Looking to upgrade.

B

Brguitarist

Enthusiast
I'm looking to upgrade my home theater setup. I am a noob that has been using these forums to make all of my decisions for my home theater needs. Great site with great feedback/opinions!

A couple a years ago I purchased a budget setup (yamaha rx-v671, pioneer's andrew jones 1st gen speakers, and later a BIC America PL-200 sub). The system has treated me well and I haven't had any bad experiences or mishaps with the equipment but I've got the bug and want to upgrade.

So now to my questions. Should I put money into new speakers first or upgrade my AVR? And what do you recommend? I would rather not spend a lot of money and barely improve my system. I don't plan on buying everything all at once because lets face it, I'm in the military and don't make tons of money, but am willing to spend the money.

Thanks advance for the replies!
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
Your receiver is fine - I would work on the front 3 speakers first
Need some type of budget - to begin recommendations.
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
I agree that it is speakers (which includes subwoofers) that matter the most for sound, and in your case in particular, I would replace speakers first. However, to get a substantial improvement over what you have will cost you. The Andrew Jones speakers have a good reputation for being high value, which means that to get better will cost significantly more than they cost you. If you are poor, save up your money until you have a lot to spend.

Many people do a bunch of little upgrades, buying speakers that they soon want to replace, and they end up wasting a lot of money. If they just saved their money and bought their final upgrade first, they would have more money for other things. Or they could have a better system than they will ever be able to afford with the way that they approach things.

My advice is to save your money up until you can afford some speakers that you think you will never want to upgrade. Otherwise, you will be buying something that isn't ultimately satisfying, and that will cost you more money in the long run.
 
B

Brguitarist

Enthusiast
Thanks for The Input. I Guess First I Would Buy Some Towers. Would A $1k Budget For Towers Be Enough?
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
At $1k, I would look for really good bookshelf speakers instead. Remember, the deep bass will be dealt with by the subwoofer, so paying for the main speakers to do it will add extra cost. You can get better bookshelf speakers for $1k than you can get tower speakers for $1k, if you are only considering the sound from 80 Hz on up.

In fact, I went with speakers that retail for $1.5k that are bookshelf speakers; the tower ones (that would have been "voice matched" with the same tweeter and midbass driver) would have cost twice as much. But since I use a subwoofer (actually, a pair of them) for the deep bass, paying for main speakers that can go lower would have been a waste of money.

So, I recommend going to all of your local audio shops and listening to speakers at about $1k or so and thinking carefully about what matters to you in how they sound. Listen to as many types of speakers (e.g., ribbon, horn, dome, whatever) of as many different brands as you can stand, with music with which you are familiar, of all the types of music to which you listen (you might want to burn a CDR for this). Take your time, as mistakes can be costly.
 
B

Brguitarist

Enthusiast
Ok. I can definately look into different speakers. Lets back up to the AVR. You agree that it is fine but i'm concerned that it won't drive more expensive speakers and there are no pre-outs. You don't think this will be a problem?
 
ski2xblack

ski2xblack

Audioholic Field Marshall
More expensive speakers are not necessarily harder to drive. Less sensitive speakers require more power, but that's independent of price. Since the speakers you choose will weigh heavily on the power considerations, choose them first.
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
More expensive speakers are not necessarily harder to drive. Less sensitive speakers require more power, but that's independent of price. Since the speakers you choose will weigh heavily on the power considerations, choose them first.
Yes, this is right. My $1500 bookshelf speakers are easy to drive, with no nasty low dips in their impedance, and not unusually inefficient. Just about anything can drive them.

Pick your speakers, then worry about what you need to drive them. You may be pleasantly surprised. Or unpleasantly, but you will not know before you pick them.
 
I

Irishman

Audioholic
I'm looking to upgrade my home theater setup. I am a noob that has been using these forums to make all of my decisions for my home theater needs. Great site with great feedback/opinions!

A couple a years ago I purchased a budget setup (yamaha rx-v671, pioneer's andrew jones 1st gen speakers, and later a BIC America PL-200 sub). The system has treated me well and I haven't had any bad experiences or mishaps with the equipment but I've got the bug and want to upgrade.

So now to my questions. Should I put money into new speakers first or upgrade my AVR? And what do you recommend? I would rather not spend a lot of money and barely improve my system. I don't plan on buying everything all at once because lets face it, I'm in the military and don't make tons of money, but am willing to spend the money.

Thanks advance for the replies!
You will HEAR the difference in investing in speakers, but knowing how much you want to spend is crucial. How happy are you with the sound the Pioneers produce?
 
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