5K How would YOU spend it?

[swgiust]

Take a look at my equipment list at the bottom of this post.
I have a 5 year old 65" hdtv.
I have Infinity speakers.

Both have served me well, neither am I in love with.

I have been looking at 70" tv's, JVC D-ILA, and MITS DLP.

Speakers I have not been seriously looking because I don't think I
can truly upgrade what I have for $5K.

Opinions? Ideas?

Thanks,

[GMichael]

Take a look at my equipment list at the bottom of this post.
I have a 5 year old 65" hdtv.
I have Infinity speakers.

Both have served me well, neither am I in love with.

I have been looking at 70" tv's, JVC D-ILA, and MITS DLP.

Speakers I have not been seriously looking because I don't think I
can truly upgrade what I have for $5K.

Opinions? Ideas?

Thanks,

I am looking into either the Sanyo Z3 or Z4. But with 5k you could get a better projector.
Do you like how your system sounds? Maybe a new sub.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/home-theater-multimedia-projectors.htm

[swgiust]

Because of the light in my room, a projector is out.

My sub is a SVS PB12/Ultra-2. This is one of the best
of the best as far as I'm concerned.

[GMichael]

Because of the light in my room, a projector is out.

My sub is a SVS PB12/Ultra-2. This is one of the best
of the best as far as I'm concerned.

Oh well, I gave it a shot.

[Jim Clark]

Speakers I have not been seriously looking because I don't think I
can truly upgrade what I have for $5K.

Opinions? Ideas?

Thanks,

Going to re-edit this and take another stab. You've got a good little setup there with several pieces that imo don't need to be touched. I don't think there's much point in going after a display until broadcasters start to take advantage of what we have. Way too much non hd content. Plus I'm not all that wild about current technology, imo I think there's something wrong with virtually every display.

Your sub is killer.

Nothing wrong with your amps - jimmy likes quite a bit actually.

Not really wild about JVC being used as a pre, I wouldn't use it but since I don't know all that much about it I can't suggest too much. Seems like a pretty weak link to me especially when used Anthems can be had for under 2,400 and new Arcams (I've read numerous reports extolling their virtues with 2 channel music) for 1,800. These pre's may be short on features compared to several midlevel AVR's but if the sound is more important than the gadgets, it might be worth thinking about.

In the end though I don't much care for powered towers or Infinity speakers. Infinity powered towers? Yikes, but that might just be me! I've actually listened to the 60's in years past on a couple of occasions, at least I'm pretty sure it's the same speaker. I think you can do much better for music but if it's only for HT I'd agree that an upgrade might be difficult and reasonably pointless. However, if music is in the mix and given the sub you have I'd think you would have a world of options that could be had for 5K, especially if you just focused on the mains and center for now. With that SVS filling in the bottom end, some serious standmounts should probably be considered as well.

It's very easy to go through 5k, especially when it belongs to someone else.

jc

[swgiust]

Now that's what a guy likes. Good advice.

My mains are the Infinity IL-60, which is a powered tower. I have them set as small
(including the powered sub). So everything below 80hz goes to my sub. This really makes
the sub in the towers a powered woofer, not a sub woofer. My main complaint with these
speakers is not the lower end, but the upper. They seam to lack some detail and imaging that I have heard in other speakers. I have shopped online and looked at other brands,
but when you are talking mains, a center, surrounds and back surrounds (7.1) 5K goes
away awful fast.

One reason I am looking at a new tv is the light in my room. I do have dark heavy curtains
that block all but two high windows. So viewing during the day is ok, but not great. I have
read that many of the newer technologies have greater light output than a crt based set.
Black levels have gotten close to crt quality as well.

I am lucky enough to get ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, Discover, TNT, HDnet, HDmovies, ESPN, and 10 voom channels in HD. I know alot of what is shown is not HD, but all
you have to do is watch one football game in hd and it makes it worth it.

[N. Abstentia]

Yep, the first thing I'd ditch is that JVC. Replace that think with an Outlaw 990 preamp at $1100, leaving you around $3900 for a TV. That's definitely not enough to get a TV and make a worthwhile speaker upgrade too, so might as well dump it all into a TV.

What kind of sources do you have? DVD? SACD? A nice SACD player might be a good addition.

[swgiust]

I have been looking at the Outlaw 990. Not a bad move I would guess.

[topspeed]

I like the idea of getting a pre/pro and then replacing your crt tv. If you have high ambient light, which it sounds like you do, you'd be best served with either a LCoS based set from JVC, Hitachi, or perhaps Sony. They are the brightest of the fpd's and excel in tough environments such as your room. In contrast (no pun intended), the Mits DLP's are purposely dark compared to others from Toshiba, LG, or Samsung. Mits feels they are more cinematic, I think they are just dark :rolleyes:. Another thing to consider is the relationship of where your set is going to be compared to the windows. The Mit's anti-glare screen is anything but. The reflections are just horrible unless you remove it (which can be done). That said, they do have one of the smoothest DLP pics you'll find and offer 1080p resolution. Whatever you choose, my guess is that if you opened up all your curtains and played HD on either a DLP or especially a LCoS based set, compared to your current crt the difference will be stunning.

Hope this helps and let us know what you do.