Need help choosing an upgrade for my 340se LCR

[cwwfive]

Hello Ascend Folks,

I've been upgrading and rearranging my living room home theater setup and I think it's finally time to upgrade my cmt-340se LCR. They've served me well, but clearly a lot has changed since 2006. That said, I've done a lot of reading, learning, and overanalyzing of every mention I can find of potential upgrade candidates, and I'm at the point where I'm spinning my wheels and every day a different option sounds like the best one. With that in mind I seek some guidance from the more experienced and better informed here.


Background info:

Goals:

Primary: upgrade HT to 7.1.4 that give more movie theater like experience, increase fun factor, punch, dialogue clarity, sound stage, etc...

Secondary: upgrade music experience as this is my only setup for both music and movies

Parameters:

- Room: 14x20x8, sit 9-10ft, speakers ~7ft apart and 6-8" off the back wall 3 ft from the sides.

- Usage: 80/20 HT to Music, listen to all kinds of music but favoring rock a bit

- Current gear: 5.1 cmt-340se lcr, htm-200 surrounds, rsl 12s sub, Pioneer lx505 and monoprice 7100x amp


Options:

I think I've kind of narrowed down the options to the following (though open to any suggestions):

- do nothing (keep putting a in bad center once in a while to better appreciate what I have)
- cmt-340se2 LCR (the more affordable option, maybe more of a side grade than I'm looking for, not sure?)
- sierra lx, horizon v2 titan/raal (perhaps a more responsible upgrade option)
- sierra lx, elx horizon titan/raal (maybe the sweet spot choice, maybe overkill or diminishing returns, dunno?)
- elx tower titan/raal, elx horizon titan/raal (yolo)


It feels like I'm right at the 50/50 point for raal vs titan after a conversation with Dina and from the recommendations I'd read, so any additional input on that point would be welcome. One of the things that helped spark this journey was my old sub failing. Replacing that with the rsl 12s was a huge improvement. So that's got me wondering what kind of improvement I can get in my LCR. Without having heard any of these options it's hard to know what level one needs to go to in order to get a substantial improvement. So I suppose that's the other major decision point here.

I don't have a lot of experience with other speakers so it's hard to draw comparisons about what I like, but I did recently try to upgrade the center to a three way Monoprice THX-365c thinking I could maybe get away with that and upgrade just the mains for now. That was a mistake. It sounded to me like it was sitting inside of a bucket. To be fair maybe only about 10-20% bucket sound but I was very happy to switch back to my 340se and learned a lesson about trying to skimp on the center.

Thanks to all of you here. I appreciate all the posts and reviews, they've been very helpful and I look forward to your input.


-Chuck

[racrawford65]

Total budget?

Since your mostly HT, IMO the Horizon for center. RAAL or Titan up to you. FWIW, I prefer the RAAL.

Other speakers depend on budget. I’d spend a bigger chunk on FL/FR. Surrounds/ATMOS can economize, IMO.

[Bruce Watson]

Goals:

Primary: upgrade HT to 7.1.4 that give more movie theater like experience, increase fun factor, punch, dialogue clarity, sound stage, etc...

Secondary: upgrade music experience as this is my only setup for both music and movies

Parameters:

- Room: 14x20x8, sit 9-10ft, speakers ~7ft apart and 6-8" off the back wall 3 ft from the sides.

- Usage: 80/20 HT to Music, listen to all kinds of music but favoring rock a bit

- Current gear: 5.1 cmt-340se lcr, htm-200 surrounds, rsl 12s sub, Pioneer lx505 and monoprice 7100x amp


Options:

I think I've kind of narrowed down the options to the following (though open to any suggestions):

- do nothing (keep putting a in bad center once in a while to better appreciate what I have)
- cmt-340se2 LCR (the more affordable option, maybe more of a side grade than I'm looking for, not sure?)
- sierra lx, horizon v2 titan/raal (perhaps a more responsible upgrade option)
- sierra lx, elx horizon titan/raal (maybe the sweet spot choice, maybe overkill or diminishing returns, dunno?)
- elx tower titan/raal, elx horizon titan/raal (yolo)


It feels like I'm right at the 50/50 point for raal vs titan after a conversation with Dina and from the recommendations I'd read, so any additional input on that point would be welcome.

