newbie needs advice..

[tatony]

Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum, and I like what I see.
I have just started to build my dream home theater. I'm on a very tight budget just got married and bought my first house. I purchased a Sony receiver 7 channel 100w per. I just purchased a csi3 center and had a pair of R30's. I only have a 3 channel set up for now. I've been playing around with the system and i just cant seem to get it to sound right. I have the r30 set up as LARGE and the csi3 as SMALL. It sounds like the r30's are having a hard time trying to produce the bass and highs it sounds pretty flat. Any one have any sugetstions?
Also i plan on purchasing more to add to the system I'm wondering if I should save and buy a Sub first or Two rears or New larger fronts, I like it loud!
Thanks Tony

my system:
Sony STR-DE698 Rec
Sony HDMI DVD Player
Sony 42inch Rear pro LCD
R30 fronts
CSI3 center

[tatony]

forgot to mention system sounds great and loud when playing just music with just 2 channels

[Willow]

Welcome,

Now to start off congrats on the wedding and house.

The R30s are not 100% timbre matced for the csi3. The csi3 is mated with the rti series.
The cs1 is the centre you'd need.
Seeing as you don't have a sub you would need to set them to large, but it sounds like they are suffering not having a sub.
It would be recommended you buy a sub. ask and you'll get a list from the likes of SVS,HSU,Outlaw......

best of luck

[tatony]

Thanks WILLOW.
Man you guys are fast on the replies.
So any one got any suggestions on what sub to buy for my system?
Also I just bought the CSI3 I can still return it and buy the other one. Will it make a big difference?

[Willow]

You're a Canuck ?! Where is Maple?
Ottawa here.

For your sub, depends on your $$ I mentioned some above SVS, HSU. There are tons. Give us a budget and we can recommend from there.
Now do you or do you think you may plan on upgrading?
If yes then keep the csi3, if not for a balanced system, I would opt for the cs1.:

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/r30/

If you look at the bottom it states it would be timbre matched with the cs1. The csi3 is a very nice centre ( I have that one as well). I would say buy the sub and give a listen if you find the csi3 blends then by all means keep it, but if you can watch a movie where there is a car going from one side to the other and you don't find when it goes by the centre you can tell it has a different sound keep that one you have. If you find a difference then swap it out with the cs1. Polk recommends the cs1.
You do have another option, buy 2 pairs of r15 if you can still get your hands on them and use 2 for rears and one centre.
I'd opt for a "real" centre. One more note is that you can return the centre buy a sub and rears and run the 2 fronts in Phantom mode. This depnds on your listening area, if you have a large couch and you and your wife sit each at the ends then a centre might be your only choice.