To Surround or Not to Surround.

[rcm3]

I've recently acquired some beautiful Paradigm Studio 60 v3s (R/L/C) and they sound fantastic.

My old setup consisted of cheap speakers from a Aiwa 5.1 home-theater-in-a-box system. All together, they sounded totally adequate.

So the question is: Do I use the sub and surrounds from the old Aiwa system with the new Paradigm speakers to complete a full surround package? Or do I forgo having surround-channels and a sub to avoid tainting the sound from the monster Paradigm speakers?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[gareth_alien]

I did much the same thing. I had an old Sony 5.1 speaker set and then later picked up two Tannoy M3s and an MC at an absolute bargain from the classifieds here. What I did was use the classifieds here to pick up surround speakers to match and flogged the old set. I now have a great surround setup (as detailed in my sig)

To answer your question - the old aiwa speakers would be a very poor choice to put with your new paradigms. The sub would probably do OK for a short while, but you've unwittingly entered yourself into the first stage of 'upgradeitis'.

 

[gilesy5]

Yes, you definitely have a bad case of upgradeitis as Gareth_Alien quite rightly says. Put the Aiwa speakers as your surrounds and you'll just KNOW that they could sound oh-so-much better if you flexed the credit card a bit...

Are the surround speakers from the Aiwa system the same as the front speakers? or are the front speakers bigger? I would've thought the front speakers from the old system connected as the surrounds may be a better bet.

However I don't think the Aiwa's sub will have a patch on the bass that can be created with your Paradigm speakers. I think connecting this will make things worse, rather than better.

You've got a couple of purchases ahead methinks!

 

[rcm3]

Thanks for the advice!

Wish me luck with my 'upgraditis'.

I'll keep an eye on the local classifieds.