Can somebody please review my HT combination?

[cmsajith]

Can somebody please review my HT comination?

Following is my current audio setup (bought in early 2005)
- Onkyo Challenger (package : HTS 570)
Onkyo HT-S570 - 5.1-Channel Home Theater System | Model Information | Onkyo USA Home Theater Products
Receiver : Onkyo HT R320
Speakers : SKF-320F (Front)
SKF-320C (Center)
SKM-320S (Surrounds)
SKW-320X (Active subwoofer)
- Replaced the front speakers with Space india Floorstanders : TWR 6 (Product6)
- Replaced the surrounds with the Onkyo SKF-320F (front speakers from the package)

Following is my video setup
- 47" Philips PF 9541 LCD TV
- Philips DVP 5986 DVD Player

 

[particleman]

Is there any aspect of it that you are unhappy with? At first glance it seems like better speakers would further improve your experience. You already have a great TV and a pretty good AVR. Also, if you listen to music on it, a dedicated CD player would provide better music playback.

 

[cmsajith]

Thanks particleman for your response. It’s a common scenario that everyone will be pretty satisfied and happy with their current setup till they try some other setup. So in general, I just wanted this setup to be reviewed / compared with similar setups especially the speakers. In simple terms, I was just asking for suggestions from audiophiles for getting the max from the receiver in terms of both music and movies. And one more doubt, is there any noticeable difference in performance if I upgrade the AVR and the speakers (is there any need to upgrade)

 

[ranjeetrain]

is there any need to upgrade

Don't fix what ain't broken.

 

[particleman]

Don't fix what ain't broken.

Well put, change for change's sake would only be a waste of your money. If the system is performing satisfactorily then why change anything?

 

[cmsajith]

Franky speaking (not arguing), i am not much satisfied with the performance of my setup when i auditioned another setup. Lemme put my question straight away:

- If I replace the front speakers / the entire speakers with some other speakers like polk / wharfadale / infinity etc., is there any significant improvement in the performance (forget about my current setup). I had read lot of audiophiles telling / recommending X speakers are better than Y speakers... like that. Can somebody recommend the ideal set of speakers for the current AVR so that i can audition them to find the difference.

As particleman told, "At first glance it seems like better speakers would further improve your experience.", whether its going to give a significant performance improvement (may be i am using the wrong word, replace it with "significant improvement in sound quality") or in which way it improves the performance?

Don?t take this as an argument, I am just trying to find out whether choosing a particular setup than others (in the same class) makes an actual difference or is it in papers ..

 

[ranjeetrain]

Its a simple formula. You spend more, you get more. Of course if you upgrade your AVR or speakers or everything, you will get better sound.

 

[unleash_me]

Don't fix what ain't broken.

Really?!

In that case I would have been still stuck with my 80s Sony HiFi and Dynora TV. Both are still working fine! For that matter there is even a tuner that my dad built himself during the early 70s still murmuring on.

I believe the more discerning listener you are, the more upgrade path you will take!

In the case of Sajith, with no offence meant bro, you have a fine system but, imho you can definitely do much better if you take the component route- may be in the future.

Best Regards.

 

[unleash_me]

Franky speaking (not arguing), i am not much satisfied with the performance of my setup when i auditioned another setup. Lemme put my question straight away:

- If I replace the front speakers / the entire speakers with some other speakers like polk / wharfadale / infinity etc., is there any significant improvement in the performance (forget about my current setup). I had read lot of audiophiles telling / recommending X speakers are better than Y speakers... like that. Can somebody recommend the ideal set of speakers for the current AVR so that i can audition them to find the difference.

As particleman told, "At first glance it seems like better speakers would further improve your experience.", whether its going to give a significant performance improvement (may be i am using the wrong word, replace it with "significant improvement in sound quality") or in which way it improves the performance?

Don’t take this as an argument, I am just trying to find out whether choosing a particular setup than others (in the same class) makes an actual difference or is it in papers ..

Sajit,

YES would be my answer for all the above questions!

 

[particleman]

Really?!

In that case I would have been still stuck with my 80s Sony HiFi and Dynora TV. Both are still working fine! For that matter there is even a tuner that my dad built himself during the early 70s still murmuring on.

Whoa, hold on, unleash_me, I think you've taken him too literally . As I understood (and agreed with) it, RR is saying that if he is happy with the sound then why change anything. Of course now cmsajith has provided more feedback and now we can start recommending changes. I agree with you that better speakers will help.

@cmsajith:
Did not think you were arguing at all, after all only after a series of back and forth Q&A will we get to the destination. Now we need more information. What budget do you have in mind? Are you unhappy with sound for music and hence want to change only front 2 speakers? Or change all 5 speakers for movie sound as well? Would you like to invest in a better player, e.g. dedicated CD player?

