Question What to upgrade next?

Hooblue

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Hi All,

My old 47" LED TV recently gave up the ghost so I was lucky enough to be able to upgrade to a new 4K HDR 58" Panasonic. However, in order to get the most out of it I have decided to now upgrade a few of the other components in my set up. However the question is what to upgrade and with what?

My current kit list is as follows:

Panasonic 58DX802B LED TV
Denon AVR-2113 reciever
Q Acoustics 2050i fronts
Q Acoustics 2000Ci centre
Tannoy sub from the SFX5.1 package
Tannoy rears from the SFX5.1 package
Sony BDP-5100 bluray player
PS4
Synology NAS
Harmony Ultimate

Total budget is about £650. One thing I certainly want is to replace the Sony bluray with a UHD player. Thinking about either the Panasonic UB900 or Sony BDP-X800 or maybe the Panasonic UB700 if funds don't allow for the other two. Which would be best?

The real question is do I go for a new receiver to allow for the 4K passthrough (I know I don't strictly need this as I can separate out the audio and video from the UHD player, so I could manage with the old Denon for now) and Dolby Atmos (worth it?), or do I spend the remaining money elsewhere?

I have been considering a new sub like the Rel T-ZERO or maybe a Q Acoustics 2070 to match the fronts (although it is abit long so sticks out from the wall past the TV cabinet and fronts). I've even considered the MA WS10 as that can be wireless meaning I can place it to the rear of the room beside the sofa.

Where would my cash be best spent?
 
In your position I would definitely consider Atmos, it makes a huge difference.

You'd need a new receiver and 4K Blu Ray player, plus two overhead speakers (or "Atmos enabled" speakers which sit on top of your front L/R speakers).

It might be tricky with a £650 budget as Atmos receivers seem to start at around £400.

You could potentially save a bit by getting a UHD player from the classifieds on here, maybe even look for some speakers here too.
 
Given the budget I would say the best improvements in sound would come from a better sub and also upgrading the surrounds so that they match the fronts (a pair of 2010s would be a good start). As for the sub, I would look at the BK range as they will offer better value for money than the Rel and better performance than the QA sub.
 
Cheers guys. I was certainly thinking of maybe going second hand to get more for my money.

Certainly will be getting a UHD bluray player as a first step so I have some content to watch.

Agree about the surrounds and also the sub. It would be fine to upgrade the surrounds (although the Tannoys are quite small so very wife friendly whereas the QA's are abit bigger) but in terms of the sub I'm abit limited due to the size of the space I have available. It has to fit inbetween one of the fronts and the AV cabinet, so the Tannoy is the perfect fit width wise (about 25cm across). Anything bigger just won't fit in the gap, which is why I was considering the Q Acoustics as it's slim but long, or the REL as it's narrow also. I might get away with a BK Gemini 2 or the XLS200 but would need to move the AV cabinet over about 4cm which would mean it would be ever so slightly off centre. o_O

I'd love a new receiver also but like you say, given my budget I'm not sure if it would give me the suitable level of improvement for the money. Really the only thing it would add at my price point would be Atmos and the ability to have a single HDMI to the TV (not a problem as I ran several in the wall to deal with upgrades when we moved in), rather than having one for audio and one for video.

Eventually I'll certainly be doing both but you've certainly made me think about which to do first! :thumbsup:
 
'in order to get the most out of it' - for a staged upgrade an UHD BD Player with Dual HDMI Outputs is a decent first step (assuming you see yourself purchasing enough UHD BD Discs to warrant the expense). Dual HDMI Out will require one HDMI cable direct to the Display plus one to your 'Legacy' AVR.

Audio - if you don't see yourself purchasing a lot of UHD BD Discs then agreed with Roohster and PSM1 that audio is where your best gains lie.

Joe
 

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