Help With Home Theater System

[rkharper]

I finally plan to purchase a large screen TV and I am not sure if my present surround system will give me the quality sound or not. I primarily want a sound system for action movies with plenty of sound effects. I presently have the following:
Receiver Pioneer VSX-D810S
DVD Player Pioneer DV-343
VHS Player Sharp VC-H948
Front Center Speaker Sharp CP-C420 20 watts/8 ohms
Rear Center Speaker Sharp CP-C420 20 watts/8 ohms
Front Speakers Yamaha NS-A636 140 watts/8 ohms
Rear Speakers Pioneer CS-G304 120 watts/8 ohms
Subwoofer Cerwin-Vega HT-10POW 100 watts

As you can tell, I'm new to the audio world and need a lot of help. I want a quality system without paying the high prices. Can I get quality surround sound with the above equipment?

Thanks,
RKH

[elapsed]

Hi rkharper, welcome to AR! One criticism on your current system.. the front speakers are not timbre matched with your centre channel, which is not ideal for home theater. I'd recommend that all three of your front speakers be from the same series if possible.

And a couple of questions to get you started.. what is your budget, and what are the dimensions of your room?

cheers,
elapsed

[Mr Peabody]

Your receiver should be fine, it will do Dolby Digital and DTS. If you get into Blu-ray your receiver has 5.1 analog inputs. If you use those the BR player will do the decoding. The thing that sticks out to me that you may want to correct your speakers don't match. You would get a seamless pan from side to side with matching front speakers and really all five should match. Sub doesn't matter.

[f0rge]

does it give you quality sounds now? the tv probably wont change it all that much... :P

it's all very subjective, if it sounds good to you then it's good enough

anyway on to some actual help, i would agree with what the others say, timbre matched fronts are very important. if you have a price range in mind we can suggest some very nice speakers for you, even if you're on a budget.

[GMichael]

does it give you quality sounds now? the tv probably wont change it all that much... :P

it's all very subjective, if it sounds good to you then it's good enough

anyway on to some actual help, i would agree with what the others say, timbre matched fronts are very important. if you have a price range in mind we can suggest some very nice speakers for you, even if you're on a budget.

This about sums it up.

Look for matching speakers (especially the front 3). Some people like to start with getting a nice set of front main speakers at first. This will give you nice sound for HT as well as music and let you save up for matching speakers and a powerful sub later.

Lots to choose from. Go slow. Getting it right the first time will save you in the long run.