Making some big (to me) changes in our home entertainment and need advice

[His dudeness]

So, I'm a newly married guy. It's awesome for sure, but at the same time I'm guessing you all know where this conversation is going to go. I'll start with my fledgling new guy home theater components. I have an entry level receiver (pioneer vsx823k), older (but still in my opinion pretty awesome) Cabridge Soundworks bipolar tower speakers, and a still working Elemental designs A2-350 (10 inch 350 watt) sub. My dvd player for now is a PS3 and my tv is a 40inch Samsung led. Since I'm a recent homeowner with a stack of projects to save for and our theater space isn't huge these components have been working pretty darn well. But of course I've been hankering for a center channel and surrounds. Now this is begrudgingly acceptable to the wife who still doesn't quite get why we can't just use the tv speakers to watch movies, but she would be very happy if in the process of going with a full surround setup I ditched the tower speakers in favor of something more compact. My original plan was to add three Cambridge Audio Minx Min21's into the mix as center and rears and then upgrade the receiver. But I recently saw a home theater magazine online review of the new Klipsch Quintet system. Either way I'd still be looking at a new receiver as well. So if you had to pick either option (or neither) which would be better and why? And as far as a receiver goes, I've been looking at the base model Pioneer Elite and the Pioneer vsx1123k. About $600 is going to be my max for a receiver, is there anything else I should consider? The Quintet system (without sub) is about $550 which I figure I could easily do if I sold the older towers and the ridiculously expensive cables that connect them to the receiver. I might be willing to go about another hundred up from that but probably not too much more. Oh, and to make matters more funky, I love listening to music just as much as I love watching movies. So please audiophile magicians give me some insight on how to improve my current setup on roughly a grand and create a potentially more compact (but equally powerful) speaker sound. Many thanks!

 

[Adam]

Congrats on the recent nuptials! Great screen name, btw.

I've recently been comparing receivers in that price range, and I'm a fan of the VSX-1123. Below is text from a post that I made last week in another thread, which I think covers most of what I'd say here, too. One update is that I saw the Denon AVR-E400 for $350 later that week. Overall, the 1123 would be my choice from this year's crop of receivers in that price range.

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The things that I recommend that you look at when shopping are: connections (does it have everything that you want/need), auto calibration (a huge plus, IMO), features (can it do everything that you want), power (can it play as loud as you want and still sound good), ease of use, and the remote control. Price, of course, also weighs into it - I never want to spend more than I have to in order to get what I want, but I don't want to spend less and then be unhappy for years because I bought something that doesn't do what I want.

My last two receivers have been Pioneers, and I'm happy with Pioneer's MCACC auto calibration system. I recently got the chance to try out Audyssey on the Denon AVR-E400, Onkyo TX-NR626, and Marantz NR1504 receivers. Audyssey does at least as good of a job as MCACC, but the limitation is that you can only store one configuration for it (MCACC lets you stores up to six different configurations for six different listening positions). Because I have two listening positions that are significantly different in terms of where they are located in relation to the speakers, MCACC is a better fit for me.

I'd suggest also checking out the Pioneer VSX-1123 (I've seen it as low as $430 on sale at Newegg), and last year's Pioneer SC-1222 (which was $480 last weekend on Newegg), as you do your shopping. For this year's crop, the VSX-1123 offers very similar power ratings (90W/channel) as others in its price class and has the same or better connectivity. For Audyssey receivers, the Onkyo 626 offers the most features and connections for the money (that I've seen), but Onkyo has taken a hit in reputation due to reliability concerns in the past few years - however, they did add a fan to the 626 which should help reduce overheating issues. The Denon AVR-E400 is a solid unit, but I don't think it's a great value compared to others out there, including other Denons.

 

[His dudeness]

Thanks for the info Adam, I was leaning more towards the 1123 based on features and power, but liked the namesake and visual look of the Elite a bit more. Any idea on some speakers?

 

[flippo]

If u r looking for small satellite speakers, try and find some Mirage Omnisat v2 or os3. (might have to buy used). Very well built and sound great.

 

[fuzz092888]

Thanks for the info Adam, I was leaning more towards the 1123 based on features and power, but liked the namesake and visual look of the Elite a bit more. Any idea on some speakers?

For that price range, I would seriously consider the pioneer speakers. Two pairs of the SP-BS21's and the SP-C22 for a center, then see how much you want to budget for a sub.

