What will you buy for 1000-1500$?

[objectivecpp]

Hey,

Here's my current setup...

Emotiva Ultra Sub 12"
Infinity PS 252
Infinity Primus PC350 Central Speakers
LG BluRay player
Onkyo HT-RC260

And last month I bought a pair of Klipsch RF-82 II speakers that replaced my Infinity fronts... now, I am using infinities as surrounds. So far, I love the sound of Klipsch....

I love listening to music all the times, am a big Zimmer's fan.. I listen to his music only on Audio CDs...

I am planning to spend about $1000-1500 in the next 2 months - I am up for anything that can improve the listening experience.. I have been thinking about a few things..

1) Replacing my Infinity Central with a better one
2) Sell all 3 Infinities but replace them with even better speakers...
3) Buy a better receiver
4) Buy a good CD player like Emotiva ERC-2
5) Invest in amps like Emotiva XPA's

But I am confused... What will you guys do if you were in my position?
I want to listen to clear music...

Thanks.

 

[oppman99]

Your situation sounds like the one I was in a few years back. I had an all infinity primus HT and also tried a pair of Klipsch towers. I found the Infinity center actually worked pretty well with the Klipsch towers I had. That being said, getting a matching center isn't a bad idea. I ended up getting what's in my sig line for my 2 channel rig, which caused a cascade of changes in my HT. Now it's all Paradigm Studio speakers and a DIY sub purchased from a fellow member here.

Your front speakers are very efficient and really don't require gobs of power so I think you will see a greater return on your investment upgrading something else. In your situation, I would probably get a matching center (since you seem to really like the Klipsch sound) and either upgrade the subwoofer or add a second one. If you decide to upgrade the sub, I would look into SVS, HSU, ect. The Klipsch subs really aren't anything special. Just my opinion of course.

 

[GranteedEV]

Amps won't help much. those Klipsch speakers are both very sensitive and won't keep their composure at super high levels anyways.

CD Player is useless. They all sound the same, unless your mind can slow down Time

For a Blu-Ray player, assuming you don't already have one, I think it's worth it, but LG would not be my choice. I would get a Sony PS3 or Oppo BDP-93

For speakers, I would get a second and third sub first of all, and then consider scrapping the center for a single JTR Triple 8

..and then get two more Triple 8s to replace the Klipsches.

 

[zieglj01]

If you not do settle and become comfortable, with your front L/C/R
speakers - then you will be changing them again, in a few months.
A real good sub is also a key - then I build from there. Also, their is
better options out there on Blu-ray players, over LG.

 

[jinjuku]

Room treatments if possible.

What I did 7-8 years ago with $1200 is get wood working tools and build my own.

 

[j_garcia]

I agree with not going with an LG blu-ray player. Get a Panasonic. If you don't game, there's no reason for a PS3 anymore, since even the $100 Panasonics are as fast and as the PS3 for movies now and PQ is not much different on any BD players I've seen. There's no noticeable difference in PQ between my Panny, PS3 or Oppo, but there's a big difference in audio quality and capability using the Oppo if that matters to you.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Here's my current setup...

Emotiva Ultra Sub 12"
<strike>Infinity PS 252</strike>
<strike>Infinity Primus PC350 Central Speakers</strike>
LG BluRay player
Onkyo HT-RC260

<strike>1) Replacing my Infinity Central with a better one</strike>
2) Sell all 3 Infinities but replace them with even better speakers...
<strike>3) Buy a better receiver</strike>
<strike>4) Buy a good CD player like Emotiva ERC-2</strike>
<strike>5) Invest in amps like Emotiva XPA's</strike>

If you prefer the sound of the Klipsch speakers, then I would sell all 3 Infinity speakers and get all Klipsch speakers for 5.1.

Speakers make the biggest difference, not CD players, BD players, amps, receivers. You LG BD player will sound great when playing a CD.

 

[zieglj01]

If you not do settle and become comfortable, with your front L/C/R speakers - then you will be changing them again, in a few months.

My English is bad, I meant to say -
If you do not settle and become comfortable, with your front L/C/R speakers - then you will be changing them again, in a few months.

 

[shadyJ]

If you listen to stereo music mostly, I would look into room treatments. If you are listening to surround sound stuff, I would go for a matching center channel, an RC-64 if possible. Something I would do after that is upgrade the subwoofer. Either get another Emotiva and co-locate the subs with each of the left/right fronts, or get two of something more powerful, like some Hsu or Rythmik 15" subs if possible. I can't believe a single sealed budget 12" sub can keep up with a powerful Klipsch setup like that, unless you only listen to soft volume levels.

 

[bikemig]

Hey,

Here's my current setup...

