Need help on what to upgrade next

[Steve Ruddy]

I can only make about one purchase per year so this will be about a 4-5 year plan.

Here is a list of my current audio set up.

Denon 5900 universal player
Denon 3805 used as a pre/pro
Acurus 125x5 amp
B&W CDM7SE front
Definitive Tech 2500 center
B&W CDM1SE rear
Definitive tech 15tl sub

My wish list is:

1- Anthem D1 or AVM30 or Integra RDC-7.1
2 - B&W 804S or 803S for fronts
3 - Add B&W DS8S side surrounds for an up grade from 5.1 to 7.1 I will have to use the amp in the Denon to drive this if it's my first move.
4 - Better amplification although with my current set up it seems more than sufficient.
5 - Better sub woofer. My current one works for music (although not as detailed as I would like) however under a small number of movie soundtracks it cuffs when trying to out put low frequency at loud levels. An example would be the Haunting DVD

I thought I would mention I don't have a dedicated home theater room and my listening room is an open great room. 24'x29' (speakers are set up in a 15' x 24') space with slanted ceiling. Windows are covered with opaque foil lined cell blinds. They seem to help the sound when they are closed. I assume it's far from ideal however I'm not at all disappointed with the sound. It's alive but not too alive and my worst problem that I can identify would be a base peak at a certain frequency that I have forgotten but this cannot be flattened with my current electronics. I'm also concerned about buying one peice of equipment that maybe overkill as a mate with the rest of my equipment. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

[ThomasW]

My vote is for a Behringer DSP1124P $99 and either a RS SPL meter or, better yet a mic/mic preamp software combo to accurately EQ the sub.

[rick c]

How does the def.tech center match your mains?I would upgrade the center to match.

[Andrew Pratt]

A matching centre is likely a good upgrade.

[Neal_C]

If you have plans to upgrade your mains to 804's or 803's, and you decide to upgrade your center this first time around, I would buy the center to match the 804's or 803's, not what you currently have.

If you don't want to do that, I would skip upgrading the center and upgrade it when you do the mains. Not really much point in upgrading the center now to match what you have if you turn around next year and buy new mains.

Just my thoughts.

By the way, I am a big Def. Tech fan, so I think the center you have is a very good one. But I also agree there is something to having the center and mains match.

Neal

[Neal_C]

Also, if you are considering changing your pre/pro, you might be able to upgrade without any out of pocket expense.

You could sell the Denon 3805 and it would probably bring you enough to pick up a used Rotel 1056. Granted, you would lose two amp channels, but you don't use them anyway. I think the sound improvement would more than compensate for loss of amp channels.

I have listened to the Denon and it does sound good, but I think my Rotel 1055 sounds better.

So, you could upgrade without spending any money.

Just another thought.

Neal

[Shane Martin]

Upgrade your center(tonally matching) and buy a new sub.

If you going to buy new mains, then buy the good center to go with that.

[Steve Ruddy]

My vote is for a Behringer DSP1124P $99 and either a RS SPL meter or, better yet a mic/mic preamp software combo to accurately EQ the sub.

I think I will definitly get the mic/mic preamp software combo and either use it on a new sub that has an eq or a new ssp with a sub notch filter like the Anthem products do. My base peak with the Radio Shack SPM is about 5 db at 50 Hz.

How does the def.tech center match your mains?I would upgrade the center to match.

Believe it or not The Definitive Tech matches very well with the B&W's. I purchased them at the same time and auditioned B&W's matching center channel first and it sounded very small. I was thoroughly unimpressed. I then listen to the Definitive Tech center with the B&W fronts and it was a huge improvement. It is very full and large and following the sound is seemless going from one side to the other with no noticeable tonal differences. When I upgrade to the 803S or 802S I hope the results will be the same however I'm aware that they may not be.

You could sell the Denon 3805 and it would probably bring you enough to pick up a used Rotel 1056. Granted, you would lose two amp channels, but you don't use them anyway. I think the sound improvement would more than compensate for loss of amp channels.

Neal Thanks for the advice. I'm currently using my Denon DVD-5900's DAC's for CD listening and am very happy with that sound although I haven't heard the Rotel I'm assuming it would'nt be any upgrade in this area. What do you think? I also want my new ssp to have a firewire input and possibly a subwoofer notch filter which I don't think the Rotel has or does it?