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I’ve got a Sony 65” tv hooked up to a Pioneer VSX 1020 hooked up to a pair of Polk Monitor 70 (bi-amped). I use those with AT&T U-verse; AppleTV; PS4 and a rarely used Panasonic Blu-ray player. I do stream Vudu and Netflix through the TV. 

I haven’t run out of HDMI inputs. So that isn’t an issue. Is it worth upgrading the receiver? It isn’t WiFi enabled so I guess I’m missing on some functionality.

I don't have a way to run cables to rear speakers and even if I had rear speakers I don’t have shelves to put them on and not interested in wall mounting or running cables through the walls. 

I am interested in adding a center speaker and maybe some small front speakers and maybe a wireless sub (I assume that exists).

The living room is near the back porch so I would be interested in setting up a set of wireless outdoor speakers in a second zone  

 

suggestions for for a recover and speakers? Budget $1000.

 

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PSA-get on the frys promo code email list. They have really good deals everyday. 

When I bought my LG 65” 4K tv they were like $1200 everywhere. 

Frys was $1199, with promo code it was in sale for $899, then for $150 off that with another promo code. 

I was going to do a soundbar but now I’m going to get a nice receiver and some Klipsch towers/sub and call it a day. 

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The wifi receiver would really only add streaming music and app control so is that worth $500? If you were running low on HDMI inputs or wanting to upgrade the system to Dolby Atmos or DTS:X then I'd say definitely. For $1000 though, you could get a pretty good sub and center speaker

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Thanks. I might do just that. Focus on a center and a sub. Upgrade the receiver later. 

I was thinking Klipsch since I’ve had good luck with their computer speakers in the past and they seem to have consistently good ratings. Any others I should look at?

Edited by GottaB
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I bought this subwoofer about a year ago.  It is relatively small but sounds great.

 

I have Sonos and wired in-ceiling/in-wall Polk speakers (MC85s (Center and Front) and some RC 6 (surround and kitchen/living room).  They aren't expensive, are polarity matched and sound great (non-audiophile for sure).  The Sonos is connected to my receiver for the surround sound.

Edited by Jimbaround
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For a decent sub on a budget, I'd suggest a Dayton Audio Sub 1200 from Parts Express.  They do a great job for the low end in movies and a surprisingly good job at music.  I have had mine for the past 10 years and it has been excellent.  I have Klipsch Reference RC52 (Center) and RB51 bookshelf speakers in the front and four Yamaha 8" speakers in the ceiling for the surround and rear surrounds.  Everything sounds very good, but I cheaped out on the surrounds.  What I have sounds good, but I'm sure there is better.  But I spent most of my budget on the three front speakers.

Edited by dcbc
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1 hour ago, dcbc said:

For a decent sub on a budget, I'd suggest a Dayton Audio Sub 1200 from Parts Express.  They do a great job for the low end in movies and a surprisingly good job at music.  I have had mine for the past 10 years and it has been excellent.  I have Klipsch Reference RC52 (Center) and RB51 bookshelf speakers in the front and four Yamaha 8" speakers in the ceiling for the surround and rear surrounds.  Everything sounds very good, but I cheaped out on the surrounds.  What I have sounds good, but I'm sure there is better.  But I spent most of my budget on the three front speakers.

Yeah, I cheaped out on my in-ceilings too, but we were already way over budget on our remodel and they were cheap enough that when I want to upgrade it won't be a big deal at all (plus, the sound just fine for what we use them for).

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Surrounds don't have too tough of a job.  The Yamahas I have are pretty good.  They're 3 way speakers, angled directionally, and have good clarity and range for the price.  I just looked them up and the reviews are extremely good.  So I might have to stop apologizing on the subject when I suspect people have higher standards.

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I am new to all this home theater stuff.  Maybe some of you remember the thread I did about the movie nights I have been doing for the kids in our little community.  Anyway I got an old Onkyo system and put it in the training center.  It works pretty well for recent stuff, but when i show older flicks like American Graffiti, things sound pretty muddled. 

Any suggestions?  It's an HT-R530, and it's all RCA, Red/Blue/Green, and S video, no HDMI.    I am running it through an old Epson Projector through the S video, but the picture is considerably worse than using computer and HDMI. 

Plus it is a pretty old receiver, so I am not to proud to say if anyone is tossing something better than I have, then we'd gladly take it. 

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I think I am going to start with the klipsch RP-440 center speaker.  

Then look at a sub, maybe the Dayton mentioned above.  I'm still considering a wireless setup for the sub and placing the sub near the back wall as I don't have a lot of room near the TV/Receiver or along the sides. of our room.

  I'll watch for a steal in the Frys flyer on a receiver.  Probably a Denon with the latest capability for future proofing.    I'll keep running the Polk Monitor 70s until they can't keep up.  

