pelenor

Okay, it's come down to this. I used to be a complete audiophile when I purchased my first Suround sound system waaaaay back in 1993. I have since upgraded the speakers in 1995 and the reciever in 1999. I haven't been keeping up on all the new equipment and such, but I'm considering upgrading. I have a Pioneer Reciever VSX-D608 and JBL Speakers which are the old Music/Movies package. Each speaker is 120 watts and the Sub is 150 powered. The reason I'm thinking of upgrading is that the sound isn't as loud or clear as it should be. I think one of the speakers is blown and the reciever always goes to "overload" when the volume is turned past a certain point. I went through the whole troubleshooting with changing the speakers from small to large, changed/checked the wiring, etc. Still no go. The sub doesn't "thump" as it did with the old recieverr I had.

Long story short, should I buy just a new reciever or completely upgrade everything?

I'm looking to spend about $500 or so on everything now, or buy either one or the other first, then the other later.

Thoughts, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

renaldow

If your speakers are blown, that's where I'd start. You could drop hundreds on a new receiver, yet still have a blown speaker. What would be the point?

For $500 you might want to look at upgrading to the newer JBL Northridge E Series speakers. Save up some more money then buy a new receiver.

flyingdragon

If I was in your shoes, this would be my gameplan. I would buy new main speakers and save up for a matching center channel. For $500 I would buy the new Athenas.

Next would be an entry-level high current amp like a Marantz or Denon around $500.

The receiver has little to do with the way the sub thumps, it just relays the frequency to the sub and your sub does the rest. So it might be the room setup or you might need to recalibrate.