Help selecting Floor speaker

[mrkerala]

Living room size 25 X 25 ft
sharp 46" lcd tv
PS3 Slim
WII
DVR722
Home theater - Yamaha YHT750

Thinking of upgrading my home theater in stages

Stage I: Buy 2 floor/bookshelf speakers (budget of $400) and remove my 2 front speakers of the YHT750 and hook up the speakers


Stage II: Buy Central Speaker and replace the current one (Budget of $150)


Stage III: Buy a receiver (Budget of $500)

Stage IV: Buy 2 rear speakers and disconnect the rest of the speakers from the YHT home theater

Now I'm in Stage I:

I was looking at diff speakers and I found Polk Monitor 70 on sale @ Newegg ( 2 for close to 400 shipped). I was thinking of buying it. What do you guys think?


For Stage II: I was thinking of buying Polk CS2

[blackraven]

I would strongly consider these PSB speakers, T45, T55 and B25's

http://saturdayaudio.com/picturepages/image_specials_07-29-2009.htm

Much better than the Polks. And just remember, any book shelf speaker you buy will need decent speaker stands which will run $80 and up.

For the rear channels I would do the PSB B-15's and for the Center the PSB C40 or C60.

[dpowell]

I love my Polks. You can often pick some up used on CL for very reasonable prices

[dpowell]

BTW, getting an external power amp connected to your receiver will make your speakers come alive.

[blackraven]

For a receiver, consider the Onkyo Tx SR 607

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&N=0&Q=&Ntt=onkyo%20607&A=endecaSearch

IMO its the best bargain for an AVR out there.

I've never been a fan of the Polk Monitor series, they always sounded a little bit muddy. The higher level Polks are decent. And don't be fooled by the # of drivers. More woofers and tweeters don't mean its a better speaker.

[mrkerala]

What do you guys think of buying a used Paradigm Monitor series (Titan)? Any advice/thoughts regarding buying used speakers?

[frenchmon]

What do you guys think of buying a used Paradigm Monitor series (Titan)? Any advice/thoughts regarding buying used speakers?

The Paradigms are ok....but I would not buy them, and this is coming from a guy who owns a pair of Monitor 7's. I have a pair of Canton 403's stand mount speakers.... I did a shootout with the Monitor 7's and the Cantons walked all over and out performed the more brighter,taller Paradigms. I was totally shocked at what the Cantons did to them. The Cantons had this midrange and higher frequency thing going on that made the music come alive, and placed about 8inches to 1 ft from the back wall the stand mounted Cantons have bass that was much deeper and robust than the Paradigms. The Cantons have a very large sound stage with excellent music dispersion. After listening to the Cantons in the shoot out it totally ruined it for the Paradigms...I mean they became so boring because the Cantons where so musical. I was totally shocked and amazed. You really don't know what you have some times in our gear until you have a shoot out side by side. Ive had both speakers for a while and never had them side by side until this week. Im still laughing my but off. Its like I want to have a shoot out with every one who has speakers now to see if the Cantons can shoot them down.

This is the cantons. http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/CANTGLE403BCH/Canton/Gle-403-7-2-way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Beech-Pair/1.html


If you want floor standers http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/CANTGLE407CHY/Canton/Gle-407-7-2-way-Floorstanding-Speaker-Cherry-Pair/1.html

If you want something that will bring your music to life, try them...if you dont like them, you can return them.


frenchmon

[LeRoy]

http://www.onecall.com/

A few floor stander options within the budget you want to stay in.
Polk, Boston Acoustics, and Infinity.

One of the floor standers is offering a free subwoofer so saving some $$ is always an enticement.

or

http://www.audioadvisor.com/

AA has 3 floor stander options for you to consider at the price point.

or

http://www.wildwestelectronics.net/

has 2 floor stander offerings in your price range

or

consider a whole HT speaker package

Canton Movie 100 MX Home Cinema System
$499.00

Frenchmon already gave you the website for this
speaker Brand.

Good luck with your selections.

[LeRoy]

I was thinking of the overall final product sound you would get. If you mismatch the tones from the various speakers you may wind up not liking the presentation very much. Instead, try to stick with the same speaker line where the tones would match up.

You may want to consider this line as you can put together a system to meet your budget and the tonal quality would be the same across all the speakers.

http://www.cerwinvega.com/

[mrkerala]

What about PSB B25 or B6 and C40 + Use my existing Yamaha sub?
Or buy KEF C7 from (http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/KEFC7BLK/KEF/C7-Two-Way-6-Floorstanding-Speakers-Pair-Black/1.html). Any feedback on both of these online retailer?

[mrkerala]

Ok slight change in plans. Got T55 (found a good deal @ local retailer) and ordered for AVR-1910 (from Expo for $380 shipped). Now I'll wait for a month or 2 to upgrade my center speakers. Now the question I have for you guys is do I have to buy the same series (c40/c60) center speakers or can I get a diff brand/model?