Deciding if it's worth upgrading speakers

Capt Doufos

Capt Doufos

Capt Doufos

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Nr Colchester, Essex
Hi everyone!

I am trying to decide if it's worth upgrading my home cinema speakers. I am at a loss to understand what I would need to buy in order for it to be an upgrade. I currently have a Pioneer SC-LX58 Revciever and am using some speakers I picked up for a bargain price with a reciever some years ago.

Yamaha NS-100's for the fronts (these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hykZfYHvOXc)
Yamaha NS-C55 for the center

From what I understand in their day these were considered pretty good and as speaker tech doesn't really move all that quickily I am trying to understand if something like for example B&W 606's which are entry level would sound significantly better or I would be looking at something higher up the range. Short of buying some and listening to them in my lounge I am not sure there is any other way. The room is largish at approx 4.5 x 4m

I don't have any particular issues with my current setup, but I don't know if I am missing out. If that makes any sense?!

Any thoughts?
 
Sorry should have been clear, it is 5.1 already, actually I have 5.1.4 capability as I installed some ceiling speakers. I would be looking to upgrade the fronts / center as from what I understand the surrounds / effects speakers don't matter so much.

My sub is an Eltax Atomic 10" and I have Eltax bi-polar rears which I think are likely still good enough.
 
Thanks for that insight, whilst generally happy I think it's just that it's hard to know if you are missing out by investing in more. I occasionally think that vocals could be better, the center channel and fronts would be my aim. I am not opposed to the indea of also replacing the rears if that makes a large difference, if I was targetting any one thing specifically it would be the center but I understand you need to pay careful attention that it's a match for the fronts.

Sounds like I will have to find a decent audio store, never occured to me that I might be able to take along mine to demo some others along side.
 
That's exactly it really. In an ideal world I would short list maybe 2 or 3 sets, try them out in my lounge and return the ones I didn't like. I guess people do that, seems an awful lot of hassle to be returning speakers if you buy a set and they are not a noticeable improvement.
 
Sorry... Just busy. I do get you points, it's all great if you can find a store with staff that are actually intrested in helping you. A long time ago when we had a local Richer Sounds they were super helpful but my experiences since then haven't been great. I am afraid with myself approaching someone for help / guidance and recieving a cold unhelp response or being treated like an idiot where I am clearly just a nuicience puts me off pretty much for life. I've developed an aversion to sales people opting to avoid shops wherever possible :)

All your points are very valid. Excluding PC speakers / Cinema / Events the amount I have listened to over the last 20 years I can count on one hand, I have no idea even of what a good lounge system can potentially be. Equally the budget I have ever spent on speakers has been pretty low trending towards zero, my first setup being the one Richer Sounds put together with Eltax Symphony's. I only replaced them when I picked up a Reciever along with the Yamaha NS-100's/NS-C55/E-55's for a crazy low amount of money and of course (Probably not of course) they sounded much better having larger drivers and being bi-amped etc.

I don't think I am someone who really always chases better, I am more of a bang for buck person. I would rather have the 90% of the experience at 70% the price kind of thinking. I am in a position now where I can afford to spend some more money on the sound my fear is that I could go and spend £1000 on some speakers and it be barely noticeable to me. Equally it could blow me away and I could be asking myself why didn't I sort this out sooner! I just don't know.
 
I was thinking of upgrading fronts and center so I imagine somewhere around £300-£500 for the fronts and maybe £300 for the center from looking around at what seems reasonable. I have discovered after looking at a few that some are MUCH deeper and a bit taller than my current one. Due to my projector screen I only have a limted gap between the screen and the top of the units, so I think choice may be limited somewhat.

On the 2nd hand subject, I am fine with used speakers. It actually led me to take a look at what was available and I actually discovered there is a larger center than the one I current have in the same range. Contemplating if it's worth trying that as a cheaper quick win as a lot of my niggles are around speech clarity. Trouble is I then discovered the thing is a boheamoah at 30cm deep and 21cm tall! The drivers are the same as those in the NS-100's, although I appreciate bigger is not equal to better.
 
lucid said:
A couple of thoughts:

1 - If you have some space limitations that will affect any potential upgrade path - and you've come on to a forum asking people for advice - then you should really list those limitations otherwise you end up wasting the time of the people you've asked for help. I realise of course that it wasn't your deliberate intension; but now I've pointed it out then please bare it in mind for the future.

What are the space limitations?
How is your current centre speaker housed? (On top of an open rack / On a shelf?)
How are the F LR speakers for space?
What else haven't you mentioned that will restrict product choices?


2 - What have you done with your set-up so far to improve centre dialogue intelligibility? The Pioneer has MCACC and MCACC Pro. Have you used any of the features, and if so, what were the results?

Have you done anything with speakers positions or what they're supported upon to improve the results you're getting?
Are the intelligibility issues related to the volume i.e. worse at higher volumes?
Click to expand...

Sorry, center size just hadn't occured to me, it was not intentional. The current center I have seemed typical of all those I have seen to date, it just never occured that it would have been an issue. There are no other restrictions, it's just the screen as it stands comes down to almost the top of the center.

Max center size behind/under the screen is approx 23cm deep and 13cm high. I could pull it forward slightly for movie viewing, that would allow another couple of CM height and more depth. Pictures probably speak more. The angle below looks like the screen obsures the center but it doesn't. For scale the room is approx 4.3m wide.

As for MCACC Pro, yes I have used that. I made sure to use an extension so the mic was placed in an accurate listening position. As usual all the demo videos, Dolby, THX, ATMOS etc. sound amazeballs. I find it really difficult to test diaglog. All content is viewed via my HTPC which has a GTX 1060 connected to the AMP via HDMI. All audio is passed through and decoded by the reciever.

The only thing to note during the MCACC setup is that a couple of speakers reported as being the wrong polarity, but I double and triple checked that wasn't the case. After reading up it seemed that this can happen and if you are sure it's correct just go with it.


 
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