2. home-theater
  3. 182764-179433

My Home Theatre Room Challenges - Is It Worth It To Upgrade Speakers

I have a very nice 2-channel stereo room where I love to listen to music by myself.  I am happy with the equipment and set-up in this room (at least for now).

Our family room (on the other side of our home) serves as our Home Theatre room and my wife and I watch a movie in this room together almost every night.  We recently upgraded to a Sony 83" A90J television and we love the picture quality.  

I consider sound quality to be just as important as picture quality when it comes to watching a good movie.  The 5.1.2 sound equipment in this room currently features:

  • Yamaha RX-1080 Surround Processor
  • Paradigm Prestige 15 Front Speakers on stands 
  • Martin Logan ESL Center Channel
  • Polk PSW1000 Powered Subwoofer
  • Paradigm Millenia 1 Overhead Speakers
  • Polk In Wall Rear Speakers
  • Room size = 20' wide X 18' deep (no rear wall)
  • Ceiling Height = 20' tall

The room has two big challenges:

  • WAF is critical - this is our family room, having front speakers that sit 4' out into the room is not going to happen
  • there are two couches that sit directly between the Front L&R speakers and our two primary listening chairs.

I would love to make a big and impactful improvement in sound quality in this room. I am currently considering replacing my two front main speakers (Paradigm Bookshelf 2-way speakers with 6" drivers) with full-sized speakers.  I am considering speakers, like perhaps a nice used pair of B&W 803 D2's, with the intent to dramatically improve base and be able to better fill the large room with sound.

Question:  Will the two couches block the sound improvement that I am trying to achieve?  (Right now my bookshelf speakers sit on stands which allows the soundwaves to not be blocked by my couches.)   Does this upgrade of front speakers in my large room seem like a logical first step?  I would love to hear from someone else who possible made some similar changes.

Thanks!

hikerneil

Showing 3 responses by soix

soix
8,685 posts
 

I would love to make a big and impactful improvement in sound quality in this room. I am currently considering replacing my two front main speakers (Paradigm Bookshelf 2-way speakers with 6" drivers) with full-sized speakers.

For this, I’d simply add another sub. It’ll give you much more impact and even out the bass in the room. I really think that’s all you need. Look at something like an SVS SB1000 that’s not too big but still gets down to an honest 20Hz (-3dB) for only $400 with free shipping and a 45-day, in-home trial with free return shipping if it doesn’t work out. They also offer great customer service if you need help integrating the subs. Best of luck.

https://www.svsound.com/products/sb-1000-black-ash-outlet-1

soix
8,685 posts
 

Sounds like a very good plan.  I assume you mean the Premier 600C center speaker?  That should be a huge and impactful upgrade as the center is so critical to good HT performance, and Paradigm makes excellent center speakers.  Between that and adding another sub I think you’re gonna meet all your goals and be very happy with the results.  

soix
8,685 posts
 

Not sure why you’d pick this Rel over the SVS SB1000 Pro for HT. The Rel has a 200W amp and goes down to 30Hz -6dB while the SVS has a 325W amp and goes down to 20Hz -3dB. Both are about the same size and have high-level and LFE inputs, but the SVS also offers integration software and is $400-$500 cheaper depending on finish. Plus, SVS offers excellent customer service and offers a truly risk-free, 45-day trial including shipping both ways. I suppose if this was for music you could make an argument for the Rel, but for HT the SVS would seem to be a better choice given its more powerful amp and ability to go so much lower in bass. Lastly, for $50 more than the price of the Rel you could get TWO SB1000 Pros! At that point you could consider selling your Polk sub that also only goes down to 30Hz to offset some some of the cost of the SVS subs, and you’d now have two matched subs with integration software to make your life easier. Just a thought.

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