Recomendations for companions to Bose 301s

[jamesda3]

I have two Bose 301 series II speakers. I want to know what would be good for rear speakers and a center channel to go along with this. I have been looking at the bose vcs 30 package( bose 161 rears and vcs 20 center). I am a teen who wants lots of power but i still want it to sound good. I like movies and listening to music alot. Any suggestions are good.

[blackraven]

If you want good sound you will need to get rid of the Bose IMHO. But if you must keep them, then I would suggest using the Bose for the rear speakers and upgrading to better speakers for front channel. Being a teen I suspect you dont have alot of money. There for a few good low cost speakers that come to mind. The infinity Primus 162's, infinity Beta 20's, PSB Alpha B1's, wharfdale's to name a few. Any of these will be better than the 301's. All these speakers can be had for $200-300 a pair. The infinity's also have decent matching center channels. Do you have a subwoofer, if so then check out the paradigm atoms as well. But for loud music, the infinity Beta's do it well. Check out www.stereophile.com for reviews under budget components for the infinity 162's, PSB's and Paradigm.
You might also want to consider saving your money and buying some more expensive speakers and forgo the center channel and use your front channel as your center for now.

By the way, what amp do you have?

[N. Abstentia]

How can you say you are concerned with quality sound, yet have Bose speakers??? Makes no sense....

[jamesda3]

Thanks. I just got into home theater and i guess bose has always seemed nice to me but from what everyone says there seems to be alot nicer speakers out. I have a sony srt-d590 reciever which seems to be nice. Ive never really heard a home theater system before that i really listened to so to me the bose 301s seem really nice and i even just re-foamed them. I have it in my bedroom so they seem to fill my room up plenty. My rooms a good size. Thanks for the recomendations ill check them out and anything insight you guys could give me would be sweet.

[jamesda3]

What do you guys think of floorstanders? If i can afford them would getting like infinitys beta 20's be better versus beta 40's? I mean i know there supposed to be nicer but whats your opinion on them?

[blackraven]

The beta 40's would be an improvement over the 20's with deeper bass. But if you can afford the beta 40's then you might want to consider some better bookshelf's like B&W 685's. I've heard the beta 40's and they sound pretty nice for a lower end speaker. You'll definitely have better bass response.

[canuckle]

Consider added Athena and Polk to your list. Very low-cost but you get a very good quality product in return. The above recommendation to use the 301s as rears is a good one. BOSE throws sound around in a way that is supposed to make them sound bigger than they are, but in a 5.1 world all they do is screw up the soundstage.