DrRoy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I have posted earlier that late last year, I upgraded my 1970's stereo system with a new Rotel integrated amp, KEF speakers, and an REL subwoofer. My music listening experience has been totally transformed for the better. I wondered if the same opportunity might be available for our home theater system too. We have a low/mid Onkyo 5.1 av receiver TX-NR696, small Harmon Kardon front speakers, a 3 driver Sony center speaker, and single driver Sony rears. The subwoofer is a Sony SA-WMSP4. I was prepared to consider a Marantz Cinema 50 and KEF speakers, that would likely add up to $5-10K for a major BTD.
To get a feel for the potential improvement, I played a movie soundtrack on my new stereo, and then on the home theater. I was expecting a huge difference, like with the old and new stereo, but frankly, the difference was there, but rather modest. DW had the same reaction. The potential improvement did not seem nearly like $5-10K worth. Another part of the consideration is that we think that much of the potential improvement would only be apparent when we watch movies rather than typical TV programs, which we do not do a lot. Most of the difference in my test seemed to be in the bass. That gave us the idea of perhaps just replacing the subwoofer. After research, our candidate for replacement is the SVS PB-1000 for $850.
Last night while watching regular TV, I noticed that the existing subwoofer was only set to about 2/3 of the output range. I raised it to 5/6, and we could hear some difference. Now we wonder if we need to change the system at all. I solicit the community input on this.
To get a feel for the potential improvement, I played a movie soundtrack on my new stereo, and then on the home theater. I was expecting a huge difference, like with the old and new stereo, but frankly, the difference was there, but rather modest. DW had the same reaction. The potential improvement did not seem nearly like $5-10K worth. Another part of the consideration is that we think that much of the potential improvement would only be apparent when we watch movies rather than typical TV programs, which we do not do a lot. Most of the difference in my test seemed to be in the bass. That gave us the idea of perhaps just replacing the subwoofer. After research, our candidate for replacement is the SVS PB-1000 for $850.
Last night while watching regular TV, I noticed that the existing subwoofer was only set to about 2/3 of the output range. I raised it to 5/6, and we could hear some difference. Now we wonder if we need to change the system at all. I solicit the community input on this.
