Upgrading mains or subwoofer?

Welp, I was considering upgrading my Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 mains to CMT-340m mains and moving my 170's to L/R surrounds since I only have 3 speakers now. Should I go 5.1, OR should I just get the HSU VTF-2 MK 2 and leave my mains alone?

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Originally Posted by Lord Nikon

Welp, I was considering upgrading my Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 mains to CMT-340m mains and moving my 170's to L/R surrounds since I only have 3 speakers now. Should I go 5.1, OR should I just get the HSU VTF-2 MK 2 and leave my mains alone?

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Going with larger mains. The switch to 5.1 will make a BIG difference with HT. If your only using your setup for audio then you might consider a sub instead, but my guess is that the larger Ascends will have more than just increased bass output going for them.

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Originally Posted by Geoffcin

Going with larger mains. The switch to 5.1 will make a BIG difference with HT. If your only using your setup for audio then you might consider a sub instead, but my guess is that the larger Ascends will have more than just increased bass output going for them.

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Ascend went pretty much as far as stating you won't need a sub if you get CMT-340 mains. :) I do have the 340 center and that sucker produces more bass than I expected and at times makes me feel like I have a sub. I would get a deeper sound stage with the larger mains, and more depth from the 5.1 surrounds. I use it mainly for home theatre, perhaps 10% music. Lets see what other say to. Thanks for responding.

Well there's no doubt about it if you mainly watch movies. Finish the surround setup and upgrade the fronts. Than someday you can get a subwoofer, if you feel you need it.

-Joey

I'd add the sub. You can always upgrade the mains later on if you choose but HT is about impact. Adding the sub should improve the sound of your current 170s. I would upgrade the mains at a later time.

Definitely go with the five speaker setup if you haven't done that yet. To me, by far the biggest difference between modern surround sound and everything that came before is the discrete full-bandwidth split surround channels. It's that immersion effect and feeling that you're in the middle of a scene that sets the 5.1 experience apart. With 5.1 music sources, the side imaging stability and big soundstage on the better mixes can be far beyond anything that I've ever heard from even reference quality two-channel setups. And the only way you can fully get that sensation is to go with timbre matched surround speakers and position them properly.

A subwoofer does add impact and depth to what you are listening to, but if your main sources are 5.1, then I think the surround speakers add more to the experience than the sub can, especially if the new main speakers already extend the frequency range further down than what you currently get.

According to the 370 specs it will not go below 50Hz at -3db. While this is a very noticeable improvement a sub would still be required.

Some cheap surrounds from yard sale will help, to be sure. Would use those for interim surrounds until the mains can be upgraded.