Upgrade Time?

josh_parsons626

Hey all, I have a very **** Onkyo TX-SR503 which I'll never own another Onkyo as long as I live. But anyways I found out this website called 6ave.com and found a Denon 1506 with 75 x 7 same as my Onkyo BUT has PREOUTS! Hell of a big difference. And I really dont think my Onkyo is truly 75 watts. Anyways the Denon is $300 and has all the same features as my Onkyo and then some. My current system is Monitor 40 fronts, CS1 center, and Paradigm bipole's, Velodyne VRP-1200 is in pawn currently. Do you think the Denon will be better and be able to hold me over for a good 6 months to a year down the road till I can be able to afford an amp?

Cause then I'll get either a Rotel RMB-1095 5-channel amp or an Outlaw Audio 7700 7-channel amp. Then a little more on down the line I'll get the same brand pre/pro of whatever amp I'll get. I know as soon as I hook up the Denon, even on the junkie system I've got will be a noticeable difference right? But even once I hook up an amp there will be a HUGE difference. But when I get a dedicated pre/pro is there still a sound difference, even just a little bit? Cause if there isn't I'll just get that Denon and an amp, THEN work on my speakers.

But I wanna know what y'all think. Cause I listen to what y'all have to say more than any dumbass dealer trying to sale some piece of crap I dont want.

Holydoc

Josh,

Just to help you with your upgrade, what is the Onkyo not doing that is making you want to upgrade? You obviously have been having troubles with your current receiver. What are those problems?

I am asking this because if your receiver is clipping or shutting off, upgrading to the same power or to the same actual location may not help you.

Just a bit more information for me if you don't mind. I cannot make a good recommendation with my little brain with just that bit of information.

jegs

The Denon 1506 does not have preouts.

Early B.

That's probably a lateral move. Don't do it.

josh_parsons626

Ya know I'm sitting here looking at it and the 1506 doesn't have any pre-outs.

josh_parsons626

Hey all....what about a Harman Kardon 340? I know it's a little way too early to talk about upgrading because I'm not gonna purchase this until income tax which is what.....4 months away? But I'm just trying to get a feel for what I should do. Honestly, I feel like my receiver is the weakest link and that's why I wanna upgrade to something not so much as bigger but a clearer cleaner sound. Like what tommyboy was saying my fronts which his was Monitor 50's and mine are Monitor 40's "hiss". My LFE could use a little TLC but not too worried about that right now. I plan on upgrading to a good SVS anyways. Maybe, do you think I should go ahead and stick with my POS Onkyo or get the HK for $440? Or should I get like the CS2 instead of CS1, get 50's 60's or 70's for up front and push my 40's in the back? Or what about this...are my current surrounds on my back wall even though they're Paradigm where they're bipole better than having 40's in the backs on stands?

Tell me guys, what should I do about my dilemma. I'm starting this thing early because I'm also in the process of another project.....my 95 Cavalier. It has a blown motor and I'm in the middle of pulling the whole thing and Tranny too, tearing it down to the block and rebuilding it from the ground up. I know a sound like a crying little girl, but I'm having upgraditis and this is the first time I'm actually doing something about it besides when I first bought my system.

danger boy

josh_parsons626 wrote:

Ya know I'm sitting here looking at it and the 1506 doesn't have any pre-outs.

bummer... try again.. third times a charm.

danger boy

if you can bump up your budget a few hundred more.. it opens up some decent receviers... check the ones below.


http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/538550351

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=rec_hometheater&item=m1sr4001

on this last link.. hold your mouse over where is says in Orange.. add to cart that will give you the discounted price.. which ain't bad at all for this much receiver.

http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?sHist=12-125&Sort=lowPrice&Page=3&id=25469

josh_parsons626

Hey thanks danger boy. I'm gonna check into tomorrow applying for an online credit and see if I can get the Harman Kardon 435. I figure it's got considerable good power until I get an amp(s). And it's got plenty of digital inputs both fiber optic and coaxial.

Dennis Gardner

I wouldn't bother until you can really make a difference, especially if I had to finance. Your low level Onk for low level Denon/HK is a wash. I would hold out and save $$$ until i could get a Denon 3806/HK 640, then look into upgrading front speakers maybe RTi or LSi, then get the outboard amp.

Each upgrade should span across a swath of quality into the next components quality.