Thanks SurlyMafia

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50 minutes ago, GottaB said:

I think I am going to start with the klipsch RP-440 center speaker.  

Then look at a sub, maybe the Dayton mentioned above.  I'm still considering a wireless setup for the sub and placing the sub near the back wall as I don't have a lot of room near the TV/Receiver or along the sides. of our room.

  I'll watch for a steal in the Frys flyer on a receiver.  Probably a Denon with the latest capability for future proofing.    I'll keep running the Polk Monitor 70s until they can't keep up.  

Thanks SurlyMafia

Make sure your receiver can handle 4k if you're going to future-proof it.

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1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

I am new to all this home theater stuff.  Maybe some of you remember the thread I did about the movie nights I have been doing for the kids in our little community.  Anyway I got an old Onkyo system and put it in the training center.  It works pretty well for recent stuff, but when i show older flicks like American Graffiti, things sound pretty muddled. 

Any suggestions?  It's an HT-R530, and it's all RCA, Red/Blue/Green, and S video, no HDMI.    I am running it through an old Epson Projector through the S video, but the picture is considerably worse than using computer and HDMI. 

Plus it is a pretty old receiver, so I am not to proud to say if anyone is tossing something better than I have, then we'd gladly take it. 

Is there a way to connect using other than S-Video?  From what I understand S-Video caps out at 480p.

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On 3/25/2018 at 10:48 PM, GottaB said:

I’ve got a Sony 65” tv hooked up to a Pioneer VSX 1020 hooked up to a pair of Polk Monitor 70 (bi-amped). I use those with AT&T U-verse; AppleTV; PS4 and a rarely used Panasonic Blu-ray player. I do stream Vudu and Netflix through the TV. 

I haven’t run out of HDMI inputs. So that isn’t an issue. Is it worth upgrading the receiver? It isn’t WiFi enabled so I guess I’m missing on some functionality.

I don't have a way to run cables to rear speakers and even if I had rear speakers I don’t have shelves to put them on and not interested in wall mounting or running cables through the walls. 

I am interested in adding a center speaker and maybe some small front speakers and maybe a wireless sub (I assume that exists).

The living room is near the back porch so I would be interested in setting up a set of wireless outdoor speakers in a second zone  

 

suggestions for for a recover and speakers? Budget $1000.

 

I have the same or similar receiver and polk speakers.  I don't miss the wifi, I have a wired line.  Before I ran that I used a power line network adapter.  The thing I did miss are apps and native bluetooth.  I bought the bluetooth adapter and can stream pandora or spotify to it but it ties up the phone or other device and you have to stay in range.  I recently added a Chromecast and that would have resolved the bluetooth issue as well.

 

So if you think a Chromecast would work for what you need to access then that may be a cheaper solution.

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Put the whole budget to the speakers and let your receiver be there is nothing wrong with it. Have you run the MCACC room correction on it?

Adding a sonically mismatched center to your L-R isn't a good idea. Sound pans across the front are going to change sonic signature between the L-R and CC.

Subs needs placement that don't end up in a null spot.  The easy way to find best placement is to put it in your main listening position and walk around the room to see were the best sound from it is and put the sub there. Don't assume you can just put the sub in the most out of the way spot.

I'm a big Ascend Acoustics fan. Jimmy Jazz can tell you some of the other high value speaker companies. SVS, Axiom, Q Acoustics, etc.  

For $1000 I'd put Ascend Acoustics 340s across the front. Then later on add a sub.  If you really want a sub now I'd go with Ascend 170s L-R, 340 CC, and the previously linked Dayton sub. Plus speaker stands.  http://www.ascendacoustics.com

If you're up for learning more then read up at AVS-  http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/

Edited by ShaggyBevo RIP
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8 hours ago, TexasEd said:

I have the same or similar receiver and polk speakers.  I don't miss the wifi, I have a wired line.  Before I ran that I used a power line network adapter.  The thing I did miss are apps and native bluetooth.  I bought the bluetooth adapter and can stream pandora or spotify to it but it ties up the phone or other device and you have to stay in range.  I recently added a Chromecast and that would have resolved the bluetooth issue as well.

 

So if you think a Chromecast would work for what you need to access then that may be a cheaper solution.

Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, or AppleTV should be able to perform that function as well.

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5 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Put the whole budget to the speakers and let your receiver be there is nothing wrong with it. Have you run the MCACC room correction on it?

I lost the MCACC mic when I moved. Don’t want to replace unless I really need to. 

5 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Adding a sonically mismatched center to your L-R isn't a good idea. Sound pans across the front are going to change sonic signature between the L-R and CC.

Sonically mismatched? I didn’t know that was a thing. I guess I get it but the Polk speakers seem pretty good. Would they be terribly mismatched from a Klipsch RP-450c center speaker? 

