Wanna upgrade my onkyo HTIB, need suggestions.

[snowball_iv]

Ok i am a onkyo htib with the onkyo reciever ht 550. So i want a upgrade on the reciever either to the pioneer 1018 or the pioneer elite vsx01. But i want new front speakers any suggestions? I want floorstanding speakers cause i love watching my movies loud and i love the explosions. I can prolly spend about 500 to 700 for a pair. I know alot of people love polk, jbl, klipsch, definitive technology, but i don't know much about speakers your input would be awesome.

[gearyt]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=35062

IF you "love the explosions" you need matching front, center, and right and a BIG Sub !!

[snowball_iv]

Ya i read that, and i was just wondering on brand if someone had a preference. Like when i am lookin in the plasma section everyone loves pioneer, panasonic, and samsung. So i was hoping people would be telling me what speakers to buy.

[Driver_King]

Budget?

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by snowball_iv

Ok i am a onkyo htib with the onkyo reciever ht 550. So i want a upgrade on the reciever either to the pioneer 1018 or the pioneer elite vsx01. But i want new front speakers any suggestions? I want floorstanding speakers cause i love watching my movies loud and i love the explosions. I can prolly spend about 500 to 700 for a pair. I know alot of people love polk, jbl, klipsch, definitive technology, but i don't know much about speakers your input would be awesome.

Budget was listed.

Ya really need to go out and listen to some speakers and decide what you like. $700 a pair opens up some options.

[snowball_iv]

alright i will go listen to some speakers, the only bad news is i live in springfield, missouri so there aint to many stores except best buy and circuit city.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by snowball_iv

alright i will go listen to some speakers, the only bad news is i live in springfield, missouri so there aint to many stores except best buy and circuit city.

No Circuit City now...

If your Best Buy has a Magnolia that's a good place to start. You may also be surprised in that there are small hi-fi shops around- I have one right down the street from me and never knew about it for 4 years!

[Gohanto]

If you love explosions, then I would highly highly suggest going with a seperate sub instead of floor speakers (or in addition to, but with your budget two bookshelf speakers and a sub would be the best bang for your buck). Even floor speakers rated down to 20 Hz at -3dB (and it'd be hard to find floor speakers in your price range that would) don't hit the bass as well as a big sub could because the box is designed to accomodate several drivers when anyone can tell you subs require a LOT more enclosure volume to do their best. (Even Polk's $2500 LSi25 floor speaker only goes down to 30Hz and the people I know that own them have all signal 50Hz and below routed to their sub anyway)

Music lovers can get away with floorspeakers since it don't go that deep in most cases, but for loud movies you'd be missing out.

Shopping for subs can be more challenging that bookshelf speakers largely because the room plays such a huge part in how they sound. Always make sure you can audition subs in your house. I can make a couple recommendations though, if you can give me some information about your room. What are it's dimensions? Are their any large openings in the room? Any restrictions on the size of a sub?

[Djnx]

I recommend JBL, B&W and Yamaha.

[snowball_iv]

Originally Posted by Gohanto

If you love explosions, then I would highly highly suggest going with a seperate sub instead of floor speakers (or in addition to, but with your budget two bookshelf speakers and a sub would be the best bang for your buck). Even floor speakers rated down to 20 Hz at -3dB (and it'd be hard to find floor speakers in your price range that would) don't hit the bass as well as a big sub could because the box is designed to accomodate several drivers when anyone can tell you subs require a LOT more enclosure volume to do their best. (Even Polk's $2500 LSi25 floor speaker only goes down to 30Hz and the people I know that own them have all signal 50Hz and below routed to their sub anyway)

Music lovers can get away with floorspeakers since it don't go that deep in most cases, but for loud movies you'd be missing out.

Shopping for subs can be more challenging that bookshelf speakers largely because the room plays such a huge part in how they sound. Always make sure you can audition subs in your house. I can make a couple recommendations though, if you can give me some information about your room. What are it's dimensions? Are their any large openings in the room? Any restrictions on the size of a sub?