A low level receiver with preouts with a great amp is a waste of amp on Polk monitors, IMO.

Strive for balance.

Edit: after rereading your original post, don't take offense, but if you' got gear pawned, its no time for an upgrade, it time for saving.

MLZ

You might want to look at refurbished from the factory on EBay though none are on sale today. I saw a completed "Best Offer" of $350.00 for the 435 http://cgi.ebay.com/Harman-Kardon-AVR-435-5-1-7-1-Home-theater-receiver_W0QQitemZ150036150243QQihZ005QQcategoryZ39794QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I have been happy with the refurb receiver I purchased from them

MSALLA

josh_parsons626 wrote:

. Or what about this...are my current surrounds on my back wall even though they're Paradigm where they're bipole better than having 40's in the backs on stands?

Tell me guys, what should I do about my dilemma. I'm starting this thing early because I'm also in the process of another project.....my 95 Cavalier. It has a blown motor and I'm in the middle of pulling the whole thing and Tranny too, tearing it down to the block and rebuilding it from the ground up. I know a sound like a crying little girl, but I'm having upgraditis and this is the first time I'm actually doing something about it besides when I first bought my system.

The surrounds are only for effects It really dose not matter that they are a different brand. Your fronts & center should have the same tweeter.
Do yourself a favor and save some cash and buy one of the upper end recevers. I Cheaped out last time and am now paying the price.I just upgraded my recv. and wil most likely up grade all my speakers eventhough they are only one year old because I don't like them. Don't make the same mistake I did and spend money twice.

josh_parsons626

So....what y'all are saying is upgrade the gear or at least for now and THEN upgrade the speakers?

OK let's say after that. I'm fully confident I want a full 7.1 LSi system that consists of 15 fronts,LSiC center, LSiFX side surrounds and still not sure about 9's or 7's for back surrounds. Now, y'all know what I want after I get my gear and I start upgrading my speakers should I go ahead and get rid of all I've got to make way for my 15's and just stay with a 2-channel HT and stereo system? Or keep everything and upgrade one at a time. Like keep my whole 5.1 then like when I get the 15's do away with the 40's and so on and so on? I'm thinking about doing this....When I get my upgraded gear take my current setup and put it in our bedroom. But is that a dumb idea about the speakers, putting all of it in our bedroom as soon as I get my 15's?

What do y'all think about all these ideas?

Holydoc

josh_parsons626 wrote:

So....what y'all are saying is upgrade the gear or at least for now and THEN upgrade the speakers?

Josh,

Maybe I misunderstood what was being said in these responses, but I think the bottom line was that everyone recommended that you not upgrade your Onkyo for the Denon. I am not sure how you extrapulated that to mean upgrade your gear now? Everyone was giving you ideas on what a logical upgrade would be for your receiver if you decided to upgrade your receiver now. They were not saying you need to do it now.

Sounds to me that you need to sit down and make up a plan of attack. You state that you would like to get the LSi series. If you get them then you will need a decent amp to power them. If you need an amp then you will need a receiver that can accept an amp.

My recommendation would be to save up to buy a really nice preamp and amp combo. Notice I recommend to save up and NOT purchase right now. You buy something to just get you by now to replace later would just be wasting money. My reasoning to upgrade the receiver first is that this upgrade will at least make your current set-up sound a bit better and would allow you then to upgrade speakers at your leisure. Nice thing is that every time you upgrade a speaker, your system will sound that much better. I cannot make that same statement if you purchase the speakers first. This is mainly due to the fact that your current receiver does not have enough power to push the LSi's so your sound may not improve until you replace it.

My recommendations:
1. pre-amp & Amp combo
2. LSi15's
3. LSiC
4. LSiFX

Let me stress that this is just my opinion. I made these recommendations with the consideration that you may not have the funds to purchase an entire system in one swipe. By getting the pre-amp/amp combo and the LSi15's, you would be happy for a while since you would have a rocking HT system started and a killer 2-channel system now.

MSALLA

josh_parsons626 wrote:

So....what y'all are saying is upgrade the gear or at least for now and THEN upgrade the speakers?

