Which speaker should I upgrade first?

I think the sub would make the most noticable and jaw dropping improvement.

Michael

Since you have a sub, I think this would be a
good upgrade order.


1. Fronts, (left and right)
2. Center
3. Better sub
4. sides, (left and right)
5. rears

The center channel speaker is the most important, it handles the majority of the work. That's where I would start.

THE SUB

Then, if you really are going to only replace them speaker-set by speaker-set, then obviously you would want to replace the center or the fronts. If you replace the center before the fronts, plan carefully. Don't buy a center and then decide you want another brand speaker for your fronts. In other words, once you commit to a center, you are committing to buying all the rest of the speakers that will match it, as well.

One thing to keep in mind upgrading your fronts is to get a matching center. If you cant afford to get all three at once or ust dont wanna wait call the company who makes you new fronts to see how long the center will be availble! The whole timbre matching thing is very imporant. I persoanly just watch movies 100% of the time so IMO idealy you want all 5 or 7 speakers to match, but unless multichannel music is your thing you can get away with the front three. My old center died so I replaced it with a MA center with my then Klipsch towers it was noticible differat sounding in movies with a strong front affect. I.E. I could tell that my center sounded differant. It was so anoying I bought new matching towers for the MA center and kept my Klipsch surounds that was all good...

Just somthing to keep in mind

I'd get the front L/C/R speakers at the same time. And OP, you can't determine how a speaker will sound by specs. Read reviews and most importantly, listen to speakers yourself.

You can mix and match but it takes some effort. You must make sure that the speakers share the same tonal characteristics, this is called timbre matching. To test this you can use an Avia calibration DVD.

No. And "technologically more advanced" doesn't really mean "sounds better" anyway. Like I said, go out and listen to as many speakers as you can. Preferably at boutiques instead of BestBuy's and Circuit City's.

For the money Ascend's are at the top for HT.
Great for musis as well.

I really like mine, and it was a tip from this
forum that got me to look at them.

Ascend has a good deal on 340's right now with
their recertifield 340's. That's what I got. They
also give discounts for package deals, as long
as all speakers are purchased within 45 days
they will give you the discount. That's what I
did when I added some 170's for rears.

Check out ascendacoustics(dot)com

best, Chris

If you are into music, listen to some of your favorite stuff and see where the system seems to be most in need of change. As others have also said, try to match the L/C/R from the same mfg. and while shopping think what a whole 5.x/7.x from the same people would offer you in the future. I think the sub can easily be from a different company. If it's movie sound that you're going for, you might want to pick some favorite scenes for your test. Initially, just listen to your system. Find out what you like and what you want to change. Take your time to do it right to minimize regrets.

YMMV

No. It can be useful for comparison of the speakers' very general overall capabilities, but it won't tell you anything really about speakers' actual sound or performance.



As pointed out, the idea is that you want the speakers to be 'timbre-matched' ('timbre' is sort of like the overall tone of the speakers). The best way to assure this is to purchase speakers from the same manufacturer and within the same model line.



No. As I said above, it can be useful to get a very general idea of the speakers' capabilities, but it is really not useful for determing which speaker is 'better'.



I'd stay away from MTX, too. Polk and BA are good speakers for you to be considering. I don't know what your budget is or which models you are looking at, so...........................


As many have told you, the way to decide upon speakers is to listen to speakers. You wouldn't shop for a car without ever having even driven it, would you?

What I did when I upgraded was to purchase my future rear speakers (they were going to be bookshelf speakers) and center channel at the same time. When I did this, I used my bookshelf speakers as front speakers. (and my old tiny speakers as rear channels)

When the funds came together to purchase front speakers, I moved my current front bookshelf speakers to the position I purchased them for - as my rear speakers.

That way I was able to replace my front 3 speakers at the same time and later, purchase the more expensive tower front speakers I wanted.

While you will see an improvement with replacing the front stage, I still feel for home theater - the most important (not most used, but most noticed) speaker is the sub.

Michael

Those Boston Acoustics are probably better than your current speakers and are available at a good price right now becaue they are probably going to be discontinued or because CC is going to quit selling them. Those Polks are probably not that much better than you current speakers.

Again, I'd get a real sub, first. Compared to your subwoofer, your speakers will be sufficient for now.

for most in-store brands, you are going to pay 50% of the price to retailer.

as a result of cutting out this middleman, the internet direct brands will typically provide much better performance for the money.

good luck.

I see you have Athenas and a Paradigm subwoofer. Do you know this about ID speakers first-hand? I've tried some highly touted ID speakers and thought they sounded like A55. That is not to say that they ALL do. Some may sound great and may be a great deal pricewise compared to B&M speakers. But my point is that there is, not surprisingly, a lot of internet hype on the internet regarding internet-direct speakers.

As I pointed out, the BAs he is considering are being offered at a really good price right now. That is not to say that there is not a better ID speaker that costs the same or less. Only that it IS a good deal for those speakers.

The Polk Rti4 is a better speaker than the Monitor 30 and can be had for $175/pr.

If you have frys nearby they go on sale from time to time $150/pr.

Rti4's sound awesome.