Trading Up Home Theatre

by christiancoach on Budget Minded
Elite Tuner and DVD

Description

A good friend of mine works at Definitive Audio and as he upgraded his original home theatre (pre-job) he sold me his old equiptment. I mixed and matched for a long time, till my wife insisted I narrow the system down. I guess she had something against Laser Discs, Mini-Discs, Cassettes, and DATs.

So I saved up, sold the old stuff and compiled the following budget system, that I must say blows away several of my friends systems costing substantially more money!

I read it several places before I purchased them, and now I am a believer, the Paradigm Titan is the absolute best speaker under $500 on the market...oh yea, you can get 4 of them for $500!

The latest addition is the 50" Sony SXRD Grand WEGA 1080p rear projection TV.

I am not sure what my next step is other than upgrading the speaker cables for the surrounds.

Suggestions are gladly accepted!
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Components Toggle details

    • Pioneer Elite DV48AV
    This entry level Elite player matches up with the Tuner.
    • Pioneer Elite VSX-80TXV
    When I bought this I almost purchased the next model up, until I realized there were only 3 very minor differences for a couple hundred dollars!
    • Paradigm Titan
    I am using 4 of these, 2 for my mains, and 2 for surrounds.
    • Paradigm CC-170
    This is a wonderful Center Channel, great dialog and just enough mid bass to bring the center into focus.
    • Paradigm PDR-12
    Since my mains and surrounds are fairly small I went with a little beefier sub to ensure I didn't miss anything on the bottom end.
    • Transparent The Wave 200
    I am using these for the Center Channel and the Fronts.
    • Transparent 75 Ohm Digital Interconnect
    I noticed a real difference after this upgrade.

Comments 14

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UNEXPECTED UPGRADE!
After months of trolling Craigslist, I finally found a really good deal and upgraded my fronts to Paradigm Studio 60V2's! Of course now I need to retune the system. I noticed an immediate improvement in the amount of mid-bass, that fills out the bottom end. It seems like the Studios link to the Fathom better than the Titans.
I am waiting on a pair of Tranparent Speaker Cables so I can Bi-amp out of my Pioneer tuner, which I feel will again increase the quality of the sound another fold!

christian_coach

I made the biggest leap forward yet in sound quality today!
I had my friend who used to work for one of the high end shops in Seattle come over and tune my system. He moved my Front a little, moved the Fathom across the room, and changed just about every setting in the tuner to adjust the system to my living room.
We then proceeded to watch Master and Commmander, and I realized how poorly my system was set up. It was unbelievably better!!!! If you have the chance or can afford it have someone knowledgable tune up your system, especially if you are using multi-channel!

A few weeks ago I also added a Sony Playstation 3 for the Blu-ray capacity. It really makes my TV shine!

christian_coach

Here I sit with $2,800 in my hand. What to do, what to do?
I have done a lot of research and listening since January. I am leaning towards upgrading to the JL Audio Fathom f113. I keep reading reviews and talking to people in the know and it seems like this sub makes the rest of your system sound better when used with the "tuning" system in the sub.
The other item on my list would be a Pioneer blu-ray player when the new ones come out in a couple of months.
Toughts?

christian_coach

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