Considering Speaker Purchase

[BTO]

Hi everyone, I just found this site while considering some different speakers to purchase. Looks like a nice forum. Anyways, I could use some advise. I am looking to upgrade from my very old Teac 4 ch "surround sound" system to a more modern 5.1 with newer speakers.
I am considering purchasing the following speakers and receiver all for sale locally for $350 (used) and would like to know if this is a really good deal or not.
Receiver - Onkyo TX-DS-494
Center - Polk CS101
Front - Polk RT55s bookshelf speakers
Rear - Polk RT25 bookshelf speakers

The bookshelf speakers also include speaker stands. I will primarily be watching movies/TV on it and will occasionally listen to music on it as well. Let me know what you think.

Thanks

[Mr Peabody]

I'm not that familiar with model and price of Polk. The Onkyo receiver is seriously outdated as far as home theater features and decoding. If you have or will be considering High Definition in the future you should look further. Sony and Pioneer offer full featured receivers starting around $199.00. to get Onkyo you'll need to add to the budget. If you have an older TV and just use DVD and have no ambitions of upgrade the package will get you by, I suspect the price for that package used is still a bit high.

[Swish]

You can certainly get a very good A/V receiver for $200 (accessories4less.com) and check Craigslist in your area for of speakers. It seems someone always has a decent deal on there, but make sure you can hear them as well as see them before you buy. You may need to spend a little bit more than $350 for everything, but it's better than buying obsolete equipment right out of the gate. The fronts and center channel speakers are much more important that the rear set, so I would spend as much as you can afford on those three, and don't get an 8" sub for cryin' out loud. They add those to 'budget' speaker systems and they're too small to get the job done.

[eisforelectronic]

I always thought the Rt-55 was a pretty decent speaker.

[Mr Peabody]

eisforelectronics, any idea what the Polk sold for new?

[SHIFTY23]

I have heard the RT55 and it seems that they are good speakers, bit on the bright side but you will definitely need a sub with the kit as they don't have much kick in the lower end. But i believe you could have a better deal out there but i would recommend spend bit more as will last longer than that system.

Also as Mr. Peabody suggested, a new amplifier wouldn't hurt as there would be much more benefit with sound and the picture quality would be 1080 upscaled to all played through it.

[SHIFTY23]

I have heard the RT55 and it seems that they are good speakers, bit on the bright side but you will definitely need a sub with the kit as they don't have much kick in the lower end. But i believe you could have a better deal out there but i would recommend spend bit more as will last longer than that system.

Also as Mr. Peabody suggested, a new amplifier wouldn't hurt as there would be much more benefit with sound and the picture quality would be 1080 upscaled to all played through it.

[BTO]

Thanks for the advise guys. I guess I will hold off on these speakers and keep looking on craigslist. I had thought that these speakers might have been really good speakers but I guess they are not as good as I thought.
Mr. Peabody, I do have a 56 inch HDTV but I usually just listen to the built-in speakers. I'm not sure why I have never bought a decent home theater system since I do have a rather nice system in my car and enjoy listening to it. My plan is to buy some good sounding bookshelf style speakers and a cheap 5 channel receiver to just run the audio through. Upconverting is not a big selling point to me since my DirecTV box outputs 1080i and my PS3 outputs at 1080p and upconverting capabilities. Latter on I plan to get a better A/V receiver with 3D HDMI capabilities but hope to find speakers good enough to keep and use with any future systems.

[Mr Peabody]

If the Polk has all five speakers you can see if the guy will sell them separately. Then buy a modern receiver and the sub. In my area I haven't seen many complete 5.1 or 5.0 systems. You occasionally see an Infinity set or some one selling their whole system like you were looking at.

[BTO]

OK, I talked the guy down to $200 for everything. Let me know if you think this is still too much for everything, otherwise I plan on buying them. I'll get a taste of what home audio should sound like. I'll probably be upgrading the receiver before too long but hopefully the speakers will sound good and all I'll need for the time being is a sub.

[Mr Peabody]

I still haven't seen retail for the Polk but $200.00 for everything seems like a good price. You won't be able to run video to the receiver, it's not set up for HD. Keep your video directly to TV. You can use either optical or coaxial digital connection from Blu-ray or cable/satelite receiver, this will allow you to get 5.1. You'll need a digital connection for
5.1. You won't be able to receive the higher rez audio from Blu-ray (DTS-MA/Tru-HD). As you say though it will let you hear some surround sound and you can always upgrade when the money is available.

[Geoffcin]

OK, I talked the guy down to $200 for everything. Let me know if you think this is still too much for everything, otherwise I plan on buying them. I'll get a taste of what home audio should sound like. I'll probably be upgrading the receiver before too long but hopefully the speakers will sound good and all I'll need for the time being is a sub.

If the speakers aren't broken then you got a good deal for $200.

[BTO]

I had a look at them today. They all worked and sounded alright. My home theater room isn't very big so I think these speakers will sound pretty good once I get a sub.I will buy them tomorrow and I'll let you guys know how they turn out once I get the time to hook everything up. Thanks for your help guys.

[Mr Peabody]

Just don't buy one of those small 100 watt 8" subs, even in a small room I don't think they will do you much good. I have seen some pretty decent subs on CL from the likes of Klipsch or Paradigm.

Take a look at www.emotiva.com under subwoofers, they are reasonable for new and good quality.

[eisforelectronic]

I think the RT55's went for about $400-$500 a pair, but that was about 10 years ago. I did like them the best of the RT series.

[BTO]

Well thanks guys. The speakers sound pretty good however, one of the front speakers' tweeter is apparently blown as no sound is coming out of it so I will have to replace it. Other than that they sound pretty good to me.

[Mr Peabody]

Blown tweeter, that's a bummer. You might try switching the tweeters from one to the other main to be sure it's the tweeter. Or, remove the one that isn't working and hook it up by itself to see if it works. If it is for sure the tweeter I'd contact Polk to see if a direct replacement could be had. You don't want to put some generic tweet in there that will unbalance the sound of the speaker and the whole system.