5 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

 

If you're up for learning more then read up at AVS-  http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/

Yep. Been poking around a little. There is a lot going on there. I feel like I need an interpreter

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18 hours ago, GottaB said:

I think I am going to start with the klipsch RP-440 center speaker.  

Then look at a sub, maybe the Dayton mentioned above.  I'm still considering a wireless setup for the sub and placing the sub near the back wall as I don't have a lot of room near the TV/Receiver or along the sides. of our room.

  I'll watch for a steal in the Frys flyer on a receiver.  Probably a Denon with the latest capability for future proofing.    I'll keep running the Polk Monitor 70s until they can't keep up.  

Thanks SurlyMafia

Since I had an attic above our media room and already had run wiring for the rear speakers in the ceiling, it wasn't a big deal to do a long mono rca cable run up into the attic and down the wall in the rear.  I put wall plate connections on both ends and it works great with the sub in the back left corner of the room pointed at the wall.

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17 hours ago, Jimbaround said:

Make sure your receiver can handle 4k if you're going to future-proof it.

For those who already have receivers, it seems like the alternative is to run hdmi from the source and an HDMI audio return channel from the TV to the receiver. 

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4 hours ago, GottaB said:

I lost the MCACC mic when I moved. Don’t want to replace unless I really need to. 

 

I can probably find mine and mail it to you but all you need is any mic with a long enough cord to get to your seating location.  

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1 hour ago, dcbc said:

For those who already have receivers, it seems like the alternative is to run hdmi from the source and an HDMI audio return channel from the TV to the receiver. 

Yup, this will work, but it won't it remove the ability for the receiver to control the audio and video input on the television (and remove any on-screen interface)?

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53 minutes ago, Jimbaround said:

Yup, this will work, but it won't it remove the ability for the receiver to control the audio and video input on the television (and remove any on-screen interface)?

Not sure.  When I set ours up years ago, I decided to make my receiver the switching system.  So everything runs through it, and there's a single monitor out to the TV.  So I'm never changing inputs on the TV.  Harmony remote turns on the TV, the receiver, the device in use, and the cabinet fans, then changes the input on the receiver. 

That works well because my current TV up there is an older Samsung 1080p full array LED, which still looks really good, but isn't 4K/HDR, etc.  At some point, I will replace it.  If I don't want to replace the receiver at that time, I"ll probably just run HDMI from the 4K streaming device to the TV, then run an optical cable from the TV back for sound since I don't think most of what I stream has HD audio anyway.  My receiver doesn't have an ARC.  But if it did, it seems like all I'd have to do is add a TV input change for the harmony for the 4K device that wouldn't be running through the receiver and the HDMI monitor out to the TV.

Sounds like you're using some sort of HDMI handshake through the receiver and the TV to switch inputs on the TV when a certain receiver input is selected.  We do that on all of our other TVs that don't have an additional sound system so that when we hit the home button on the Fire TV remote, the TV turns on. 

Edited by dcbc
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6 hours ago, GottaB said:

Sonically mismatched? I didn’t know that was a thing. I guess I get it but the Polk speakers seem pretty good. Would they be terribly mismatched from a Klipsch RP-450c center speaker? 

All speakers have their own sonic signature which is why you should try to stick with the same manufacture and line for L-R-CC.

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Yeah. Someone in a Klipsch Facebook group explained it a little more. 

Im now leaning toward selling the Polks and getting a center and a couple of bookshelf speakers, the smaller klipsch RP250 center speaker and a couple of RP150 bookshelf speakers and pick up a sub down the road. 

Edited by GottaB
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33 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Have you actually listened to the Klipsch or any other speakers? 

 

Do you not like them?  I have the RC series form about 7 years ago and have found them to sound good.  That's not to say they are the best thing ever, but I have a theater set up on an open landing.  So it's not like I have room within a room sound proofing with huge screens and everything top of the line. 

I saw your ceiling speaker recommendations above and made a note of them if I ever want to go top of the line with that aspect of my setup. 

I guess my question is do you think Klipsch is overpriced crap?  When I bought mine, they were pretty well reviewed on AVSforum.  I don't live somewhere where I could (at that time) sample Klipsch and better speakers.  But I've been happy with them.

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14 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Put the whole budget to the speakers and let your receiver be there is nothing wrong with it. Have you run the MCACC room correction on it?

Adding a sonically mismatched center to your L-R isn't a good idea. Sound pans across the front are going to change sonic signature between the L-R and CC.

Subs needs placement that don't end up in a null spot.  The easy way to find best placement is to put it in your main listening position and walk around the room to see were the best sound from it is and put the sub there. Don't assume you can just put the sub in the most out of the way spot.

I'm a big Ascend Acoustics fan. Jimmy Jazz can tell you some of the other high value speaker companies. SVS, Axiom, Q Acoustics, etc.  

