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ufcrusher · 03-12-2001, 04:26 PM

FYI, Good guys is currently selling Take 5 speakers for $249.99, which is half off. (SUCKS FOR ME) That said, hearing is completely subjective, so you should go and listen to all of the different speaker packages. There isnt that much in that price range that is any decent. You can get the Take 5's, Quintets, or the RM6300's. Although I can only think of one quintet package that I have sold in the last 2 years. Its a Klipsch, enough said, EXTREMELY TINNY thanks to its Tractrix horns. Of those three the Take 5's are the best bet. Next level up in Sat speakers brings you to the $1000 range, where you get the RM6600 and Micro9000. After that you get to the $1500 range where you get the Encore's, RM7500, and Micro 10000. Your other alternative, is to build a system, which in my opinion is the better way to go. Remember that your center is your most important speaker, and thus the smaller centers you get with the sat's have a large detrimental effect. You could go with an EXLC center, EXL16's (fronts), EXL15's or EXLR's (rear) and an EXLS8 for your sub. It would price out for about $1000 or $1150(with EXLR) for the entire package. Much better than any of the sat systems. THe main thing that you should do is get rid of that receiver. Its a chip amp and peak rated piece of garbage. True disposable electronics! You want to go with a discrete amp and continuous power rating. I.e. - a Yamaha, Denon, SOny ES, Harmon Kardon, upper end Onkyo, Integra, etc. If you are worried about cost you could always go for a B series sony. You can step into one of these receivers for about $400 - $500. Best bet in my opinion is the RXV620 when it comes out. Yamaha has pulled its three lower units (396, 496, 596) for a mid line change with MAJOR improvements. First, DTS will be added to the 396 replacement (others already had it). More opticals will be added to each, and they will now be assignable. 5 channel stereo is also being added to all three (although not 100% sure on the 420.) Add in component video switching on the 620 and it will be the best bang for the buck, hands down. But if you want to stay with Sony, here goes.

Sony's are divided into three categories. The ES's which have 5 year manufacturer warranties, are supposed to be continuous power rated, have discrete amp's and are their Elevated Standard line up (used to be A series). (start at $799) Next step down is the B series (Bridge series) which has the STRDB940 and 840. These machines are discretely amplified but are peak rated. Its sonys attempt to bring some better quality into a more affordable package. (start at $399) Or you get the E series, which are peak rated and chip amplified machines. The upper two E series amps 845 and 945 are a mix between chip and discrete amp's meaning they have individual amps for each front, but the center and rears are still on a single amp. (that said, when we ripped one apart, it for some reason looked like they may have started discretely amping the upper two, but we still have not gotten an official sony notice to that effect) So you should only buy a B series or ES sony.

The KV36XBR400 you have is a very nice display, nothing really bad to say about it, but it does have an EXTREMELY high incidence of requiring repair. In fact, the two XBR's are notorious for this. Your sales person should have warned you about that. Most probably they did as part of their pitch to sell you whatever extended warranty they were trying to hawk. 3 of my customers have already thanked me for ensuring that they purchased the extended warranty because all 3 of their sets have had some problems.

Well I hope that helps. If you want to know anything else, go ahead.

One last Caveat, almost all of the equipment I listed has NO WARRANTY unless it is bought at an AUTHORIZED retailer. This unforutnately means no web site deals. Check each manufacturers web site for details. Additionally, as for the speakers, I only listed the ones which are sold where I work. There are a lot of others out there. Energy and Mirage are actually owned by API, and under the same umbrella, although they keep them completely separate and use different designs. Infinity has supposedly returned to the realm of decent speakers. You could always go with some nice paradigm's or martin logans.

[Edited by ufcrusher on 03-12-2001 at 03:30 PM]

03-12-2001, 04:26 PM	#10
ufcrusher Admiral Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Boca Raton, FL: By way of: Poway, CA; Gainesville, Fl; Penn Valley, Pa. Posts: 5,680	FYI, Good guys is currently selling Take 5 speakers for $249.99, which is half off. (SUCKS FOR ME) That said, hearing is completely subjective, so you should go and listen to all of the different speaker packages. There isnt that much in that price range that is any decent. You can get the Take 5's, Quintets, or the RM6300's. Although I can only think of one quintet package that I have sold in the last 2 years. Its a Klipsch, enough said, EXTREMELY TINNY thanks to its Tractrix horns. Of those three the Take 5's are the best bet. Next level up in Sat speakers brings you to the $1000 range, where you get the RM6600 and Micro9000. After that you get to the $1500 range where you get the Encore's, RM7500, and Micro 10000. Your other alternative, is to build a system, which in my opinion is the better way to go. Remember that your center is your most important speaker, and thus the smaller centers you get with the sat's have a large detrimental effect. You could go with an EXLC center, EXL16's (fronts), EXL15's or EXLR's (rear) and an EXLS8 for your sub. It would price out for about $1000 or $1150(with EXLR) for the entire package. Much better than any of the sat systems. THe main thing that you should do is get rid of that receiver. Its a chip amp and peak rated piece of garbage. True disposable electronics! You want to go with a discrete amp and continuous power rating. I.e. - a Yamaha, Denon, SOny ES, Harmon Kardon, upper end Onkyo, Integra, etc. If you are worried about cost you could always go for a B series sony. You can step into one of these receivers for about $400 - $500. Best bet in my opinion is the RXV620 when it comes out. Yamaha has pulled its three lower units (396, 496, 596) for a mid line change with MAJOR improvements. First, DTS will be added to the 396 replacement (others already had it). More opticals will be added to each, and they will now be assignable. 5 channel stereo is also being added to all three (although not 100% sure on the 420.) Add in component video switching on the 620 and it will be the best bang for the buck, hands down. But if you want to stay with Sony, here goes. Sony's are divided into three categories. The ES's which have 5 year manufacturer warranties, are supposed to be continuous power rated, have discrete amp's and are their Elevated Standard line up (used to be A series). (start at $799) Next step down is the B series (Bridge series) which has the STRDB940 and 840. These machines are discretely amplified but are peak rated. Its sonys attempt to bring some better quality into a more affordable package. (start at $399) Or you get the E series, which are peak rated and chip amplified machines. The upper two E series amps 845 and 945 are a mix between chip and discrete amp's meaning they have individual amps for each front, but the center and rears are still on a single amp. (that said, when we ripped one apart, it for some reason looked like they may have started discretely amping the upper two, but we still have not gotten an official sony notice to that effect) So you should only buy a B series or ES sony. The KV36XBR400 you have is a very nice display, nothing really bad to say about it, but it does have an EXTREMELY high incidence of requiring repair. In fact, the two XBR's are notorious for this. Your sales person should have warned you about that. Most probably they did as part of their pitch to sell you whatever extended warranty they were trying to hawk. 3 of my customers have already thanked me for ensuring that they purchased the extended warranty because all 3 of their sets have had some problems. Well I hope that helps. If you want to know anything else, go ahead. One last Caveat, almost all of the equipment I listed has NO WARRANTY unless it is bought at an AUTHORIZED retailer. This unforutnately means no web site deals. Check each manufacturers web site for details. Additionally, as for the speakers, I only listed the ones which are sold where I work. There are a lot of others out there. Energy and Mirage are actually owned by API, and under the same umbrella, although they keep them completely separate and use different designs. Infinity has supposedly returned to the realm of decent speakers. You could always go with some nice paradigm's or martin logans. [Edited by ufcrusher on 03-12-2001 at 03:30 PM]