Upgrading speakers in the Onkyo HT-S3400 set?

Budget?

Room size?

What will you be listening to and how much of each?

Thanks.

If you want better mid-range, look at larger full-sized bookshelf speakers, such as the Polk Monitor40s and matching center. Sign up for Newegg's mailing list. They run specials on different speakers in the Polk Monitor series every week.

In your budget range at Newegg, look at the Polk Monitor series for speakers.

As for Audyssey, using the mic with Audyssey 2EQ and MultiEQ enabled receivers allows Audyssey to measure the speakers' response in a room and apply EQ filters, which is very helpful. You don't have those features. Just Audyssey Dyanamic EQ and Volume EQ. If you can live without those features, I wouldn't worry about it.

And you have a standalone receiver. It's just a bottom barrel one. Stick with your receiver for now since you're on a tight budget and it being spent on speakers will give you the biggest bang for the buck at the moment. And after you build up your speakers you can upgrade to a better receiver if that's what you want.

+1

Upgrade all your speakers and the sub before worrying about a new receiver

a suggestion for lcr $200 budget

a pair of bic fh65 b fronts $95 on amazon

bic fh6 center $119

then you can add a bic f-12 sub later just a suggestion

edit** sorry the bic fh65 are$95 for single speaker my mistake

I had the onkyo ht-s3300 same thing basically just yours is a year newer. I upgraded to bic acoustech speakers worked just fine , then i replaced the receiver as well .
your receiver that you have should be fine unless you want to replace your sub which then you will need a new receiver

Don't see any reason why loudness correction wouldn't still work your receiver doesn't know you switched brand on speakers. Yeah the bigger driver means a fuller sound than your current onkyo's, and tweeters handle the highs. 6ohm receiver with 8 ohm speakers is fine. You're actually making it easier on the receiver running those speakers. Only time you really need to be concerned with 4-6-8 ohm speakers on a non matching ohm receiver is with 4 ohm speakers on a non 4 ohm receiver. Even then there are some receivers that can run those. I find it astonishing if your onkyo's don't have tweeters, but anything is possible I guess. You're onkyo's probably have gaps in the midrange currently. You will notice the difference with the polks. Your all around sound should be much much better

A lot of people express their displeasure with Bose satellite systems for this very reason...the lack of tweeters in a speaker limits the range that the speaker can "express". So the Polk speakers not only have bigger drivers to get more range, but have tweeters that are designed to "express" high freq sounds will further improve the range of the speaker.
I own the polk M40s and they sound good, You might consider the M30s, them move them to the surround position when you upgrade again (and maybe get a set of M60s or 70s, with matching center of course).

I have no experiance with the onkyo loudness correction. I doubt it will only work with the packaged speakers I'm not sure how it would. So again I can't say for sure if the 6ohm rear vs 8ohm fronts would work with that feature with good results. But I'm betting loudness correction or not you will notice a huge difference between front and rear sound. But thats because of the speakers themselves, not the ohm ratings. I look at it like this even without loudness correction the polks will be miles superior.

The biggest problem with your surrounds is the low sensitivity. They are 80db speakers while the Monitor 40's are 89db. So it takes a whole lot more power to drive your Onkyo surrounds. The 6ohm vs 8ohms is minor compared to the sensitivity difference.

Just by upgrading all your speakers you'll notice a huge performance increase from your receiver.

I think you can still send test tones and manually adjust each channel level with that receiver. It would help if you got a SPL meter though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Range-Soun...item231a859936

the pioneers at new egg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882117403

the whole 7.0 set is $270 after discount

Parts Express B652's. Currently at $39/pr. Amazing sound for the money, or a whole lot more. Do a search, there are a number of reviews out there.

You will be fine. If for some reason it doesn't work(it should) you can just go with what afrog is saying and adjust them that way. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Afrog is also right about the sensitivity.

The b652's are nice but don't be mistaken. They are still $30 speakers. Would I build a surround system out of them if you can afford the polks? nope. But for cheap surrounds they're better than the onkyo's for now.

Unfortunately, tiny little speakers mean tiny little sound.

NHT SuperZeros Mini Monitors have 4.5" drivers. A little more expensive than you might have originally planned, but would they fit?

Also, what are the dimensions of your space for the front L/R and center?

[quote=cel4145;21824914]NHT SuperZeros Mini Monitors have 4.5" drivers. A little more expensive than you might have originally planned, but would they fit?



i don't know what your budget is now but the nht superzeros listed back in march would be great fit.

B652s may sound better as surrounds than your Onkyo front speakers, but if the latter will suffice in that role for a while, then perhaps you could wait a while, learn more along the way through experience, and then decide when and how to upgrade your surrounds.


Unfortunately, I believe that the Dynamic EQ function only works in conjunction with the room correction function, so if you can't use the latter, then you can't use the former. On the other hand, you could still try it to see how it sounds for low-volume listening (who knows?).


I can't guarantee anything, but I believe that superior speakers should more than compensate.


