Should I Upgrade?

[ryanlockie]

In 2008 I bought a good entry level home cinema system comprising of:

Onkyo TX-SR505E

Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 Package

I have the front left, right and centre speakers connected withChord's Carnival Silver Screen cable and the rears connected with generic speaker cable. The subwoofer is connected with good QED cable.

The system is used 20% for gaming, 30% movies (Blu-Ray) and 50% music.

I have a budget of around £400 - £500 to spend and I am wanting to change two things:

1) The sound quality of the system on the whole, I feel it's lacking in terms of stereo performance when playing albums.

2) The AV Receiver is getting old in terms of latest technology such as not being able to decode Dolby HD from my blu-rays, doesnt have HDMI audio and doesn't feature any network capabilities.

I understand im not going to get great Hi-Fi performance from an AV amp as I know that is unrealistic however with my budget I am looking to improve the above areas. I do not mind shopping second hand either.

My current thoughts were:

A) Upgrade the Q Acoustic fronts to the 2020i L + R and the 2000 C and buy a Onyko 515 (All second hand) then move the 1010i's from the front to the rear. This comes to around £450.

B) Put all my money into some really good fronts (L + R), and use my apple airport for wireless audio, finally ignoring the Dolby True HD codec. At the moment it uses PCM from Blu-rays.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

[drichardb]

B is'nt a good idea from where i'm sitting as they are likely to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of your speakers when used in surround mode.

A could produce some good results but I would definately try to get a demo of the 2000 series so you can be happy they are a big enough improvement.

As an alternative if your happy shopping on the second hand market I would have a look at B&W's 600 S3 range. There are usually a few 601, 602 and 602.5 sets available on the e of bay and they should provide a pretty good step up from your QA1000 speakers though the centre channel is an increasingly rare (and slightly more expensive) beasty these days. I've had my 601 S3's for over 10 years now and unless I win the lottery or manage to get myself a decent paying job it will be a LONG time before I even consider replacing them.

 

[GSB]

Ryan have you come accross AV forums before,they have a free classified section...iv'e just sold some gear on there..

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-cinema-hi-fi-classified-adverts/

 

[ryanlockie]

The B & W's look like a good option, I could get the B&W 602 S2 or the 685's and the LCR600 for about £400

 

[seemorebtts]

515 is a good idea but if you what great music get the warfedale 121 with it

 

[ryanlockie]

I think i'll just upgrade my speakers for now, torn at the moment between:

Monitor Audios BX2's

Q Acoustics Concept 20

B+W 602 S3