Enter to Win: Rives Audio Test CD 2

[Bryce_H]

Most cost effective for me was the buying the floor model Denon 3805 and replacing my Yamaha DSP-A3090 (excellent receiver, but old). In terms of impact it was my recent purchase of an Epson 550 front project to replace my deteriorating Sony VPL-W400Q front projector. The LCD panel were physically decomposing.

 

[Nomo]

No. Not much in the way of treatments. The best Acoustical treatment for me seems to be getting all the other humans to leave the house so I can turn it up as loud as I want.

 

[TheLaw]

I don't know how cost effective it was... but the most noticeable upgrade for me was new speakers and a receiver. I upgraded from a pioneer HTIB that was nothing spectacular (Worked great in my military dorm room) to an Onkyo receiver and Axiom Audio speakers. The SVS sub would probably qualify as the most cost effective upgrade. I bought it after the speakers and the difference it made in my overall sound was amazing.

 

[louhamilton]

I would have to say upgrading my speakers has been my most cost effective upgrade thus far. I moved from some Sony satellites to Polk RTi4's, CSi3, and FXi3's.

Any acoustic treatments I have are simply pictures hanging on the walls.

 

[Berty52]

Contest Question: What has been the most cost effective upgrade or change to your listening environment (acoustical treatments, speakers, specific component, etc.)? Please describe the change as you experienced it.

I made two significiant upgrade, first I changed my old Yamaha RXV-850 (Dolby Prologic) for the RXV-1400 with YPAO. This device, YPAO, helped for room response. The second upgrade was an SVS PB10-ISD. It replaced my old Yamaha YST SW-100, boy that was another great move.

 

[BobBart]

My most cost effective upgrade has been replacing my 8" sub with an IB setup. Really cheap compared to a box sub with gobs of output.

 

[10010011]

Nope, I just have to suffer with it...

 

[Jack Hammer]

[BContest Question: What has been the most cost effective upgrade or change to your listening environment (acoustical treatments, speakers, specific component, etc.)? Please describe the change as you experienced it.

The biggest bang for the buck for me was when I upgraded my reciever (from cheap RCA to Denon 2805). I had previously bought better speakers and noticed some difference, but when I added a better reciever everything really came alive. The sounds were much more natural and pleasant to listen too. I found that a decent reciever will sound better with crappy speakers than a crappy reciever will sound with good speakers.

 

[John S]

Finally getting rid of BOSE haha. I'm not kidding either. Seriously.

In my case it was getting rid of Cerwin-Vega. Old D-3's my wife bought years ago. And their center channel purchased years later, even though it was C-V, was no where close to timbre matching the mains. The Infinity 12" powered sub is in a closet also.

Maybe it is just a happy accident, but my modest DefTech powered towers produce usable bass to 30Hz. I know the room is not perfect however, and I would like to improve acoustics as much as I can.

 

[mbaylor]

I can't really answer this question like others can because this is my first home theater. I didn't even upgrade from a HTIB or anything. So I guess the answer would be my current home theater has been the most cost effective upgrade (from nothing). It has changed the way I listen to music and movies.

 

[spacebarshift]

My headphones

My headphones are the best cost effective element for audio listening at home or away. They work on televisions, CD players, walkmen, camcorders, etc. They are Sony Professional Dynamic Stereo Headphones MDR-7506 and came with a Sony Portable CD Walkman D-CJ01 with MP3 24H play back and G-Protection. Still good after 3 1/2 years.

 

[broberts]

I wish I had the money to upgrade and make a useful comment about differences between upgrades. Unfortunatly, the only thing I've been able to mess with is speaker placement, which has made some significant improvements to imaging. I'm sure that room acoustics and speaker upgrades could make a big difference. On the other hand, my reciever doesn't even have DTS decoding, so I have some work to do all around.

 

[fredejo]

i went from nothing to adding a new couch (helped absorb sound reflections), rug, denon receiver, dvd player & a focal 5.1 setup. i did ALOT of research & set it all up at one time so it would be perfect right off the bat, calibrated, etc... but 2 months later i upgraded the center channel to one of focals higher end center's & WOW! by far the biggest improvement, even over speaker placement.

 

[Rockets]

No room treatments as of yet, but will be in the plans. I am just finally getting to upgrade my home theater. My biggest upgrade was a Toshiba 62" DLP and Dual NHT10s.

 

[viking68]

Rearranging our furniture. We don't have a dedicated HT room, we just use one of our living rooms. The old arrangement was lousy for surrounds -- there really wasn't a good place for them. The new arrangement is far superior, and we've just installed some Bohlender (BG) Zs (5 & 7's) and R-18i's, and the difference is amazing.

 

[reeg2223]

sound

Rearranging the furniture and speakers really helped.

 

[royalusa]

Rear surround speakers. Kewl!

 

[Tritonman]

What has been the most cost effective upgrade or change to your listening environment (acoustical treatments, speakers, specific component, etc.)? Please describe the change as you experienced it.

My Behringher Feedback Destroyer. What a fantastic piece of equipment for such a small price. It really helped tame my subwoofer and provided me with a much better curve and bass response. It was such a noticeable difference it made me want to watch my favorite movies all over again.

 

[ctwed]

Purchase of a AV receiver upgraded my system (picture and sound) the most. Upgrading from a 20+ yr old piece of equipment was a no brainer.

 

[frankf]

Update

I am in the process of buying the Outlaw 7700 amplifier and perhaps the 990 processor. Actually this is not happening until June when I go to the Home Theater show in LA. A good friend of mine and myself have being doing this for the last 8 years and we had a BLAST!
A lot of dreaming goes on. But we both are fortunate that we both have dedicated HT rooms.
This addition I feel will add a lot of dimension and tighter impact on the bass end.
The amplifier is a definite I am not sure if I will still use my Yamaha 3300 as a processor.


Frank