New home means new system (maybe)

[cannondale]

Howdy group. I cannot believe I did not find this site sooner…..

Anyway, Wife and I are buying our first house. Up till now I have just pieced my system together with whatever was on sale at the moment, or, components that were traded for auto repairs. Now with house I will be running wires, and setting up a more permanent system. We have lived in this apartment for too long, and I have not been able to run wires through attic,ect.
The living room in new house is approx 12x15. Three walls, and one end (to left of tv) is completely open. The main sitting will be no more than 1 foot from rear wall. I don’t know if yall need this info or not…..
Heres my dilemma, Need to know if you would recommend possible upgrades to current system, or just ditch it and get a boxed system? Funds only allow around 1000 total. (I know its not much, but, new house and all)
Believe it or not, wife loves what we have, so im sure any thing with better sound quality will get a thumbs up from her.
Ok, heres components I have so far. (Sorry I cannot give technical specifications, the owners manuals are already boxed ready for move)

Carver ct-29v Pre amp /Tuner
Carver av634 Amplifier (powering two pioneer sh152b-k bookshelfs, and two Panasonic satellites. (satellites are already packed also so don’t have model, but, they are approx 6 years old and came in boxed set for 200 dollars)
Panasonic saht220 receiver for power to the Panasonic sbc210 center.
Yamaha yst-sw45 powered sub.

Thanks in advance for your help, and if this is beyond “do-able” feel free to say so……

Also, what little i know about it, would like to be 5.1

[Shane Martin]

I am assuming that you can spend more later but for now you are handcuffed to $1k.

For $1k I'd get the following for the biggest impact:

Pioneer 1015 Receiver. 7.1, plenty of power.
Continue using the external amp. The Pioneer has all the latest surround modes etc.
Replace the sub with an SVS. The Pb10ISD would be well within budget and crust just about everything in that price range unless you want to do a DIY effort.

Then later, replace the speakers. While some might suggest speakers, given your amplification and processing, it will handicap whatever you get.

I'd say if you had $1,500ish you could likely add a decent speaker system(starter system) that would rock the house like the Athena Micro system.

The other option is if you want to explore SVS's new speakers. 5.1 + Pb10isd for $1k, then include a receiver(pioneer is good for $400) and boom you are done for a while.

Since you didn't mention a display, I didn't mention that plus I felt whatever display you have is fine for now.

[Lex]

I'd also consider contacting our sponsors concerning what they may have to suite your budget.

Doug

[cannondale]

Thanks Shane, that was info i was looking for. Looks like Carver pre-amp is going to ebay. Yes, i will probably be upgrading more later. I was wanting to do it all now, but more i surf this site, the more i doubt i will ever be done with system.
I dont plan on dropping the sub at this point. The reason I say that is, I have yet to really push the sub. So far if its up past halfway, im very concerned about neighbor. She sleeps against the wall system is on. Now, granted, once in nice big house the sub may not be enough. :T
Thanks for advice on new receiver. Looks like the one you mentioned will work fine. At least with it, one unit will be replacing two.
Concerning the display, well, kinda stuck with what i have till it dies. Once i let the smoke out of it, then it too can be upgraded. I just noticed wife wanting me to look at surround sound little closer, for some reason recently she is pointing out almost any system that is on sale at Best Buy, Circuit City, ect.

Lex, it could very well be operator error, but im not seeing much in the way of site sponsors :scratchhead: So far found Media Design, and thats bout it as far as components. But i do plan on getting in touch with them since they are right down the road from me.

Either way, I plan on upgrading all cables when setting system up again. Think some of the issues i have been having are due to inferior wires.

Thanks again for your help........now im off to drool some more :drool:

Roy

[Shane Martin]

Going from an apartment to a house is a big change. Given that you'll soon realize how much louder you can turn it up and how quickly the current sub will run out of gas.

Move in first(with the wires in place) and go from there.

The fun begins at that point

[aud19]

That's a tough call. I mean if you absolutely want 5.1 you pretty much have to get a receiver as Shane pointed out. But is "mediocre" (using that quite loosely) 5.1 better than good quality 2-ch....? A good pair of $1000 mains would likely give you the most noticeable improvement in sound quality and Carver is certainly "above average" gear. You could get the mains now and buy a centre speaker, sub and higher quality receiver (or pre/pro and amp) later. You could still use the 2-ch Carver for the mains and utilize some of your current speakers for surrounds until you can afford to upgrade them.

What do you imagine your budget is down the line? You may even be better off just saving the $1000 for now and putting with additional money down the line.... Tough call...

[Nick M]

I've found the biggest HT impact to come from a good sub, or giant image via front projection.

$1500 will get you a 720p projector for a 72-120" image, or $900 will get you a killer sub from SVS.

My opinion anyhoo...

[stidrvr]

I have to agree with the sub idea also. Granted this is just me, but the impact of a good sub, if your like me will put a smile on your face and will constanly keep you giggling. You'd be suprised what you came accomplish going the DIY route if so inclinded.