Theater upgrade possibilities?

[frdranger]

Hey gang -

Been away for a while again, but now I'm back =D. Refund check came back very healthy <wink> and I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions or ideas that I could do to upgrade or change my home theater? My setup is as follows:

-Olevia 27" Widescreen LCD HDTV
-Denon AVR-887
-Polk CS1 (center)
-Polk Monitor 50 (fronts)
-Advent speakers (rear)
-Velodyne DPS-10" Sub
-Acoustic Research 16-Guage wiring w/banana plugs.
-Acoustic Research Subwoofer plug w/ Y-plug to Sub
-Sony DVP-NS75H DVD Player
-Xbox 360 w/HD-DVD add-on


I guess what I'm asking - is there anything that I can do; whether it be small or medium upgrades/enhancements - that I can do to make things sound a little better? Thank you in advanced for any recommendations!

-Tom

[cheddar]

Get a stand-alone HD-DVD player. The sound coming out of the 360 can't be good. And the old Toshibas are supposed to be at almost firesale prices now with lots of free movie deals.

I'd suggest trying out blu-ray, but I'll most likely get flamed for it...lol. :D

[m00npie]

Not sure how much “Refund check came back very healthy <wink>” means but you could help us by telling us how much you would like to spend… 1, 2, 5K, etc…


Also, provide room information as far as size and if it’s open to another room and finally what your preference listening\viewing is. Are you 50\50 or do you prefer HT more than music?

HDMI 1.3 is coming very soon, and Polk is releasing new speakers soon (I think) so if you are willing to go used, there will be a lot of good equipment up for grabs from people that need\want the latest and greatest.

[venomclan]

Hi Tom,
Equipment changes with your system will be marginal at best improvement wise. Your biggest improvement for sound will be to replace your speakers. As long as your Denon AVR-887 can push whatever speakers you would like to add, you will hear the most improvement hands down.

First to consider is:
1- What to your hope to accomplish? Music or movies? Where do you see your current weakpoint?
2-Then establish a budget. Do not rush into it because you may then want to upgrade again in the near future and always take a $ hit.
Venom

[MikeC78]

Get a stand-alone HD-DVD player. The sound coming out of the 360 can't be good. And the old Toshibas are supposed to be at almost firesale prices now with lots of free movie deals.

I'd suggest trying out blu-ray, but I'll most likely get flamed for it...lol. :D

IMHO, I don't think he'd notice much of a difference with HD period on a 27" display?

frdranger-

Do you notice a big difference from SD and HD on that set?

To make things sound better, I'd say upgrade the speakers, but what the heck do I know?

Mike

[frdranger]

Thank you for the replies and suggestions!

Yea - I kind of figured about the audio aspect of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on. However, I hear future plans that Microsoft plans to release an update to include DTS / TrueHD DD for the HD-DVD - so I may just wait on that.

Yea, I may wait on the new speakers coming out from Polk. Any ides on when or what kind of speakers? What about pricing? Thanks! :)

[frdranger]

IMHO, I don't think he'd notice much of a difference with HD period on a 27" display?

frdranger-

Do you notice a big difference from SD and HD on that set?

To make things sound better, I'd say upgrade the speakers, but what the heck do I know?

Mike

Yes - the difference is night and day.Then again, my viewing distance is only about....7 - 8 feet from the TV. So 27" fits the puzzle piece just right.

[McLoki]

To be honest, your system seems pretty balanced right now. I don't know how much benefit you would get to throwing one high dollar piece into the mix. Things you could look at or at least condier.

Avia DVD and SPL meter. (if you don't have one - it can make for large improvements in your system.)

Room treatments. Your room will make some of the largest impacts on the sound you get from your system - Think about some acoustic treatments. (diy or purchased)

Subwoofer. To be honest, your sub isn't that bad but depending on your room size, that is one area that you can get a better one and reap most of the benefits from it. Look at SVS or HSU for bang for the buck.

Rear speakers - you may want to look at some more monitor 50's for rears or look at actual rear speakers (bi-di pole) to see if you like the sound better. This is at the bottom of my list because I do not know much about your current rear speakers so I am unsure of how much of a weak link they currently are.

Also if you haven't played with speaker placements or crossover settings recently, it may be worth spending some time to see if you like any other settings better than what you currently have.

Enjoy,

Michael

[MikeC78]

^ Damn, you're right again.:o

[cheddar]

Yea - I kind of figured about the audio aspect of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on. However, I hear future plans that Microsoft plans to release an update to include DTS / TrueHD DD for the HD-DVD - so I may just wait on that.


Is that for the rumored v2 or the present 360? I don't see how they can pass true hd and DTS-MA over the usb connection and then optical without some compromises. They really need the hdmi connection of the v2.

If you're looking for a night/day change in your audio that's relatively inexpensive, a stand-alone HD-DVD player is the way to go to improve your HD audio. I don't own an HD-DVD player, but with blu-ray, even the regular DTS and DD tracks are encoded on the disks at a higher bitrate than with DVDs. So if HD-DVD is the same, you're really missing out on some great remastered soundtracks on your HT playing everything through your 360.

BB is giving away 4 free movies right now with every Toshiba purchase...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8021767&st=toshiba+hd-dvd&type=product&id=1158323325814