[NicAVS]

Hey

I currently have an HTIB setup consisting of an old Panasonic receiver with 5.1 and 5 little satellite speakers with 4 inch woofers. I've attached the spec of the speakers as per the manual.

I want to upgrade to a Denon X4000 receiver and also upgrade the speakers but my current budget is limited. I was thinking of upgrading only the front speakers (LCR). I will go with a DIY solution, a kit from DIYSoundGroup, either Cinema 8 or Special 88 or Cinema 10.

I could then use 4 of the old speakers as surrounds in a 7.1 setup for a while.

Do you guys think the satellite will get drowned by the bigger front state ?

The LCR will have at least 98db sensitivity while the old satellite are at 81db.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Montucky]

I'm sure you'll be fine since with that new Denon you're looking at, you can most likely individually adjust the sound levels for those surround speakers to make them match the fronts a little better. Now if you're starting to get distortion on those rears when they're experiencing higher volumes, then start talking about upgrading them too. It'd be worth a shot to see how they perform.

You're still on the right track by upgrading your LCRs first, though.

 

[Knucklehead90]

Spend as much as possible on speakers even if that means scaling back on electronics.

 

[afrogt]

big discrepancy in 98db and 81db speakers. The new Denon receiver should help you compensate but that is a wide gap.

Eventually you'll get better surrounds.

I also agree that you should spend more on speakers than the receiver.

 

[NicAVS]

I also agree that you should spend more on speakers than the receiver.

Good advice.

The Denon is last year model and I'm currenly looking at a used model for 700$ CAN (580$ USD), compared to 1,499 USD for a brand new X4100.

The speakers will run me at least 700$ just for the parts for the LCR. I would still need 4 surrounds (120$ each) and also a sub or two which I also plan to go DIY.

 

[NicAVS]

The new Denon receiver should help you compensate but that is a wide gap.

Thanks for this piece of advice.

Worst case scenario would be that the surrounds are in fact underpowered and I just need to deal with it and try to find the cash to buy matching surrounds sooner. I think this is better than choosing a lesser/cheaper speaker just to try to fit a full 7.1 system in my current budget.

I dont' always listen at critical level. Often time we watch movies with the kids and my girlfriend doesn't like it that loud anyway. So the surrounds would probably fit the bill at least 50% of the time. At least I hope.

 

[NicAVS]

As per the attached capture from the x4000 manual, the level for each speaker seems to be adjustable in the range of -12db > 12db.

I guess this is the kind of adjustement that was mentionned in some replys ?