Emotiva Ultra Sub 12"
Infinity PS 252
Infinity Primus PC350 Central Speakers
LG BluRay player
Onkyo HT-RC260

And last month I bought a pair of Klipsch RF-82 II speakers that replaced my Infinity fronts... now, I am using infinities as surrounds. So far, I love the sound of Klipsch....

I love listening to music all the times, am a big Zimmer's fan.. I listen to his music only on Audio CDs...

I am planning to spend about $1000-1500 in the next 2 months - I am up for anything that can improve the listening experience.. I have been thinking about a few things..

1) Replacing my Infinity Central with a better one
2) Sell all 3 Infinities but replace them with even better speakers...
3) Buy a better receiver
4) Buy a good CD player like Emotiva ERC-2
5) Invest in amps like Emotiva XPA's

But I am confused... What will you guys do if you were in my position?
I want to listen to clear music...

Thanks.

I would try to figure out what it the weakest link in my system and then try to improve it. Speakers often give the most bang for the buck when it comes to SQ. You could audition speakers you think might be better than what you have and try to figure out if that would help. If you think the weak link is your music source, you might want to think about whether you want to stick with CDs or move on to a computer based playback system.

 

[Boerd]

Hey,

Here's my current setup...

Emotiva Ultra Sub 12"
Infinity PS 252
Infinity Primus PC350 Central Speakers
LG BluRay player
Onkyo HT-RC260

And last month I bought a pair of Klipsch RF-82 II speakers that replaced my Infinity fronts... now, I am using infinities as surrounds. So far, I love the sound of Klipsch....

I love listening to music all the times, am a big Zimmer's fan.. I listen to his music only on Audio CDs...

I am planning to spend about $1000-1500 in the next 2 months - I am up for anything that can improve the listening experience.. I have been thinking about a few things..

1) Replacing my Infinity Central with a better one
2) Sell all 3 Infinities but replace them with even better speakers...
3) Buy a better receiver
4) Buy a good CD player like Emotiva ERC-2
5) Invest in amps like Emotiva XPA's

But I am confused... What will you guys do if you were in my position?
I want to listen to clear music...

Thanks.

Replace your mains - that would make a difference.
Since you already have a good subwoofer I would buy a pair of good bookshelf speakers.

 

[objectivecpp]

Thanks a lot for all the replies.

I have decided to

1) Sell my infinity speakers
2) Buy a matching Klipsch Central and surround speakers
3) If I have enough money, buy another sub

Related questions:

1) Should I go for Klipsch surrounds? If yes, could someone recommend a few?
2) What do you recommend for Central? RC-64 or RC-62? How different they are? One problem with getting RC-64 is that I will not have budget to get surrounds and/or another sub...

Thanks.

 

[gpost3]

Amps won't help much. those Klipsch speakers are both very sensitive and won't keep their composure at super high levels anyways.

+1 . And besides you don't need more power to drive the tweeters. Tweeters need 10-15 watts RMS at max to keep them balanced with more power hungry mid bass drivers.

CD Player is useless. They all sound the same, unless your mind can slow down Time

+1 . because it isn't the CD player that renders the image, but the video processor.

If you don't game, there's no reason for a PS3 anymore, since even the $100 Panasonics are as fast and as the PS3 for movies now and PQ is not much different on any BD players I've seen

+1 . Or better yet build yourself a computer with a BD player. BD player is merely a transport.

Speakers often give the most bang for the buck when it comes to SQ.

Not often, always.

but there's a big difference in audio quality and capability using the Oppo if that matters to you.

The reason for that is because OPPO has a better DAC. And there are better DACs out there than what OPPO has for lesser price. Oppo is better because Oppo selects good third party components. There is nothing Oppo about it though.

Stick to what YOU like. You like klipsch over infinity, then get all klipsch. I am not loyal to any brand as it is very clear from my talk above except for the one that gives YOU the better bang for the buck.

Now a days, I think BD players including Oppos are stupendous and waste of your hard earned money because for that price you can get a computer with a good sound chip. Will eat oppo for breatfast. (oh here comes the oppo fan boys). I have used a few chips from Realtek - AC888 and some VIA chips. I find VIA (especially the VT series) to be excellent when it comes to SQ and DAC performance. Never tried C-Media chips but higher end sound cards tend to use them.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/audio/codecs/vt1708b/index.jsp

That chip in particular has 98 s/n ratio, 24 bit audio processing and 192 kHz audio processing. And no I don't work for VIA. You may want to consider using computer as your source. You would be surprised the amount of flexbility you get if you dont mind investing maybe one to two hours to configure ubuntu/windows media centre on it.