Time to upgrade from my polks

neokeelo

I have been using the system in my signiture now for about 5 years.
I really love it but I am fortunate to have a nice job now and since I built a home theater for my dad, he is going to pay me for the speakers and gear. altogether I will get around $1900. $800-$1000 of that will go into a new 1080P projector later this year. The rest goes into speakers and components.

That leaves me with around $1000 but I want to upgrade so I am going to spend another $500. so thats $1500 for new set of 5.1 and receiver.

I want something that will give me better performance that what I am using now and since you guys know these speakers pretty well, I need your opinions. What do you recommend that will give me a jump in performance over what I am using currently?

wutadumsn23

With a budget around $1,000 to $1,500 you should be able to get a decent set of entry level gear. Depending on what you are going to use it for primarily HT or 2 ch. I would go with either the Monitor/TSi series or possibly even the RTi line as well. The monitor series will probably be the easiest to get a 5.1 and a good entry/mid level receiver and come in at or under budget. The 70's I have are $229.99 ea. at Newegg with free shipping, put that with a CS2 center ($149.99) and a couple of Monitor 40's ($149.99) for your surrounds, and possibly a Polk Audio PSW505 at J&R for $249.99 w/ free shipping. Grand total $1009.95 for the 5.1 setup, which is a pretty good deal. Newegg pretty often has sales on the Monitor 70's and CS2 so it would be possible to get those at cheaper prices if you keep an eye out. They just had a deal on the 505 not to long back, but they are no longer listing it on their website, so I assume it is sold out. The TSi's are a newer version of the Monitors and are a bit more pricey, a 5 set of those would be around $1299.96 and then another $250 for the 505 (TSI500's, CS20, TSi 200). As for AVR's it depends on what you need it to do. If you want all the bells and whistles to include HDMI in/out, video upscaling, pre-outs for adding an external amplifier later on down the road, and the latest HD codecs, I would recommend the same reciever I have which is the Onkyo TX-SR806 for around $600 from Newegg w/ free shipping. You can also look into HK, Denon, and Pioneer as well, but I am not overly familiar with those models. The RTi line is a better speaker for HT from what I have heard, but they have a heaftier price tag as well, they start out at around $450 ea. for the RTiA5 and up to $850 ea. for the RTiA9's. I am a bit biased when it comes to my suggestions because it is what I have and what I know sounds good to my ears. I'm sure the guys will chime in with their suggestions. You will probably get a lot of suggestions to spend a little more on your sub and get an SVS, Epik, Velodyne etc, Those bad boys start out around $800 or so, so it's all in your budget. Just some ideas, all of the speakers I suggested can be found on Newegg.com, link provided. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

-Jeff

www.newegg.com

http://www.jr.com/polk-psw505-powered-subwoofer/pe/POK_PSW505/ link for the 505 at J&R

nguyendot

Would those speakers really be a discernable upgrade from what he has now? I would upgrade the receiver but honestly for the price you're talking about, the speakers are not going to be that much of a difference. Unless you're going to the Rti A series or the Lsi, I would just wait. What you have is very decent as is.

royalty

Check out polk's ebay store: Polk Audio Direct. The prices on there make the RTI and the LSI line quite affordable and in your price range. Happy Upgrading!

neokeelo

Those sound ok but I thought about switching to some other more mid range brands like definitive technology, Atlantic technology, Energy speakers, m&k, I know it would cost a little more but just how much more?

tryrrthg

IMO with your budget you're better off keeping what you've got. I don't think you're going to better it in that price range. I would upgrade your sub to SVS or something similar.

wutadumsn23

I was just making a suggestion based on the budget he gave us to work with. I didn't think it would be that much of an "upgrade" either and I though I put something in my post about that, but I went back and re read it and I obviously left that part out, lol. That was also why I put the info in there about the RTiA's but those are way out of budget, unless he finds them used or gets a good deal from Polk Direct. Twas just my $.02, I agree though, you may have to increase the budget for a real noticable dif. over what you already have.


-Jeff

SKsolutions

Biggest bang for the buck would be to change out your fronts and/or Sub. See what that does for you, and then plan the next step.

neokeelo

I think I found a decent deal on his one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6626564&type=product&id=1151658127752&ref=06&loc=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=6626564

Definitive Technology Supercube 2. Anyone have any experience with this sub? I think it should be a a lot better than my JBL.

kawizx9r

neokeelo wrote: »

I think I found a decent deal on his one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6626564&type=product&id=1151658127752&ref=06&loc=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=6626564

Definitive Technology Supercube 2. Anyone have any experience with this sub? I think it should be a a lot better than my JBL.

www.svsound.com or www.epiksubwoofers.com and www.hsuresearch.com and you'll be pleased

Unless you want more of a music-based subwoofer, there's always martin logan, and a variety of velodyne subwoofers.

Hawkeye

For your budget, keep what you have and invest the funds in room treatments and perhaps some comfortable furniture.

Gordon