Speaker upgrade,what should I look at?
jmy2469 -- Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:44
I am in the process of upgrading my current HT system. I used to live in an apartment. I have the onkyo 605 receiver and V5 Paradigm Monitors.The front stage is a pair of titans on stands and CC-290. For my rear surrounds I decided to use a pair of mini monitors, also on stands. Now I am living in a house, all my equiptment is in the finished basement,which is much larger than my apartment was. I upgraded the receiver to an Arcam AVR600. Now I need to get some new speakers. I would like to get something that is going to fill the entire room. The bookshelf speakers I have right now are not going to cut it. I do have the SVS SB-12 sub,so I have that covered. I also would like to use a real surround sound speaker this time for the rear. Right now I have around $4500 to spend. System is used for watching movies,do a little videogaming and also listening to some music. Little bit of everything. What should I take a look at?
PSB Imagine T (for left and right fronts) @ $2K, Imagine C (center channel) @ $800, and PSB Imagine S for surrounds @ $1,200 should get you there for $4K at list. You should be able to get a little bit better than that when buying from a dealer or an online retailer like Audio Advisor. If you are willing to buy used, then I would go one step up in the PSB line to the Synchrony 2s with their matching surrounds and center channel. I would also check out JM Focal Lab speakers: Chorus 726V towers @ $1,700 a pair, the CC700V center channel @ $495, and 706Vs @ $650 for surrounds will get you a very decent surround system for roughly $3K at retail. You can step up their line to the 800 series in the Chorus line and still be in your budget roughly speaking. They all have matching subs in case you want to check those out eventhough you already have a sub for now. Good luck shopping.
I have been using a pair of magnepan MMGs for two years and love them. They are in a 2 channel system and used exclusively for music. You may be able to pair them with a subwoofer for movies and games. I do not follow home theater but they are great speakers for the money. (approx. $600.00)
Here's another suggestion that just came up on AVGuide.com: http://www.avguide.com/blog/first-listen-monitor-audio-silver-rx-surround-speaker-system
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