looking to upgrade main L/R, not sure receiver is really up to it?

[buckbanger]

A couple of years ago I bought an Onkyo HT-S3100 htib. The receiver that came with the package is called an HT-R340. Now I'm thinking about upgrading the main front L/R speakers. I'm mainly interested in music (home theater is just a bonus), and the baritone range is what I feel like I've really been missing, so I think I really want floorstanding speakers. I've been looking around online and thinking something like Polk TSi300s or something in that price range would be a good bang for my buck. But I'm not sure if the receiver I have has enough juice to really take advantage of them, perhaps along with the three remaining Onkyo satellites, to produce undistorted sound at a semi loud room filling volume level in my 13' deep by 17' wide room. Help?

 

[AVRat]

Yes, as you go down in the frequency range, good, robust amplification becomes more important. Good speaker design is crucial in the speaker’s capability. A receiver with a 90W+ @ 20 Hz – 20 KHz rating should have better performance for these types of speakers.

If you don’t mind bookshelfs, some speaker options to consider: http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PBIMB25

 

[j_garcia]

Since you are asking about better music, I would not put Polk at the top of my list. I agree with the Ascends for music as they do a great job with pretty much everything; vocals in particular.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

just kicks and giggles, why don't you visit local Best Buy store or equivalent and demo few speakers, especially Klipsch. If you like them (it's ether love or hate due to "harsh" sound some people describe - I personally love them) they can be good match for your existing avr, since they have unusually high efficiency.