What should I do for Christmas?

[DelSi]

I have somewhere between 300-400 dollars to spend. I am a college student who lives in a small apartment. I was wondering if you guys had any advice about which part of my system you would upgrade. It is a hoge poge of stuff that I have collected over the years. Right now my system looks like this:

Polk Rti4 Fronts
Polk Csi3 center
Bose series 3 surrounds
Sony STR-DE685
LG LRM-519 for DVD, CD, DVR
PS2

I don't play a lot of games. My system is mostly used for watching TV and Playing DVDs I also use it to listen to CDs. I'd say it is probably 80% HT and 20% music. I tought about a sub, but I really can't do that with my living situation. Anyway, I was just curious to see what you guys would recommend given my budget.

Thanks for your help,
Brian

[pixelthis]

What kind of monitor do you have? a 26in can be had pretty cheap now.
I used the dvi input on a 19in sammy widescreen computer monitor for a week, hooked it to my hd cablebox, looked pretty good.
These screen sizes might seem small but my first serious monitor was a Sony xbr
20in that I bought for 800 bucks or so in the early eighties(about 2400 in todays dollars)
And I recently had a 26in LCD, it was quite watchable.
I would tell ya to get some speakers, but since your main interest is HT the ones you have should do fine.
Enthusiatists always look to new toys, but with 300 to 400 you could seriously improve your movie collection, that might be your biggest bang per buck

[johnny p]

Movies Movies Movies! If you currently have a High-Def TV, get a Blu-Ray player!

[L.J.]

You could also consider calibration tools such as a SPL meter, DVE or Avia video calibration discs. If your happy with your current system, you could spend a little time optimizing it.

Maybe a Harmony universal remote.

[GMichael]

Was there a sub on your list? I didn't see one.
Here are a few to choose from.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=536

[markw]

Well, being a music lover, I'd consider a pair of really nice headphones. Looking in the 150 - $250 range there's a lot of goodness to be had. ...and you have some $$ left over for some DVD's, CD's and/or games.

that is, of course, assuming you've totally ruled a sub out of the picture.

[blackraven]

Get an Oppo DVD player for improved sound and video or maybe a PS3 to use as a bluray player and gaming console. Some decent speaker wire and interconnects from www.bluejeancable.com or even some larger front channel speakers for improved bass if you can't do a subwoofer. Maybe some larger Polks so you can get rid of the bose and havve matching speakers all around.
J&R.com has the RTi's on sale for $199. These would give you much improved bass over the RTi4's.

[codecougar]

I's recommend eiher a PS3 or a Sony BDPS300 Blu-ray player that you can currently get for $299. Either way, you also get 5 Blu-ray movies free by mail.

However, you don't state what you are using for a television (unless I am missing it). If you don't have a HD television, my recommendation would be to keep saving up and buy one of those.