I just like the look of the floor speakers and i am sure i will buy another seperate sub sometime but that is just my budget for these next few months. I am set up in the basement in a townhouse, no windows. I just made up a simple paint picture of my setup. Just don't make fun of the pic.

[Gohanto]

Sounds like a good plan then. Same reason I bought floor speakers a while back actually.

For brands I would go with Klipsch (Rf-52) or Polk (TSI400), but the primary difference is going to be whether or not you like the tweeters on the Klipsch speakers since they're very bright.

[Baseball3]

Boston Acoustics is my choice.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Gohanto

Sounds like a good plan then. Same reason I bought floor speakers a while back actually.

For brands I would go with Klipsch (Rf-52) or Polk (TSI400), but the primary difference is going to be whether or not you like the tweeters on the Klipsch speakers since they're very bright.

I wouldn't limit just to Polk and Klipsch, myself.

Polk, Klipsch, Energy, eD, Jamo, Axiom, Infinity and many others, though possibly they're going to start getting out of your price range at that point. Listen to as much as you can. If you're really tight on your budget (like I was), Polk and Klipsch are great ways to get into nice sound.

[raw nerve]

Don't forget to check out the SVS scs-01 or the sbs-01 from www.svsound.com. After reading it's the best bang for your buck Plus if you like big bass grab a pb-12 and call it a day.

[Zman2k2]

Check out the Elemental Designs A6-6T6 Towers
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...products_id=96
and their matching front.
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...roducts_id=616
Altogether, they fit inside your budget price, and I absolutely love mine. I ran them for about 3 months without a sub, and they still performed really well.

[Kai Winters]

I love Paradigm but you're not going to get a pair of floor standing speakers in your budget range.
I suggest you buy the best speakers you can afford in each category...fronts first, sub, then center, lastly surrounds. Fronts can act as a ghost center channel allowing for a better pair of fronts. The sub is so important for movies, etc. that I believe it is the next purchase. Center comes next for voices and mid range sound for movies, etc. Surrounds fill in and round out the experience making for a full sound stage but you can use a lesser costly pair of speakers here until you have completed your primaries.

Good speakers can easily last you well over a decade. That is one of the reasons for spending as much as you can on the speakers.
Electronics change more often, especially now with hdmi, etc. You many change the receiver every 3 years or so, especially if you want more power.

Whatever you purchase please make every effort to "road test" them first. Bring some favorite audio cd's, ipod, dvd movies, etc. to the shops where you are going to audition speakers and listen to everything. I usually also try to make sure the electronics the shop is using is similar to mine. If you are using an Onkyo 606 for instance and the shop is using a nearly top of the line seperate system to power the speakers will give you false performance. They may not have an Onkyo 606 but they will have something in a similar power range to give a more accurate performance test.

Most important...don't rush to buy...This is a buyers market so our money is very valuable on a buy such as this. Also give your ears and brain a chance to process what you have listened to before buying.
Good luck...speaker shopping is such fun...keep us informed.

[snowball_iv]

alright thanks for all the input, about 3 weeks ago, someone at best buy/magnolia showed me some bipolar floor standing difinitive speakers, and i found them 6ave for about 700. But i didn't if i should just get normal speakers that aint bipolar. But thanks again everyone.

[gearyt]

Originally Posted by snowball_iv

....showed me some bipolar floor standing difinitive speakers, ..

Big Daddy will correct me if I's wrong.. but I believe Bi-Polar are for surround not fronts

[Gohanto]

Originally Posted by gearyt

Big Daddy will correct me if I's wrong.. but I believe Bi-Polar are for surround not fronts

Definitive Technology makes them for front speakers. They're designed differently than surround bi-polar speakers, but it's difficult to describe.

[gearyt]

Originally Posted by Gohanto

Definitive Technology makes them for front speakers. They're designed differently than surround bi-polar speakers, but it's difficult to describe.

where would they throw the sound field ??