 

[unleash_me]

Whoa, hold on, unleash_me, I think you've taken him too literally .

Did I? yes, looks like I did But hey, I did had a point though

 

[ranjeetrain]

Did I? yes, looks like I did But hey, I did had a point though

An that point was already conveyed before you jumped in

Its a simple formula. You spend more, you get more. Of course if you upgrade your AVR or speakers or everything, you will get better sound.

 

[ranjeetrain]

- If I replace the front speakers / the entire speakers with some other speakers like polk / wharfadale / infinity etc., is there any significant improvement in the performance (forget about my current setup).

Entry level Polk Audio, Wharfedale wouldn't offer any siginificant performance improvement. You have to spend in the range of 40K plus over your front two speakers to get much better sound. Some of the options would be JBL, Klipsch, Jamo, Monitor Audio. These speakers will be a jump over your current setup.

As particleman told, "At first glance it seems like better speakers would further improve your experience.", whether its going to give a significant performance improvement (may be i am using the wrong word, replace it with "significant improvement in sound quality") or in which way it improves the performance?

Improvement would be in the clarity, level of details, stereo image, tonal accuracy etc.

 

[cmsajith]

Thanks all for the patience. Before deciding the budget and all other conclusions, I would like to find the root cause of the performance difference (of course it’s not much as per my perception). Is it with the AVR or the speakers or the AVR settings? My listening taste is like 60% music and 40% movies. My questions:

- Whether the current AVR (Onkyo HTR320 - part of HTS570 package) is enough to achieve the performance (as per the above listening ratio) that I am looking for? I saw some discussions in some forums about this receiver and in general about Onkyo. As per the tech spec from Onkyo the amp outputs 5 x 100w / Channel @ 8ohms with overall harmonic distortion of less than .1% (0.08%). But I am not sure whether it’s outputting 100w / channel. As per their specs, its not clearly written 100w @ how many channels running at a time (is it 2 channels or all the channels). Is it possible to find the output of an amp? If it is for 2 channels, the actual output may be around 80w (guessing) when all channels are driven at a time. If so, whether an 80w amp is enough to give the performance that we generally discuss or an audiophile is looking for?
Following is the spec sheet from the Onkyo website : Onkyo HT-S570 - 5.1-Channel Home Theater System | Model Information | Onkyo USA Home Theater Products

- Regarding the front speakers, it was having 2 satellite speakers (specs in the same website). Around 4 or 5 months back I replaced these 2 satellites with the new towers from Space India : TWR 6 (any one had an experience with space audio speakers?) and I replaced the surrounds with the front satellites. As per the spec it seems to be a good speaker except the impedance difference, 6ohms. My receiver's impedance is 8ohms and all other speakers in the setup are at 8ohms. With this pair I need to adjust the output level for each channel since the sensitivity of all other speakers are less than this. Anyways this improved the overall performance to a great extend. So my question is if I replace the front towers or all with some other well known brand, whether it will make a big difference or the difference will be marginal, like we need to carefully listen to find the difference.
Following is the spec sheet for the towers : Product6


@Particleman
Not yet decided about changing the current setup. Let us find whether it need an upgrade or not If an upgrade is required, I will be planning to do it only after 5-6 months since my new apartment will be ready within 1 or 2 months and I had already invested ~250K for the TV and HTsetup.

One more discussion I just wanted to start, probably in a new thread. I am planning to do some acoustic treatment for the living room (size : 18 x 12 ft). My major concerns are with the look, the solution should not affect the living room design. My designer is suggesting one solution : using the golf balls. The golf balls are cut into half and will be fixed on the walls and on top of that we need to cover with some 6mm ply, basically he is making a cushion of air with a non transmitter of sound (cork ball) and the reflection from the ply will be less compared to the wall since the sound waves will be reflected more from a rigid surface. Currently I am planning to make a small bookshelf (that gel with the design) with some acoustic ceiling tiles inside (with the same color as the bookshelf) at the primary and secondary reflection points. Books can absorb a lot of sound waves. Is there anyone with a good and an economic solution for this? If we get some thread we can develop on that and it will be useful for others also.

 

[unleash_me]

An that point was already conveyed before you jumped in

Its a simple formula. You spend more, you get more. Of course if you upgrade your AVR or speakers or everything, you will get better sound.

Sorry, I missed that out. Enjoy the credits!

I heard someone saying..."when comparing two items, the more expensive one will impress his nieghbor more and thus feed his ego."

Cheers!

 

[ranjeetrain]

"when comparing two items, the more expensive one will impress his nieghbor more and thus feed his ego."

Couldn't agree more, LOL. So the message of cmsajith is - spend some cash and get your neighbors to swear by your system