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.
*System Update* I bought a JL Audio F113 Fathom Subwoofer yesterday and got it set up last night. Getting it tuned and tweaked on Sunday. Can't wait to watch on of my reference movies.
Tmcginn, I will give Definitive credit where credit is due, they will get you addicted! I spent my day listening to some of my favorite music, I just finished watching Independence Day and am leaning even more towards the Fathom. All day I was reminded that my system as it stands does everything I want it to do, except it isn't quite serious enough about the very bottom end. The direction I am going would still be the same, just starting with the one part of my system that doesn't quite do what I want it to now. The future would consist of S4's on a seperate amp, matching center, and a whole lot better source, and a Gotham Sub!!!! :-) I really think most people would be really surprised at the performance of my current system. Since you are here in Seattle, you should come check it out! Tony
Tmcginn, No need for apologies! The negative points you bring up are on my mind. I realize that I will have to add an amp if I go with the 100's and probably even to get the best out of S4's. The big downfall of switching series would be needing to upgrade my center channel, another good $1000 plus! My mind changes a little every day. Today I am leaning towards a simple upgrade: JL Audio Fathom f113 to replace the PDR-12. Also see my thread in the Speakers Forum: Paradigm Choice Help. I can't speak for Definitive as a whole as I only know a couple of people who work in the Bellevue store. The people I deal with have a great philosphy, that people who really love music and/or movies end up there sooner or later, and they simply want to educate them on how to enjoy what they love even more. I can also tell you that they are the most educated enthusiasts that I have ever met in all my shopping experiences. We can connect offline if you would like a referall to "my guy".
Now I really need some feedback from other members. An Audiogon member here is Seattle has Studio 100's V3 for sale for about $400 less than I can buy a pair of Signture Series S4's V2. I tend to do more home theatre than straight music. Which would you choose?
Nissancrazy, Thank you for the speaker placement information. I will take some time over the couple of weeks to play with the positioning and see what kind of improvements I can get. I am a little restricted on how far out from the wall I can go with the speakers. Too far out they start getting in the way of using the room. This is not a decidated room, and the house is getting smaller with the addition of a baby a month ago.
I am really considering my next move, new front speakers. Considering keeping the rest of the system the same, what speakers should I be auditioning? I love shopping so please anyone chime in here, I will make the effort to give a listen to your suggestions.
