# Budget upgrade from used hand me downs, will I notice?



## sayguh (Mar 22, 2013)

While in college I dropped some "big money" ($500) at the time and got a 5.1 system off craiglist consisting of 4 Polk RM2300, the matching center RM2600, and the PSW250 sub. I forget what receiver I had but I now have a refurb Sherwood Newcastle R-972 that I got from slickdeals or woot.

Now that I'm all grown up, and doing a den renovation I figured I'd try and upgrade the system. The problem is I don't really know the quality of my existing setup and I don't want to spend money on something and not notice a significant difference. I also don't want to break the bank (since that's the job of the den renovation).

The full open room is 14 x 19 but due to stairs, and the positioning of a door into another space the TV area is approx. 14 x 14. We use the space exclusively for TV / Movies. The left front speaker is too close to the stairs for a floor standing speaker so I've got it wall mounted so I need to use small-ish bookshelf speakers. It goes stairs, speaker, door, TV. Stairs, door, speaker TV wouldn't give any distance between TV & stereo speakers.

I've read loads of good reviews for the Micca MB42x bookshelf speakers as the go to budget small-ish bookshelf and my thought is the RM2300 / RM2600 are the weakest part of my setup. I'm on the fence about upgrading the sub and was considering going to a 12" with the PSW505 or BIC F12 to get a deeper base than my 10" can provide. Will I notice a significant difference with either of these choices (Micca and/or Sub upgrade)? Which will contribute more to the difference? 

Thoughts?


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

There's no indication of how long ago college was, so it's hard to gauge how old the current setup is. That might help answer some questions right away; if you got the system 2 years ago that's one answer, but it would be completely different if that was 10 years ago. And how old the equipment was before you bought it is also a factor. If you're in the process of upgrading why hold on to anything that's had years and years of use, and by more than one owner? Be that as it may...

If you're looking for a "significant difference" going from speakers with a 3.5 midrange to ones that use a 4" midrange probably won't do it. That's almost like-for-like, to be honest. You may be better served going a bit larger and considering things like the WaveCrest HVL-1. The subwoofers you're looking at are budget-oriented so they won't provide a huge difference in clarity/precision, but either of them will certainly have more output and depth. The sub upgrade will surely have a more noticeable difference than the Micca speakers you're considering.

Do you have a budget in mind? That will more than likely help you decide a bunch of things.


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

Hello sayguh.
Please give give the maximum budget you can spend.
Without that no one can realistically help you.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
I would check out the Andrew Jones designed Pioneer Speakers which are amazingly cheap for the performance offered. As I have been away for a few years, the name of the models escapes me, but should be easily found.
Best,
Jack


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## lovinthehd (Mar 17, 2012)

Your receiver has Trinnov room correction software, which is among the better ones available in an avr. No longer available in an avr, either. 

I agree with Jman's thought don't make a sideways move, but hard to know where you can go without a budget. While the Bic F12 and Polk PSW505 might be slightly better than what you've got, I'd hold off on that and get better speakers first, hopefully you can accommodate a larger driver as Jman mentioned.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

As Jack mentioned the pioneer speakers would be an upgrade 
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-PK52FS-Theater-Speaker-Package/dp/B00IK8I9K2


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