Starting First Surround

-LG

Hey , I joined this forum hoping to get some good input from ppl who know polk products! I am not a complete noob when it comes to surround and speakers , but definitly have much to learn.

I am looking to build a surround for my Living Room. It is a fairly large open concept with hardwood floors. Ive decided to improve the stereo set up

Right now i have for speaker
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/rt35i/

and for an amp http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/support/Audio/Technics-Audio-DJ/Technics-Receivers/Technical-Specification/model.SA-DX950.T#ts

I am hoping i can still use what i have , as it has served me well and has barely been used as is, so its all in good shape. So what i am wondering is , would a current polk center speaker go well with my speakers? will my receiver really be holding me back from getting the most of my system? should i just ditch the idea of keeping the speakers i have and get something like this http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/polk-audio-home-theatre-speaker-system-rm6750/10077799.aspx?path=3451c9d4ce081e893ad79f9825660824en02

any input would be good! thanks

Agent

For that price you are better off getting a pair of RTi8s from polk direct off of ebay. HTIBs, while nice, will never get you the kind of sound you are looking for. Do it piece by piece if you have to. You will be much more satisfied in the end. A Pair of RTi8s and a CSi3 will run you about the same price and provide a much better system imho. What kind of sub do you have?

jenksu

IMHO, when you start thinking about a surround system, alot of things are going to take place. Educate yourself on home theater setups, from 5.1 - 7.2. If you are on a budget, start off with home theater in a box, to acquire all these speakers. Then when you start getting hungrier for more of a powered sound. You now start upgrading speaker components piece by piece, when you get the chance. Even do your homework on audio receivers, newer models today have HDMI connections (yours doesn't). Now if you are watching blu-ray movies, you want a receiver that can decode the different audio signals from those movies. Because blu-ray movies have TrueHD or DTS Master audio HD. If your not watching blu-ray, then stay with your current receiver until you do invest in blu ray. Your current receiver only decodes 3 audio signals (Dolby Pro Logic/Dolby Digital/DTS Surround). Do your homework on a audio receiver that can decode current and the others together I've mention. In time you will have your complete home theater system you always wanted. Good luck!!!

wutadumsn23

I am with Agent on this one, at $600 for a HTIB, you are better off putting together your own system. Esp. if you have a large area to fill. You may have to stretch your budget a little, but it can be done. I would look into the Monitor series, esp. the Monitor 70's and 60's, very good deals to be had on those. Get yourself a CS2, some Monitor 40's for surrounds and a PSW505 sub and you will be in buisness. Newegg has the best prices around on the Monitors and even at the current price of $229 ea. for the Monitor 70's, they are a steal. They occasionally will put them on sale for around $180 ea. so keep an eye out here in the deals of the day thread as I, or someone else, will usually post a link if they do go on sale. The Monitor 40's are $150 a pair, but they ocassionally go on sale as well. The CS2 is $130, and again, they will go on sale. The 505 is $250, but will drop down to $230 at times. All said and done you are looking at around $900, which is a little over your budget, but it will be 1,000 times better and you won't want to be upgrading any time soon, as I fear you would if you went the HTIB route. If you get them on sale you can probably save around $100-$200 (esp if you get Cherry as they go on sale more often) Just my opinion, but it is up to you.

-Jeff