Hi, I have a question about my home theatre system. I have a Yamaha HTR-5640 receiver and my speakers are Sony SA-VE445H. I am considering changing the receiver or speakers or both. The speaker I am looking at are JBL 145.5 surround system with subwoofer.
Can anyone out there give some idea of what will match up best with what I have or the most cost effective way to get a more decent sound?
The most cost effective way to get better sound is to shop at a decent audio store (i.e., not a big box like Best Buy) where the people are willing to help you. Do you have such a shop in your area?
Thats not true at all, you can get very decent audio from BB or Circuit City, you just need to know what to look for.
You can get Klipsch, Jbl, Athena from BB and Infinity, Polk etc from CC.
If he goes to a "brick and mortar" shop hes is going to pay out of the butt and will get very little off.
The yamaha receiver is pretty good, I would get some speakers from CC for it and see how you like it. If you get a new receiver, you don't really need it because yamaha makes very good budget systems, but those sony speakers just plain suck.
so are you suggesting that you pay out the butt for Paradigm, energy, and mirage speakers that usually perform better than the brands you mentioned above, and cost roughly the same amount, or LESS?
A Paradigm atom speaker pair is only $220
You can get a complete paradigm HTIB for less than $500, and the dealers usually will discount between 10 and 15% as well.
My point is this... Don't dismiss the private retailers! You are ALMOST ALWAYS better off going there vs. a big chain. Check it out.
Either stretch your budget or buy a few pieces at at time:
Athena AS-B1s, 2 pairs for $200 shipped Athena AS-C1 center channel, $100 shipped from audioadvisor.com
Not sure if those Athenas might be a bit too bright with that Yammie, so you might want to try the Polk R15s instead, Fry's or Circuit City often has them on sale for $40-50 a pair, just get 3 pairs and use one of them as your center. The Athenas are better speakers of course but these Polks should tame the Yammie's brightness better.
Dayton 12" subwoofer from partsexpress.com, $145 shipped --- they might be out of stock temporarily, but this would be a huge improvement over any HTIB pseudo-sub. I have a JBL component sub (e150) and it already stinks to high heaven, so I shudder to think how much worse their packaged subs must be.
Unless you have a tiny little 10x10 room, I wouldn't get your hopes up about that JBL system.
Thanks for your comments everyone. So, from what I gather, my Yammie should be OK, but I should really do something about those crappy speakers. I will start shopping for them today. Once again, thanks.
A bricks and mortar shop supplies informed opinion and experience. It doesn't just shift boxes and this is important. Why? Because most people do not have a true appreciation of what is possible, how to set systems up, what a range of options there are available and which options work well together. This is why so many people end up changing their gear regularly.
It's particularly important when someone wants to upgrade off the bargain basement level.
I certainly agree with Frank and Gavin. When it comes to service and support the bricks and mortar shops are usually the way to go. Also, the owner is normally not too far away to approve a discount whereas the dummy in the chain store will just offer a vacant stare if you ask for the best price.