2. home-theater
  3. 1076256136

Where should I go next?

Hi all, I am relatively new to high end, and am building from the bottom up. Literally. I currently have an old Sony STRDE875, DD & DTS, 5-ch. I am playing through an all - Infinity speaker system, Entra One floorstanders L/R, Entra Center, Entra Two surrounds, and an Entra Sub.
I have started building by purchasing a Monster HTPS-7000ss, which although did extend my soundstage and enhanced imaging, detail, and bass response, has not had all that huge of an effect considering my front end.
I also recently purchased a Pioneer ElitE DV-47ai player, and am very very happy with the video performance (through a Philips 4:3 flatscreen, non-HD) as well as the multichannel performance. The stereo performance i really cannot gauge until i have upgraded my front end, but what i can hear in my system now is nothing short of spectacular (even the girlfriend could hear the diff) after my Sony DVD/CD player. I am running some hgiher-quality front cables that i recieved from a friend in the high-end industry, and am not sure what they are. I have Monster XP for surrounds, and a Transparent MusicWave for the center.

Where do I go next? How should i attack this system? I have been thinking a B&K Ref.50 / Ref 200.7 setup might be great, but am really open to suggestions from more experienced 'philes. I do want to build a system that is flat-out phenomenal for both music and movies, from power and speaker cables and interconnects on up to the speakers, which will probably come last - the Entras were cheap, and apart from an overly strong midbass response, are damn good for the cash - $1600 for the whole set F/Surr/sub.

I will purchase most of my equip off of Audiogon, used, and although i'd like to, cant afford the huge prices of Theta Digital or Levinson etc.

HELP! Where Do I go From Here? Any sugestions are welcome either here or on my email. [email protected]

THanks, JonBrown
breitlingdj

Showing 1 response by atagi

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atagi
98 posts
 
put together a home theater set up last fall using polk lsi15 lsic and lsifx i think i got them for around $2250 total new on closeout. also have a bk avr 507 which i purchased before mfg dropped the prices. after the price drop i think there is no question that the ref 50/200.7 is the best bang for the buck in ht. i think you should be able to get them both for less than 4k new. as for subs, svs and hsu are very popular, i have an earthquake mk1v 15 that i am very happy with. i think that this is a great set up for ht.
that being said, i'm not so happy with the system for music. a large part of my problem is because of limitations on front speaker placement due to the size of the rear projection tv and entertainment center and sidewall sofa. i think that with proper placement the polks can be great for music too.
i'm currently putting together my first 2 channel music system in another room, and finding that is much more difficult than ht. the synergy between components is alot more important vs. ht. i would demo whatever lines interest you with music as the #1 priority. also, figure out if you prefer dipole/bipole or mono surrounds as alot of manufacturers do not make dipole/bipoles. some manufacturers that i consider to make music 1st speakers are aerial, vandersteen, vienna acoustics, thiel , and tyler. aerial in particular seems to have alot of choices.
i don't know if it is economically feasable to use tubes for home theater although i love them, and if music is first priority you may want to consider subs more musical subs than the ones i mentioned above. many manufaturers make subs that blend very well with their own speakers.
hope this helps i'm rambling.

aloha keith
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