Old Speakers / New Receiver

[brandondu]

Hi,
I am currently in the process of upgrading my home theater system. I recently purchased a Sony KV-34HS510 widescreen HDTV and a Sony DVP-NS725P DVD player. I have a Monster Powerstrip and all Monster or Audio Research Cables for my video. I think that for now I am off to a good start as far as my video is concerned.

My audio is a different story...I have an old Sony Dolby Pro Logic surround sound receiver. It was a good model for its time but it is way past its prime. I am thinking of upgrading to a new receiver in the $600 range??

My speaker system is also a bit on the dated side, but I would like to have it last me a while longer in order to save some money so when I can upgrade my speakers, I can do it right. My speakers are Polk Audio. It is a RM3000 system (RM2000 satellites and RM1000 subwoofer) with a RM2500 center channel and M3II rear channels. My question is this...the manual for the sub/sat system recommends running the sub in phase with the satellites. The amp and sub both have a + and - for both the left and right channel. The sats just have a + and a -. The manual says that I should either run the speaker wires from the amp to the sub to the sat..or..from the amp to the sat to the sub. This type of setup makes for lots of wire and lots of messy connections. Is this the right thing to do with a new receiver that has a separate connection for the sub? How can I hook this up for the time being with the new receiver that would be better?

As I am sure you already know, I am not a pro at this and am trying to make a decent sounding system with the limited funds and resources that I have available. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help,
Brandon

 

[markw]

Does the sub have a line level input and a built in power amplifier?

If so then perhaps you can avail yourself of the LFE output on a newer receiver and it's built in bass management functions. If not, then you will have to hook it up like you have 'em now which I assume is receiver to sub and then sub to sattelites.

 

[Unregistered]

One thought about a new receiver would be to get away from the box stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy. Go to specialty stores and listen to other receivers such as Marantz, Denon, NAD, Pioneer Elite etc. Circuit City does have H/K which are good too. For $600, you should be able to find a pretty good receiver. Look at Marantz 5400, Denon 2805, Yamaha 1400, Pioneer Elite VSX-53TX, NAD T743 or an H/K 7200 (if you go up a bit) or H/K 430. There certainly can be others (some like Onkyo too) but you owe it to yourself to try other brands out of the Sony mold and listen to speakers other than the Polks models in the box stores.