New Receiver or New Speakers? Please help...

[Jordahn]

Howdy. Been a while since I posted here, but here goes...

I'm ready to upgrade my sound system to take advantage of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. But do I buy a new receiver or new speakers first? Here is my scenario...

I currently have a SONY HTD-DW840 Home Theather in a box. The receiver does 5.1 lossy audio with 100 watts per channel. All satellite speakers have a maximum 100 watt input at 85dB sensitivity. I'm thinking about buying a receiver that allows for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding or pass-through. And lossless audio format is always better that lossy. But will my 85 dB speakers hinder its performance? I know what sounds good to me is what's important. But with the given numbers, what should I do? New receiver or new left and right front speakers given a $400 to $500 budget.

[AcePunK]

This thread may help u out https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=71252

[Rob J in WNY]

Johdahn,

I was/am in your exact situation, except my receiver wasn't part of a HTIB. It was (and still is) a highly capable receiver at the time I decided to purchase it (back in 2001).

Although I cannot decode lossless as of yet, I opted to get my speakers more in order first, because even though lossless audio is truly pristine, there is this to consider:

The audio, as you have suspected, is limited by your speaker quality. Good quality speakers can make a more significant impact with the higher lossy DD and DTS bitrates found on BD than lossless processing through lower-quality speakers. Go for the speakers first, IMHO.

Of course, there is your budget to consider as well. You can certainly upgrade your front speakers decently (even nicely) for $400, and of course, the sky's the limit with speakers if you are so inclined. I would suggest trying to get all three of your front speakers (Left/Right/Center) "timbre-matched" if you can, meaning that the all come from same product line. This way, identical drivers are used, which yields consistent tonal quality across your front soundstage. In other words, you may want to invest in a new center channel as well, which, again, you can do for $400.

Check out my gallery photos. I just upgraded my front speakers to Polk T90e towers which I got from Newegg.com for $129.99 each. They still have them, and as of this writing, they are now $149.99 each. Here's a link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290112

Receivers offer a wide range, too. $500 in the receiver department can get you quite a nice one if you look around for the best deals. You can process lossless on a receiver costing quite a bit less, too. Just depends on how versatile you want/need your receiver to be, and what bells and whistles it has.

I cannot wait to get my hands on a new receiver (likely going to be the Sony STR-DG920), and I'm hoping to do that within the next couple months, as well as adding the back surround speakers for 7.1.

Speakers, man! Go for the speakers!

Good luck!

[Squozen]

Given the options, I would go for speakers first. I don't believe lossless audio would be nearly as impressive without larger, more capable speakers.

I say this all the time, but invest as much as you can on your speakers as they will last you a couple of decades at least if you look after them. If that means waiting and saving for a couple of months to afford a $1500 pair instead of a $500 pair, so be it - in just a year's time you will have forgotten about the extra cost but still be revelling in the better sound quality.