Dead Harman Kardon HKTS7 Subwoofer - Replace or Upgrade?

jspaceman

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I have a Harman/Kardon AVR130 receiver and Harman/Kardon HKTS7 5.1 speaker package, which I've been very happy with. However, the subwoofer unit has stopped working. I had it fail before about 18 months ago and had it repaired that time, but this time around I'm thinking of writing it off and either replacing or upgrading it. I've seen a 2nd hand HKTS2 2.1 set on eBay for (currently) 50 quid, which seems to be the sub and 2 satellites from the HKTS11 set. So one option would be to buy that basically just to use the sub as a solution for the time being. I already had planned that at some point in the medium term I want to upgrade the whole setup to better speakers and HD audio support (once funds permit, but at this stage they don't).

Alternatively, I may be able to persuade myself into upgrading the sub now with a budget in the region of £200-300. I live in a flat and as such don't need to be able to fill a huge space - my room is around 5.5m x 3.5m (plus a small dining area off to the side of maybe 2.5m x 2m) with low ceiling. My use is primarily movies, with some music and games as well, but suitability for movies is the priority.

From spending the last couple of days reading around here, there seems a lot of enthusiasm for the BK subs and my budget would run to the Gemini or XLS200, depending on how much I chose to spend. Would the XLS200 be sufficiently better with the rest of my set up to justify the extra £100? And given the plan to upgrade the rest of the kit, would this be the wiser option? Are there alternatives I should be considering in this price range as well (given that I don't have an opportunity to try the BKs before I buy), or is everyone agreed that in terms of "bang for buck" BK is the way I should be going?

So in summary there are 2 questions really: 1. should I go with the eBay "replace" option or should I upgrade the sub now with a view to the rest following later? And if the answer is upgrade then: 2. what should I upgrade to?
 

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