Ordered my new receiver! (STR-DA4ES)

[Jellodyne]

I finished paying off my TV last month, so I finally ordered my new receiver, a shiny new Sony STR-DA4ES... My current receiver, an old HTIAB Sony, is 'dolby digital ready' so has no onboard decoder of any sort, and the new one decodes pretty much everything, so this is a HUGE step up for me. Of course my speakers are all pretty much shit, so that's next once I get the receiver paid off. Once those are taken care of I'm sure my sub will start looking like the week point... and the upgrade wheel turns and turns...

[chlngr1970]

I I were you, I's upgrade the sub next. That, IMHO, will yield the most bang for the buck ( pun intended ) Then you can get a pair of fronts with a center, then a couple pair of rears....and you're set.

All for about 1500 if you shop arround with good quality speakers.

j

[Jellodyne]

I have a Sony SA-WM40, which was actually my first upgrade from the HTIAB. I recently stuffed with polyfill (it really does work!), and while it's not musical as all get out, but it shakes the room ok.

My speakers, on the other hand, are those Sony HTIAB 2.5"x1" things on 4 corners and the double-wide version of the same as the center. My plan is to upgrade the L/R mains to Axiom M2i's and the center to maybe an Axiom VP100. The M2i's are my best bet due to space constraints and they have the advantage of being able to become surrounds if I ever get the space for full sized floor standing mains. This tact gets me some quality speakers for music and dialog and allows my mains to migrate to the surround rear positions in a full 7.1 setup. I am of the opinion that the quality of your surround speakers are much less important as the quality of your front soundstage. Also, the fact that the Sony is a 7.1 system allows each of the 'crap' speakers to work a bit easier, as there's more of them filling the space.

When I do get back to working on my sub, I'm actually considering a DIY approach, or possibly just upgrading the driver in the '40 and driving it with an outboard amp through the high-level inputs. Of course at that point I might as well make a new enclosure as well, but a benefit here is that I can do the project in 3 individual, fairly low cost stages, each of which nets me some benefit.

[chlngr1970]

SVS is a best bang for the buck, hands down. I have never seen anything bad said about SVS, and have personally been very impressed with Chromys subs

j

[Jellodyne]

I'd love to go SVS, if it weren't for these spatial, monetary and wife acceptance limits.