Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Upgrade path advice.

Hey All,
Five or so years ago, as a grad student, I bought a pair of M3's after reading that they were the best value in speakers. They are amazing value.

I have a cheap surround receiver (Sony STR-DE485) and decided today that it was time to get surround speakers. I impulsively went to best buy and spent $500 on a center (Definitive 1000) and rear (Definitive 800) speakers.

Wow do they suck compared to my M3's! Having the rears obviously added to the soundstage, but turning off the center speaker made everything sound better!
So, my plan is to return them to best buy and stick with axiom. However, I'm still in academia (postdoc), so the budget is a bit tight.

The room i'm in is pretty small. After reading quite a bit on these forums, I am pretty sure I'm going to stick with a phantom center for now.

The options are:
1) Keep my m3's as my fronts and get QS4 rears.
2) Get m22's as fronts and move my m3's to rear.
3) *Splurge* and get M50's for fronts and move my m3's to rear.

The other question is whether a new receiver will give new life to my speakers.
What's the opinion on the R-771 listed on axiom's site? Is it as good value as the speakers?

Thanks!
-Jeff

Jeff, welcome. Considering the budgetary restraints, the best improvement for the least expenditure would be adding QS4 surrounds to your M3s.

No, unless your 485 is dead(or not in good operating condition, at least), a new receiver won't add any more life to your speakers(if more is really needed, better musical material might supply it).

hi Jeff,
i'd agree with John here, think the most logical next step in your upgrade path would be to purchase a pair of QS4s. They are ideally suited to surround duty and should make the most notable difference to your setup.

Jeff,

Another vote for QS4s. Happy listening.

I will just ask if the rears are for movie surrounds or music surround, some like the direct approach for music opposed to the diffuse QS4s, otherwise I too vote QS4's.

QS4's, keep the M3s..

I agree to getting the Qs4's, but I wouldd also look into getting a new receiver, from the looks of the specs on your Sony a new receiver would give you many more options on how you want to listen to movies and music.

I agree with going for the QS4s. I wouldn't invest in another center until you can match the center to your mains, otherwise you will suffer the same disappointing effect again. Save up for an Axiom center to match.

Just because I was curious from all I read on these boards, (I often feel strangely compelled to prove odd things for myself when I'm bored) I tried using an old HK bookshelf instead of my VP150 that nicely matches my M60s. Even though I still consider the HK bookshelf a nice speaker in it's price category, it just didn't match the sound of my M60s and my sound got kinda muddied.

That being said, I'd probably leave the center purchase until the very last and if you ever do get additional funds to expand, I'd get a subwoofer before reinvesting in another center. As you said, you can do phantom center for now, but it's hard to invent a phantom sub.

Thanks for everyone's advice. It is very strange (but comforting) that everyone had the same advice.
To JohnK : My 485 sounds fine to me, but I often wondered what I was missing by using a cheap receiver. (This could probably be its own post).

To JakeWash: I do listen to a lot of music. But the reason for getting surrounds is for movies. I did notice that some strongly ambient music like radiohead and bjork seemed to benefit from the surround processing modes but for the most part just playing through the fronts sounded better for music. Maybe with the QS4s i'll feel differently. Bottom line : surrounds for movies.

I put in an order for QS4's today!

Good choice with the QS4's.

I'm surprised no one else mentioned it yet, but when you look at getting a center channel you may want to pick up a single M3. This way you will have a perfect timber match across the front and others have mentioned that you should also have a wider dispersion.