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Fierce upgrade debate- 2.0 to 2.1 or 3.0?

post #1 of 5
2/4/13 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
I am currently having a debate with a coworker as to what the best upgrade would be to a 2.0 set up with two floorstanding Polk 65Ts.

These speakers would be purchased as money allows and not all at once.

He seems to believe the next best option would be two bookshelves speakers bring the system to 4.0. After that he thinks the next best option would be a center channel bringing the system to 5.0 and then finally a sub woofer bringing the system to 5.1.

I personally think the next best option would be the sub woofer, bringing the system to 2.1 I feel the floorstanders already handle higher pitches and dialogue fine on there own. After the woofer I would then get the center channel bringing the the system to 3.1. Due to the ergonomics of my room, I don't feel sattelite speakers currently make sense and that their forced positioning would not be ideal for their location, anyway.

I personally feel a 3.1 system is a strong basic set up for film and music but he heartily disagrees.

Opinions?
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post #2 of 5
2/4/13 at 11:47am
I can't say with any authority what is best, and indeed I think it's largely a matter of personal taste. I think that the closest I can come to an answer is that if I had to sacrifice one of center/sub/surrounds in my system, it would be the center channel. My mains do quite a decent job of creating a phantom center, and it's not an awful experience to do without it. I enjoyed 4.0 when that's all I had, and to this day I listen to music as 2.1 if it's a good recording.
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post #3 of 5
2/4/13 at 11:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TK423 View Post

I am currently having a debate with a coworker as to what the best upgrade would be to a 2.0 set up with two floorstanding Polk 65Ts.

These speakers would be purchased as money allows and not all at once.

He seems to believe the next best option would be two bookshelves speakers bring the system to 4.0. After that he thinks the next best option would be a center channel bringing the system to 5.0 and then finally a sub woofer bringing the system to 5.1.

I personally think the next best option would be the sub woofer, bringing the system to 2.1 I feel the floorstanders already handle higher pitches and dialogue fine on there own. After the woofer I would then get the center channel bringing the the system to 3.1. Due to the ergonomics of my room, I don't feel sattelite speakers currently make sense and that their forced positioning would not be ideal for their location, anyway.

I personally feel a 3.1 system is a strong basic set up for film and music but he heartily disagrees.

Opinions?

I would agree with you.
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post #4 of 5
2/4/13 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TK423 View Post

I am currently having a debate with a coworker as to what the best upgrade would be to a 2.0 set up with two floorstanding Polk 65Ts.

These speakers would be purchased as money allows and not all at once.

He seems to believe the next best option would be two bookshelves speakers bring the system to 4.0. After that he thinks the next best option would be a center channel bringing the system to 5.0 and then finally a sub woofer bringing the system to 5.1.

I personally think the next best option would be the sub woofer, bringing the system to 2.1 I feel the floorstanders already handle higher pitches and dialogue fine on there own. After the woofer I would then get the center channel bringing the the system to 3.1. Due to the ergonomics of my room, I don't feel sattelite speakers currently make sense and that their forced positioning would not be ideal for their location, anyway.

I personally feel a 3.1 system is a strong basic set up for film and music but he heartily disagrees.

I would tend to agree with your 2.1 suggestion, but if he were having troubles hearing dialog I could see where 3.0 might or might not be the better choice.

I recently migrated from 2.1 via a high level crossover with a 2 channel receiver to 2.1 via LFE from a new 5.1 AVR. There was a dramatic improvement in clarity including dialog due to the AVR doing so much a better job of removing bass from the front speakers which BTW had 7 inch woofers, not all that tiny. My front speakers are soffit mounted and there is a pretty strong phantom center channel.

I generally watch movies with my wife and she is generally not a big lover of loud sounds. However the 2.1 LFE migration made listening loud far more acceptable to her as well.
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post #5 of 5
2/4/13 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TK423 View Post

I personally feel a 3.1 system is a strong basic set up for film and music but he heartily disagrees.
Opinions?
It is about you, and not him or anyone else. Let the audiophile ego/egos pop - enjoy your system.
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