There certainly are, and they'll sound a lot clearer, more detailed, and more "transparent" (i.e. can't tell that the sound is coming from a speaker as much), but small size still limits their capabilities. Then again, since you tend to listen at low volumes, maybe it doesn't matter as much. I still prefer to be able to cross over the subwoofer at 80 Hz, however, and most tiny "satellite" speakers, even high quality ones, don't do this well, leaving it up to the subwoofer to handle some directional sounds (should be coming from another direction and you can tell something is amiss) and even some of the dialogue, which tends to sound bad (especially with a low-end subwoofer, of course).


Is your budget for the front speakers still $200, or has it "itched" up any since then?


In overall sound quality this would hardly be a downgrade, but these are still rather small speakers that are limited in their bass capability (even upper bass). In this example, you'd actually have to raise your subwoofer crossover to 140 or 150 Hz. Some people may not mind, but I for one find anything over 100 Hz a major compromise, especially with a low-end sub, and I prefer 80 Hz or lower because for all practical purposes it keeps deep voices out of the sub.


Wouldn't looking way upward be kind of annoying, too? Anyway, could you accommodate the shorter Polk Audio Monitor 30 and CS1? The total cost is $180 right now at Newegg.com.


These are great-sounding speakers (like all NHTs), but they're still rather light on bass. If $300 is alright with you, these will sound better than the Polks, in my opinion. They're well balanced in tone overall (bass output notwithstanding), albeit a bit "polite" in the way of dynamics. Given the choice, I'd take them over the other options listed thus far.

Among small speakers, one that I like even more, though, is the Ascend Acoustics HTM-200 SE. It's only a couple of inches taller than the SuperZero 2.0, and about an inch larger in both width and depth, but it has two 4" woofers, which gives it decent bass capability that holds up well in a medium-sized room at moderate volumes--you can even cross it over to the sub at the THX-recommended (and personally-recommended, for whatever that might be worth ) 80 Hz, no problem. It also sounds at least as good as the SuperZero--very detailed yet smooth in the midrange and treble, with clean bass. A set of three for the front costs $464, which is obviously significantly more than your original budget, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway because it's a relatively "big" speaker in a relatively small package (more future-proof if you ever decide to start playing them louder).


I imagine that you could, but like the vast majority of speakers of this basic configuration (tweeter over midwoofer), it probably has wider, more symmetrical horizontal dispersion (important for a center speaker) when oriented vertically as intended.

The HTM-200 SE, by the way, actually works best as a center when oriented horizontally, as its close-set midwoofers and offset tweeter effectively make it a tweeter-over-midwoofer (or "T/M" as I like to call it) speaker in that orientation. The left & right front speakers can also be oriented horizontally if you wish, or vertically if you prefer (in which case there is a specific left and a specific right speaker, mirror-imaged).


Maybe I'm biased myself because I've been using a vertically-oriented center speaker for the past several years, I'm not sure, but I do think there is a bias against them based on precedence (or marketing). OK, I get that it's not as aesthetically harmonious with the wider-than-tall TV, but on the other hand it goes very well with vertically-oriented left & right speakers, which is another way of looking at it.


I think you forgot to ask the question. At low volumes you could probably go as low as 90-100 Hz, but reportedly the SuperZero 2.0's bass output "runs out of gas" pretty quick. Its specifications say that it is -3 dB at 85 Hz, and I'm not questioning the measurement, but specifications alone don't always tell us everything about what a speaker can and can't do under actual use. Being close to a wall, as in your case, should help though.


Nope, not at all.


So am I. There certainly are other options, but it depends on what your budget is now (if it has changed over the past couple of months), as well as how large a speaker you can or would be willing to accommodate. Sticking with the criteria I've seen so far, here are a couple of other options worth considering:

Cambridge Audio S30 - Sold only in pairs for $220, people really seem to love this speaker. At low-to-moderate volumes, there is no issue with bass on this thing, despite the small midwoofer (reportedly very punchy for a small speaker). I haven't heard it myself, but based on anecdotes I don't expect it to sound as detailed or refined as the SuperZero 2.0 or HTM-200 SE, but it has certain qualities that have earned it quite a following. The center speaker that is supposed to go with it does not seem as impressive and it costs a lot more, so it would actually be a better deal to buy two pairs ($440 total) and sell the extra speaker, or use it for some other purpose (e.g. save it for surround use in the distant future if you ever have a bigger 7.1 system, or use it as a back speaker in a 6.1 configuration).

RBH AC-51 - Long discontinued, a few new pairs are still available here at a steep discount. The intended center speaker has a weird design, so as with the S30 (for different reasons) I'd recommend avoiding it. I don't know how this speaker sounds, but it comes from a reputable manufacturer and it's an MSRP $299/pair speaker going for $91/pair, so it probably sounds darn good for the money.

With the NHT, you can have a stronger and more productive center channel. Also, bigger drivers can throw a better radiation pattern.
The NHT is a solid choice - the midrange and treble, is really nice.