I'm looking to upgrade my current speaker system. My current living room setup is comprised of the following:
Pioneer SP FS-52 Tower Speakers x 2 (Fronts)
Pioneer SP C-22 Center Channel Speakers (Center)
Polk PSW 10 Subwoofer x 2 (LFE/Subs)
Acoustic Audio CSic82 Cinema Series In Ceiling 2-Way Speaker x 2 (SR/SL)
Onkyo TX-NR676 7.2 Channel Receiver
I really love this system for movies and video games. I can't really imagine needing much more as far as that goes. For music it's OK. For parties and stuff it's plenty good, since people are also drinking and talking and not sitting in the sweet spot or anything anyway, but for critical listening, by myself, it doesn't blow me away. For that reason I mostly do my nightly critical listening, winding down time, using my headphone setup, which is comprised of the following:
JDS Labs Atom Headphone DAC
JDS Labs Atom Headphone AMP
HiFiMan Sundara (2020 Revision)
I would like to step up my entertainment system speakers to get that high quality music listening experience I get from my headphones, but from speakers. I love headphones, but speakers offer a different experience and I would like to be able to experience both at home, at will...I know...first world problems right!?
Since I'm happy with the movie/gaming experience, but want a better music experience I thought I would get the best bang for my buck looking at new front speakers. I understand that I'll have to get a new center channel also for tonality continuity, but the rest of the system I'll probably leave as is (for now) unless it absolutely has to be changed, because I figure the money would be better put into the front speakers instead of electronics etc. My budget is flexible, but I'd probably be brushing up against my limit at about $1,000 per speaker, meaning I could afford about $2K max for new front speakers, give or take.
My room is about 17 ft wide by 25 ft long with 9 ft ceilings. The back of the living room is open to the kitchen with just a wood railing and no wall between them. I'm not sure if that's good for sound. The ceiling height goes way up in the kitchen to about 18 ft. The living room is porcelain tile flooring with a fair amount of windows. There are bookshelves, couches and a large rug to help with acoustic absorption and the room doesn't echo with my current system. I sit about 9 ft from my speakers.
The speakers I'm currently considering are:
Polk Audio R500, R600, and/or R700 Floor Standing Speakers
Klipsch RP5000F, RP6000F, and or RP8000F Floor Standing Speakers
Focal Chora 826 Floor Standing Speakers
KEF Q950 Floor Standing Speakers
After reading Amir's negative review of the Klipsch RP-600M I'm a little ify on the Klipschs. I'm open to other speaker options. I ruled out ELAC Debut lines, because I figured they would be too similar to my current speakers and more of a side move or a small upgrade. They're built by the same designer, Andrew Jones, and they have a very similar design, 1" tweeter, 5.25" mid, and two 5.25" woofers for the bass.
I like the idea of a speaker with large woofers to get bigger sound than my current system, but I worry that it might actually be better for my room size/style to stick with speakers with smaller woofers (5" to 6")? I also don't know if larger woofers will be of any benefit seeing as I already have two subs with 10" drivers.
Thank you for your time and advice!
Pioneer SP FS-52 Tower Speakers x 2 (Fronts)
Pioneer SP C-22 Center Channel Speakers (Center)
Polk PSW 10 Subwoofer x 2 (LFE/Subs)
Acoustic Audio CSic82 Cinema Series In Ceiling 2-Way Speaker x 2 (SR/SL)
Onkyo TX-NR676 7.2 Channel Receiver
I really love this system for movies and video games. I can't really imagine needing much more as far as that goes. For music it's OK. For parties and stuff it's plenty good, since people are also drinking and talking and not sitting in the sweet spot or anything anyway, but for critical listening, by myself, it doesn't blow me away. For that reason I mostly do my nightly critical listening, winding down time, using my headphone setup, which is comprised of the following:
JDS Labs Atom Headphone DAC
JDS Labs Atom Headphone AMP
HiFiMan Sundara (2020 Revision)
I would like to step up my entertainment system speakers to get that high quality music listening experience I get from my headphones, but from speakers. I love headphones, but speakers offer a different experience and I would like to be able to experience both at home, at will...I know...first world problems right!?
Since I'm happy with the movie/gaming experience, but want a better music experience I thought I would get the best bang for my buck looking at new front speakers. I understand that I'll have to get a new center channel also for tonality continuity, but the rest of the system I'll probably leave as is (for now) unless it absolutely has to be changed, because I figure the money would be better put into the front speakers instead of electronics etc. My budget is flexible, but I'd probably be brushing up against my limit at about $1,000 per speaker, meaning I could afford about $2K max for new front speakers, give or take.
My room is about 17 ft wide by 25 ft long with 9 ft ceilings. The back of the living room is open to the kitchen with just a wood railing and no wall between them. I'm not sure if that's good for sound. The ceiling height goes way up in the kitchen to about 18 ft. The living room is porcelain tile flooring with a fair amount of windows. There are bookshelves, couches and a large rug to help with acoustic absorption and the room doesn't echo with my current system. I sit about 9 ft from my speakers.
The speakers I'm currently considering are:
Polk Audio R500, R600, and/or R700 Floor Standing Speakers
Klipsch RP5000F, RP6000F, and or RP8000F Floor Standing Speakers
Focal Chora 826 Floor Standing Speakers
KEF Q950 Floor Standing Speakers
After reading Amir's negative review of the Klipsch RP-600M I'm a little ify on the Klipschs. I'm open to other speaker options. I ruled out ELAC Debut lines, because I figured they would be too similar to my current speakers and more of a side move or a small upgrade. They're built by the same designer, Andrew Jones, and they have a very similar design, 1" tweeter, 5.25" mid, and two 5.25" woofers for the bass.
I like the idea of a speaker with large woofers to get bigger sound than my current system, but I worry that it might actually be better for my room size/style to stick with speakers with smaller woofers (5" to 6")? I also don't know if larger woofers will be of any benefit seeing as I already have two subs with 10" drivers.
Thank you for your time and advice!