For $1000 I'd put Ascend Acoustics 340s across the front. Then later on add a sub.  If you really want a sub now I'd go with Ascend 170s L-R, 340 CC, and the previously linked Dayton sub. Plus speaker stands.  http://www.ascendacoustics.com

If you're up for learning more then read up at AVS-  http://www.avsforum.com/forum/89-speakers/

Listen to this man, all great advice. I'm also a huge fan of Ascend Acoustics. I have a pair of Sierra-2's up front and a pair of CBM-170 SE's for my surrounds, then a Rythmik LV12R for my sub. I've been contemplating getting either another Sierra-2 for my center or going big and getting the Horizon center. I would need to adjust my setup a bit to fit either one under my tv. Might need to build a riser or something to give enough space.

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I recently replaced some of my stuff. Went with a Denon AVR930h receiver and a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 686 S2 bookshelf speakers. The sound is great.

I have a Paradigm center channel that isn't even hooked up. Not sure it would really add a whole lot at this point. The only thing that might help is adding a sub. Previously had a Paradigm sub but it went out on me and I haven't made an effort to replace it.

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2 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

Have you actually listened to the Klipsch or any other speakers? 

Have I ever listened to Klipsch speakers, yes.  I have owned Klipsch computer speakers.  They were awesome.  And have been to a house that used Klipsch in their setup.  Have I listened to these yet? No. But I will before I buy.  But if I don't come up with a solid leading candidate that would suffice before I go, I'll end up leaving spending too much money without doing research and regret my purchase later.  

 Along those lines, I like that the Klipsch I am interested in are available at stores near me (Frys, A&B TV, Best Buy...ok these aren't at BB) and online from multiple distributers.  With those options, I can get a price way below MSRP.  These are positives when buying especially if I ever to need to replace a unit or add to the set.  

I looked at the Ascend Acoustics website and they seem fine, but I'll admit the 1990 website is a bit of a turnoff.  Also, I have never heard of them so I am a little trepidatious.  I'm not ruling them out, but I'm not sold yet.  

SVS subs get a lot of love on avsforums.

I do appreciate all the responses here, I've already saved hundreds by not buying things I initially planned on buying (receiver and wireless sub) and focusing on the right things (getting matching center and left/right speakers).  

I'll keep reading through avsforums.  It's making more sense.  Thanks for the strong advice.  

Edited by GottaB
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Definitely listen to the Klipsch as computer speakers are near field(no first and second order reflection of sound waves) and regular speakers aren't.

Ascend Acoustics is closing on 20 years old at this point.  No fancy website, nor buying any advertising, is how the Ascend delivers the sound quality at those price points.  The owner, David Fabrikant, was a top engineer at M&K before he started Ascend Acoustics. 

The questions we really haven't asked is what are you unhappy about with your current speakers and what is your  room setup like?

Edited by ShaggyBevo RIP
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So, this is the opposite of an ideal room. It’s a passageway between the tv and the couch. A half wall on the right and a slanted ceiling that slants up from left to right. And I use the system for movies 99% of the time. I’m trying to improve the sound and quality of movies I watch.

I feel like there are times when I’m either missing voices or just not getting the impact of the effects.

In my last house I had a setup with the two towers, two rear and a sub around a projection screen. I liked that better. I didn’t have a center speaker because I didn’t have room for a console or stand below the screen.

When we moved, I dropped the surround and the sub.

I was also concerned that my 10 year old receiver didn’t have the latest HDMI tech and I don’t have a wired Ethernet connection so I didn’t have WiFi control options.

My approach was to add the components that were missing (center, up to date receiver), and when the budget allowed, upgrade the existing stuff (towers).

In learning more, I realized that approach is flawed.

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That is really tough to work with. I would definite scrounge up a mic and run room correction, especially if it is still  set for your previous setup.

I would not spend big bucks on speakers for that space.  You've got baffle effect and first order reflections off both the tile floor and those side walls. Try pulling those speakers out until the back edge is on that grout line that runs across the front of the wall going into the master and throw a comforter on the floor half way between the speakers and your listening position plus throw a blanket over that step ladder to take out that reflection.  If it sounds much better don't spend money on putting better speakers in terrible positioning. If the sounds does improve then we need to help you with a good CC and sealed(acoustic suspension) monitors that won't be as effected by being in those bookcases.  I'm guessing there is no way the wife lets you get those bookcases out of there?

Edited by ShaggyBevo RIP
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If that is an Emerald home I think I lived in that same floor plan 15 years ago. That whole left wall is windows isn't it? Adding more reflections unless you've got heavy drapes to close when using your system.

That is a text book 'bright' room and modern Klipsch speakers with metal tweeters are already 'bright' IMO.

Edited by ShaggyBevo RIP
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