hi im a newbie to this forum so any advice will be appreciative. Okay now onto the main, i'm going to be upgrading my current (sucking) system (RCA reciever and KLH speakers LOL). I know i know. But i've been researching for the past few months and ive come down to the Marantz SR5500 for the receiver because 60% music and 40% movies and my budget is $600 for a receiver and it fits perfect into my small budget. Now onto the speakers...this is what i've gathered. I'm planning on ususing Paradigm Atom's for my front and Cambridge MC500 for center & S200 for surrounds plus a sub (dont know which one yet). How will this combo work? Will it be too harsh and bright or will it work fine?
i would buy what ever paradigm center speaker matches the atoms. the most important speakers in a HT setup are the from three the center being the most important. the matching is important because if the speakers are designed differently you may notice a difference in sound in the front sound stage, such as a sound moving from left to right would have to go from left speaker to center to left speaker. if there is a difference in speaker design it will pop up and ruin the experience. the marantz is an exellent choice and i am sure you won't be disappointed with it.
That would be the Paradigm CC170 for the center. This advice is unsolicited but I would go for the Paradigm Focus front, Atoms back, CC270 front, and PDR12 sub. If you want to stay in the Paradigm Performance Series. I used to have a Performance series home theater speaker setup with a Marantz SR5400 receiver and I enjoyed it. I also used to have a Paradigm Reference Series Home theater but that's another story. I now have a combo stereo/home theater setup with a Marantz SR5400 as a movie sound processor. Now I'm using Paradigm Monitor series speakers. Click on my name to see the whole setup. It's all used together in one system. Point being that I think you will be satisfied with you your choices as both Marantz and Paradigm represent excellent value.
the reason why i chose those speakers was im on a tight budget of 600 for the spaekrs and 250 for the sub. so i dont kno what kind of good speakers i can aqueeze in with that amount.