towers and some Pioneer SP-FS52 towers and see which you like better. You may need to be patient but they both go on sale for somewhere around $250-300/pr fairly often but go ahead and decide what you like. The matching center for the Infinity is the PC-351. Later after the front 3 and the sub are upgraded you can look at replacing the surrounds. I'm not sure what the matching center is for the Pioneer.

If you'd rather have bookshelves the Infinity P163 regularly go on sale for around $150/pr (reg $130ea) and the matching center is the PC251. The speakers I'd use for surrounds to match the other Infinities are their P153.

 

[GFOViedo]

In my opinion you should get the best 3.1 speaker set up you can afford, and use your current speakers for surround / surround back. You can continue to use your existing AVR unless you want to buying something better.

I would suggest the following:
Pioneer FS52 towers $100 each when on sale.
Pioneer CS22 center channale usually $100 on sale.
Klipsch RW-12D sub usually $300 on sale on newegg.com.

That puts you around the $500 budget.

Or you can go with the BIC F12 sub, which you can buy for $198 or so.

If you don't want to go with the tower route, you can get the Pioneer BS22 usually $100 a pair when on sale. That would put your around the $400 dollars. However, this doesn't include taxes or shipping.