NO, thats not it. This hobby as you know is expensive. You want high quality sound and that costs high quality bucks. Save your hard erned duckets and while you are doing that do some research and decide exactly what you want and need to get it. What are you going to use the system for? What works best for that application. Do I like warm, natural or bright sounding systems. Look into the different models and see what has a good track record for reliablity. (i.e.)I was going to buy the Denon 2106 and the salesmen told me that model had issues with breaking. Take your time and buy something you can have for a longtime.

josh_parsons626

Holydoc wrote:

My recommendations:
1. pre-amp & Amp combo
2. LSi15's
3. LSiC
4. LSiFX

Let me stress that this is just my opinion. I made these recommendations with the consideration that you may not have the funds to purchase an entire system in one swipe. By getting the pre-amp/amp combo and the LSi15's, you would be happy for a while since you would have a rocking HT system started and a killer 2-channel system now.

Hey I'm sorry y'all misunderstood me, but that's what I was gonna do was get a preamp & 7-channel amp combo probably from Outlaw Audio (990/7700) for right around $3,000. That MIGHT be around income tax time, but maybe not cause we're gonna try to use that and get a bigger place.

What do y'all think about that idea of when I get my preamp/amp combo to totally do away with what I got right now. Rather it be put it in our bedroom or sell it or whatever. And then go out and get the 15's and start with a 2-channel HT and stereo system. Then when I can afford the funds, get the center and then side surrounds. But which one do y'all think for the rear surrounds would be better - the 9's or the 7's?
Anyways do y'all think that idea is logical about doing away with it?

Dennis Gardner

I have had surround in a BR before and liked it, but I would rather have one killer system in the main media room financed by the sale of the lesser gear, than have to wait too long or have the main system be less than it could be due to funding issues.

I would do the following, since you asked for logic:

1. Fix the car, you gotta have mobility in todays world.
2. Move to a bigger place only if you have the $$$.
3. Look into maybe upgrading the main HT only when know what your new digs need (don't buy a thing until you know how it will fit your new place).
4. Do the BR HT only if all the others are covered.

I know it doesn't sound like alot of fun to do it this way, but financially your risk of mistakes are alot less.

To help you get by for awhile, and avoid the upgrade bug, realize that your current system is better than 99% of all the systems in the world already. Most people get by with Wally World gear or nothing at all..............

josh_parsons626

Wally World? OMG please dont tell me you just said Walmart? I work at Walmart and hate every bit of it. 4 PM - 1 AM unloading the trucks. It sux, take my word for it. But it just happens to pay the bills, BARELY. Anyways:

1.The car - it's just a project. I'm car crazy as much as I am HT crazy. That's my 2 big hobbies is fixed up 4 cylinder cars and an insane HT setup. It's not gonna be a big money damper at all. I'll junk it before I let that happen.
2.We're gonna move to a bigger place regardless if we have the money or not. Not intending to be a smart **** or anything. But pretty much the landlord is TRYING (key word) to kick us out.
3.I think I'm gonna totally unhook everything AFTER I can afford to go out and buy the 15's. And after I've already bought first my Outlaw.
4.As far as putting my current in our bedroom, my wife is not too thrilled about a HT anyways and I dont think she'll let me put it in our bedroom. But I'm gonna try anyways! LOL

MSALLA

Ya, those wives can be a real fun stopper.I tried to justify spending money on the HT by telling her the kids will love it when elmo is on, but that didn't woork to well.

surfntomm

i got the denon 2106 and its been working flawlessly now powering my rti70s csi5 and rti6..... id highly recommend it since you can get it for under 400 refurbed from an online store. you can also add a 2 year warranty for like 30 bucks in case you are scared that it will break. it sounds very nice and i was contemplating on getting a power amp to power my fronts but then realized that it would not be worth my money because i dont see how much better the sound could get and for it to be worth around 4-500 bucks seems not possible.

cfrizz

That's what I said until I got my first real powerful amp. Then I found out what my speakers could really do!

Sherardp

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Edit: after rereading your original post, don't take offense, but if you' got gear pawned, its no time for an upgrade, it time for saving.

Agreed, definitely not a good time for upgrading if you got gear pawned. Just hold off and get everything situated. Do one thing at a time. Again no offense but theres no rush into this. HT is always changing and is a never ending hobby, so enjoy what you have, get the sub back youre missing out on a big part of HT right there in itself.

Edit: Not to be rude but try to get a job at Best Buy or Circuit City part time, then you could get the huge discount on everything. That would be awesome.