I am upgrading my entertainment system. I think I've done pretty well without spending the full $3000 I had set aside for it. Samsung PN60E8000 (their 2012 top of the line 60" plasma) $1735. Best Buy price matched some place on the internet. Sony BDP-S790 Blu-ray player with 4k upscaling, $225. Also a Best Buy price match. Bought them from Best Buy just because I like to be able to take things back to a store if something's wrong with it. I got a Sony STR-DA 1800ES 7.2 receiver with 4k pass through 150Wx7 @ 8ohm. $449 at Surveilent. $250 less than anywhere else. Maybe in a couple years a 4k projector to go with them. After searching reviews (best HT sub under $200) I decided on a Dayton Audio 1200 sub. 12" 120 watts. All that's left is the speakers. I've got 4 Pioneer 3 way 12's and 2 Pioneer 2 way 10's left over from the old system and I'm afraid they're just not as crispy as they were last century. I read somewhere on one of the reviews that the "punchy" base sound comes mostly from your midrange drivers and not from the sub. This leads me to my delimma.
As with most wives, mine wants to know why our not very large living room needs to be filled up with all these big speakers, and lately so am I. I use it most for watching movies and tv. I like music, but don't listen to it in my house. Maybe the occasional party, but not very often. My living room is 16' x 20' and we may be moving to a house with a larger room soon but not by much. Do I really need large cabinet speakers to enjoy my movies? Would it help to get a smaller sub (6" or 8" for punchy base) to run on the other sub out from my receiver, then get bookshelf speakers? Or would it be better to get midsized cabinets with maybe 6" drivers, mids and tweeters. I also thought about buying components and building in wall speakers at the new house. I want it to be crispy for the rare music but that's not a priority. Mostly I want my movies to sound clear and rich.
I know someone out there wants to tell me I shoulda got some other component or that something else would have been better. That's not what I'm looking for. But I would be interested in all the suggestions on how to finish what I started and why one way would be better than the other. Keep in mind I'm still trying to stay near my budget.