You could also go with 5 of these, although that would be pushing the budget up a bit from $550 to about 750 without a sub. You'd certainly be taking a huge step up in quality from the klipsch speakers with either the pioneer or ascend speakers.

There's also these Cinema 5 Compact Home Theater System

and this Intimus 4C Special - 5.0 System - Gloss Black - Small Rooms - Home Theater Systems - Aperion Audio

 

[ImcLoud]

I think amazon had elite receivers on sale today or this week, I seen the email but didn't pay much mind, I think it was s63's for 649.99 or something like that...

As far as your upgrades, I'm lost... I'm confused about the budget?
If I were you I would sell everything and start over, which sounds like what you are thinking... But then you would have a budget for the new 5.1 system you will be looking into? Am I correct there we want a 5.1 with an AVR?

If so, you could do a lot worse than a
Pioneer 1222k $499
Bic f12 $198
3-sierra 1's in piano black on bstock sale rite now for $1160
then a cheap pair of surrounds, pretty much pick any bookshelfs you want---- energy vminis, jamo 602's, bd100s, BA and polk also make some innexpensive bookshelfs, even Parts-express $30 jobbers will do the work...

Them piano bstock sierras are Key, spend a little less on the sub, surrounds, and avr and get your self a dynamite front end, you will not be sorry, I promise....

 

[His dudeness]

So my original plan was to simply add a center and rears to my existing speaker setup. And that plan might still happen. But I also want to consider options that would replace my towers. My goal is to keep the sub that I have. I know that Elemental Designs is now defunct and a lot of their product has had issues here or there but so far I've been lucky and my unit has been problem free, awesome performing, and bombproof. So more or less I want some speaker options that would either replace all but the sub, or add to the two front towers that I already have. The wife factor has me considering 5 new speakers and selling the towers more for something a bit more compact but I just want to weigh my options a bit.

 

[ImcLoud]

well then the ascend sierra 1s sound perfect for you...

 

[His dudeness]

Those ascend's look nice, but a bit out of my budget. I've got champagne tastes but a wallet capable of PBR. So, it's a tricky situation for sure.

 

[ImcLoud]

So what exactly is the budget? and what does that have to buy you?

 

[His dudeness]

My budget is about $500 for a receiver, and about $500 for center and rear speakers... If I go with all 5 new ones then it'll be about $700-$800. Like I said, I'm definitely on a budget. I don't need the best of the best, and probably couldn't even afford the best of the midrange. So I need to be a little creative.

 

[ImcLoud]

My budget is about $500 for a receiver, and about $500 for center and rear speakers... If I go with all 5 new ones then it'll be about $700-$800. Like I said, I'm definitely on a budget. I don't need the best of the best, and probably couldn't even afford the best of the midrange. So I need to be a little creative.

OK, well the AVR I would pick is the Pioneer 1222k at Newegg for $499 {no brainer there} and for your speakers you could either go with Ascend 200se {bstock for all 5 would cost $567.52 or I would go with a pair of cbm170s for front left and right and a cbm340 center that would cost $626 then add a set of bstock 200s and that would bring you up to $762.24 shipped...

 

[Hookedonc4]

The Def Tech ProCinema is a good series.

http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Technology-Cinema-60-6-System/dp/B001GOK9GE

 

[His dudeness]

So I got the Pioneer sc1222k. Amazing difference in sound quality! Also added a Def. Tech Pro Cinema 1000 center, and my parents kicked me down a set of their Cambridge Soundworks surrounds for free. Still planning on ditching the tower speakers for something a little more compact but as for now it seems like I've got most of what I need for a good start.

 

[lsiberian]

So you bought a house without a theater room?

For me I love having a theater room.

 

[His dudeness]

Lsiberian... Unfortunately, my wife and I are young, not rich, and we chose to buy a house in an expensive area because of it's proximity to our jobs. I think another priority is to have bedrooms for kids down the road when they come along, so devoting a bedroom to a theater room really isn't in the cards. Sure I like good quality sound and picture, I don't think there's anyone out there that doesn't... But at the same time I like having bathtubs without holes in them and backyards that are landscaped rather than just full of weeds. So sadly I have to be on a pretty tight budget. But who knows, this is our starter house. Maybe the next one will have some extra space (and available funds) to have a theater room instead of just having everything in a living room.