What is the next item I should buy?

[Unregistered]

I am building a HT pretty much one piece at a time (I do not have the patience to save the cash to buy all at once). Thus far I have the following:

1) Yamaha RX-V650 receiver
2) Pair of the Infinity Primus 360's
3) A Sharp 27" nonflat TV (under 200 bucks 3 years ago)

I enjoy watching movies more than music. While a large screen TV sounds nice, I think it would really urk me to see a big explosion on TV (I love the action and sci/fi stuff) with only hearing a little bang.

To all you guys who bought one piece at a time, what individual pieces did you buy at what time and any recommendations would be welcomed!!

 

[Karp]

How tight is your budget? Assuming that you are keeping your current speakers ...

The 360's go fairly low, so I would put money into surrounds, center channel, TV, and sub (in that order).

Then again, Crutchfield will give you free Primus 150's if you buy the Primus C25 or the Alpha center. That would give you surrounds and a center for less than $200.

 

[Unregistered]

Im not looking to go that cheap. I bought the 360's at $400 for the pair. The receiver cost me about $350. I figure I can go a total of 2k for the remaining speakers and another $1500 for the TV. While I dont want to say the sky is the limit, I also dont want lower end products either.

 

[Leprkon]

sub, center and surrounds

To match the timbre of the speakers, you could easily pick up a Primus Center and Infinity sub, which would qualify you for the Primus 150 surrounds and only take about $ 500 off your budget. You'd have some very decent sound (and matching sound) and could sink the rest into a larger TV....

 

[Unregistered]

Actually, for the surrounds I was seriously considering the Infinity Beta ES250 surround sound speakers. However, I have yet to find a place in my area to sell them. Right now I am looking "free home test" special. These would run $600+. You do bring up a good point though, the primus a mid level Infinity model and Beta is the Top Notch. While they should be compatible there is never any gaurantees.

 

[Leprkon]

timbre matching

while it is very important to match the center channel to the mains, you can do all kinds of things with the rears. the transition from left main to center to right main is very important to have matching speakers so you don't have an interruption in the movement.

there is only one transition fom front to back, and there is alot more distance between the two. if you plan to listen to any of the "advanced" formats like DVD-A or SACD, you can invest some good money to take advantage of the rears without worrying about timbre.

just match the fronts as best you can. you might check the inifinity website to see if you could voice-match the Beta center channel or the massive Alpha 37C center ($250 from Crutchfield if you have a place to put it). personal recommendation if you do get the 37C: still leave the center channel set to "small" to keep the bass feeding to your mains. the 37C is incredibly efficient and can overwhelm the mains if it gets a "large" signal, robbing you of some of the depth of a movie (I noticed this mostly on Fox's 5.1 football broadcasts).

 

[Karp]

Im not looking to go that cheap. I bought the 360's at $400 for the pair. The receiver cost me about $350. I figure I can go a total of 2k for the remaining speakers and another $1500 for the TV. While I dont want to say the sky is the limit, I also dont want lower end products either.

I was assuming that you were planning on keeping the 360's, and would want to timbre match the rest of your speakers to it. If you are keeping the speakers and you like the sound, I would still go with what I suggested and add a nice subwoofer from SVS or HSU.

That would leave you plenty of cash to upgrade your TV.

If you aren't happy with the 360's, there are plenty of other options.

 

[Unregistered]

You are right on the 360's. I fully plan on keeping those.

 

[Karp]

You are right on the 360's. I fully plan on keeping those.

Even though they are from the same manufacturer, I doubt that Alphas/Betas are timbre matched to the Primus line. I would stick with the Primus center and (free) surrounds and leave more cash for a good sub and TV.

 

[blumsden]

I am building a HT pretty much one piece at a time (I do not have the patience to save the cash to buy all at once). Thus far I have the following:

1) Yamaha RX-V650 receiver
2) Pair of the Infinity Primus 360's
3) A Sharp 27" nonflat TV (under 200 bucks 3 years ago)

I enjoy watching movies more than music. While a large screen TV sounds nice, I think it would really urk me to see a big explosion on TV (I love the action and sci/fi stuff) with only hearing a little bang.

To all you guys who bought one piece at a time, what individual pieces did you buy at what time and any recommendations would be welcomed!!

I was in a similar situation... I had an old 27" Toshiba TV, 2-channel amp, and decent front speakers. I replaced the TV first, then the amp. My movie watching experiences have improved dramatically, even without surrounds (yet).

I got the Yamaha RX-V750 receiver, so very similar to yours. The plo logic surround modes do a fine job with only two front speakers. I watched Saving Private Ryan again the other day, and the improvement was dramatic. I thought my next purchase would be surrounds, but now I may get a good centre instead.

The TV was definitely my limiting factor, though. I picked up a Panasonic PT-53x54 (CRT rear projection, HD, wide screen).

So here is my recomendation:
1) TV
2) Centre
3) Surrounds
4) Sub (I'm in an apartment, so this priority has to be low )

Good luck!

 

[RLA]

(QUOTE)
So here is my recomendation:
1) TV
2) Centre
3) Surrounds
4) Sub (I'm in an apartment, so this priority has to be low )

Good luck!

For all you apartment dwellers that cant do subwoofers here is a simple solution that will bring some LFE back into your life
Install a couple of LFE Butt Kickers in your chair and a Butt Kicker amp
you can now play your sub low without offending other apt dwellers
and turn the gain up on the Butt Kickers to give you a little effect when there is LFE present in the soundtrack It is a pretty in-expensive
alternative for you folks
Cheers

 

[Unregistered]

Took some advice

I decided to go with the surrounds next (sorry but I feel the TV can wait). I took the advice and tt Infinity themselves who "strongly" recommended I stay with the Primus line. So, I went out and bought a pair of the Infinity Primus 160's (Im kicking myself for missing out on that buy 360's and get a free pair of 160's deal). But I got a great deal anyway. But back to my question. Anyone have any recommendations on speaker mounts? Gonna have to hold at least 16 ponds.

 

[goodman]

Priorities

Since you like movies so much, the first thing I would have purchased was a DVD player. Next, I would have bought a high definition TV. I would have saved the speakers for last, but no big deal. I like the way you're doing it, one piece at a time. Enjoy it.