Opinions wanted for HT upgrade

[happy]

As it stands my system sounds great without any obvious weaknesses, but I have the itch to build something again and am looking at my HT setup. I am thinking of either upgrading my surrounds to better ones with higher quality drivers that match my fronts or adding a second sub. So that said, which in your opinion, would be a more logical upgrade.

Option 1 - Right now I am using a pair of Zaph ZMB4's for surrounds - which sound great - but am thinking of upgrading to a pair of RS150 MT's for more of a driver match to my front speakers - 2 Nat-P's and a RS150 MTM center.

Option 2 - Add a second sub. I have a single Shiva-x in a 4 foot sealed box with a 300 watt plate amp, but am thinking of adding a second identical Shiva and plate amp or maybe a Behringer ep1500 to power them both.

Which would you choose as the more important of the two? Eventually I will probably do both, but for now my budget and time only allows one. Any opinions?

[Mike B]

I would match the surrounds first.

[Mazeroth]

As it stands my system sounds great without any obvious weaknesses...

Tough to give a recommendation as you don't seem to have any weaknesses.

Answer this for us. When using surround sound do you feel as though your rears are holding back your listening experience? Do you feel that if you were to upgrade to better rears that your listening experience would warrant the build?

Or, would you like more low end in your system? A sealed system won't play the lowest octaves unless some active equilization is being used. With a single 12" I would worry about boosting the low end but using two wouldn't be as bad. Also, with dual subs, placed in different locations, you can mitigate some bass problems which will yield a flatter bass response. If it were me, and I absolutely had to upgrade something, I would probably build another sealed sub, place it into a different location (we can discuss this later), use some sort of active EQ (Feedback Destroyer) and get more low end and lowered bass distortion, which is the most important distortion to mitigate, IMO.

[happy]

Answer this for us. When using surround sound do you feel as though your rears are holding back your listening experience? Do you feel that if you were to upgrade to better rears that your listening experience would warrant the build?

No not really, granted I have nothing to reference it to. There is definitely a good rear presence and a nice full sound field. I just wondered if a bigger mid might be a little more capable in the lower mid-bass regions before the sub takes over.

Or, would you like more low end in your system? A sealed system won't play the lowest octaves unless some active equilization is being used. With a single 12" I would worry about boosting the low end but using two wouldn't be as bad. Also, with dual subs, placed in different locations, you can mitigate some bass problems which will yield a flatter bass response. If it were me, and I absolutely had to upgrade something, I would probably build another sealed sub, place it into a different location (we can discuss this later), use some sort of active EQ (Feedback Destroyer) and get more low end and lowered bass distortion, which is the most important distortion to mitigate, IMO.

I do feel like there could be more low end in my system for HT use. The sub sounds really good and moves a surprisingly large amount of air for its size, but there are times that I think it could definitely have more or do so with a little less effort - particularly in the lowest octaves.

As far as a location for the second, my room is fairly small so the new sub would go near the couch in the back right wall corner - opposite of the existing one which is in the front left corner. I did some reading and gathered that this could give a flatter bass response as you said and also could help with any nulls do to room acoustics... Is this right?

[---k---]

But, I think it is a personal preference or a flip of a coin. If you ever listen to 5-channel music or concert DVD's, then I would probably say the surrounds. Otherwise, I would do the sub.

[Blktre]

I vote sub first as well. Adding solid low end octaves imo will give you the most noticeable improvement for any HT.