What items to buy next???

[Brion8]

I'm new to the home theater game. I'm looking to slowly start building up a nice, mid-range system using my current components and adding others as money allows. My question is what items to add next. I don't want to buy the "surround -in-a-box" setup, rather, I'd like to add good quality components one at a time. Here's my current setup.

Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42" Plasma HDTV
Onkyo TX-SR601 receiver
OPPO DV-970HD Universal DVD
Boston Acoustic HD9 bookshelf speakers

I think I'm covered on the display, receiver and DVD player for quite a while. Now I need to work on the speakers. What components should I work on acquiring next? Center? Sub? Rears? New fronts? And is matching all the speakers that important?

Any advice is appreciated! Looking forward to learning a lot in these forums.

Thanks,
Brion

 

[j_garcia]

What's your budget and how big is your room?

 

[Brion8]

Room is hard to judge as it's kind of a 'great room' concept with the kitchen and dining room as part of the family room. The main area where it's all setup is about 15'x12'.

Budget depends on the component. Again, I'm going to slowly build up the system over the next year or so. I don't want to spend thousands on speakers, but can definitely spend a few hundred on each various component.

Thanks for the quick response too!!

 

[j_garcia]

Well, for the speakers we need to have a rough idea of the cubic footage, especially for the sub. I think you're off to a good start on your other gear, but since the room is probably pretty large, you may have to be a little more steep on the budget or space things out longer (that's what I did). I bought stuff I could afford at the time and slowly replaced each item until I got to where I wanted.

The first things I would probably get would be a pair of new mains (use current ones as surrounds) and a sub, then a center to match the mains in the next round of additions. Matching speakers does make a difference - the front 3 are the most important to match, the surrounds not quite as much unless you intend to listen to a lot of multichannel music (DVD concerts, SACD, DVD-A). I listen to a lot of m/c music so I use 5 identical speakers all around.

 

[apatel25314]

fronts, then a sub, and then a center

 

[highfihoney]

When you say "great room" i picture very high ceilings,are your ceilings very high,this will make a huge difference in bass response if your ceilings are very high.

You really should have some sort of budget in mind,i agree with the other posters to start with the main speakers then move on to the sub but there are so many options in speakers its impossible to give a reccomendation without a max budget.

 

[Seth=L]

I'm new to the home theater game. I'm looking to slowly start building up a nice, mid-range system using my current components and adding others as money allows. My question is what items to add next. I don't want to buy the "surround -in-a-box" setup, rather, I'd like to add good quality components one at a time. Here's my current setup.

Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42" Plasma HDTV
Onkyo TX-SR601 receiver
OPPO DV-970HD Universal DVD
Boston Acoustic HD9 bookshelf speakers

I think I'm covered on the display, receiver and DVD player for quite a while. Now I need to work on the speakers. What components should I work on acquiring next? Center? Sub? Rears? New fronts? And is matching all the speakers that important?

Any advice is appreciated! Looking forward to learning a lot in these forums.

Thanks,
Brion

Ha, I used to own some Boston Acoustics from the HD series, good little speakers. I had the HD5s, they were small but they sounded good.

 

[Brion8]

I guess I really shouldn't have said 'great room' because it does not have vaulted ceilings, rather it has normal 9ft ceilings. However the room is open to the dining room and kitchen, so that's what I was trying to convey by using the term.

As for budget, I'm thinking $500 for new fronts, $500 for a sub, and not sure about a center. The Axiom M22 v2 have gotten rave reviews and seem to fit right in my range. Do you think upgrading from the Boston Acoustic HD9 fronts to the Axiom M22 v2 fronts is the wise next step?

Thanks!!!