As much information as you've included, there's not enough information here to make it possible for me to give you more than a nudge forward. So, here goes:

If you have the cash and want to make this a one-and-done kinda thing, your last option is the obvious choice.

If you want a more incremental approach, given where you're starting from, I'd probably go with your option three. And remember, Ascend Acoustics has an in-home trial for speakers. All it costs you is some freight. Unless you're like me; I never returned the speakers which made the trial a wee bit more expensive.

It seems to me reading the posts on this board that the biggest bang for the buck seems to be the Sierra LXs with any of the centers (Duo v2, Horizon v2, or ELX Horizon). But Dina / Dave can verify what their big sellers are.

Finally, if you're really on the fence about which way to go, I'd suggest going with whatever Dina recommends. Dina and Dave seem to be seriously interested in getting people the right equipment to meet their needs, whatever those needs seem to be. They will honestly try to help you. Which is what their in-home trial is all about, making sure you get what you need.

[muzz]

This is true, Dave will not try to upsell you he doesn't do that.
That's never been who he is.
He'll listen to you, and give a suggestion based on what you tell him.
Make sure you say $ intended, that will help quickly.
Have Fun, buying is exciting. 😆👍

[cwwfive]

Total budget?

Since your mostly HT, IMO the Horizon for center. RAAL or Titan up to you. FWIW, I prefer the RAAL.

Other speakers depend on budget. I’d spend a bigger chunk on FL/FR. Surrounds/ATMOS can economize, IMO.

Good question regarding the budget, I really don't have a specific one in mind yet as it kind of depends on the value proposition of each option. That said the full elx option is a stretch and considerably less comfortable. It's just not totally out of the question if all signs point to it being clearly the best option for my use case (especially so if it may be I'd need more amplification for a bookshelf option).

As much information as you've included, there's not enough information here to make it possible for me to give you more than a nudge forward. So, here goes:

If you have the cash and want to make this a one-and-done kinda thing, your last option is the obvious choice.

If you want a more incremental approach, given where you're starting from, I'd probably go with your option three. And remember, Ascend Acoustics has an in-home trial for speakers. All it costs you is some freight. Unless you're like me; I never returned the speakers which made the trial a wee bit more expensive.

It seems to me reading the posts on this board that the biggest bang for the buck seems to be the Sierra LXs with any of the centers (Duo v2, Horizon v2, or ELX Horizon). But Dina / Dave can verify what their big sellers are.

Finally, if you're really on the fence about which way to go, I'd suggest going with whatever Dina recommends. Dina and Dave seem to be seriously interested in getting people the right equipment to meet their needs, whatever those needs seem to be. They will honestly try to help you. Which is what their in-home trial is all about, making sure you get what you need.

Thanks for the incremental advice, that's really helpful and maybe I need to just define the desired end state first. I suppose that approach would mean solve for tweeter first, work backward toward center, and then select the level of mains.

This is true, Dave will not try to upsell you he doesn't do that.
That's never been who he is.
He'll listen to you, and give a suggestion based on what you tell him.
Make sure you say $ intended, that will help quickly.
Have Fun, buying is exciting. 😆👍

That's great advice, thanks! I do sometimes forget that part as I generally hate shopping. Having the stuff at the end of it though is definitely the fun part to look forward to.

[davef]

Hi cwwfive,

We are very happy to assist you directly so please feel free to reach out by phone or by email

[zeeke42]

I have 3 Sierra LX for L/C/R and I'm extremely happy with them. I think the LX is a contender for best bang for the buck HT speaker on the market. Of your options, I'd probably go with LX and horizon titan.

You haven't said what you're considering for the other speakers, but I think HTM200s are fine for surrounds / atmos. I have a 5.1 setup with HTM200 surrounds and don't feel like I'm missing anything. I'd definitely add more HTM200 for Atmos before upgrading surrounds if I could, but heights are a WAF no go.

I'm not sure how much value rears add these days. 7.1 never really caught on. Most streaming content is either 5.1 or Atmos but without much positioned to the rear. They'd definitely be the last speakers I added, after going to 5.1.4.

[curtis]

I also have LX's up front and 200se's surrounds, with a Rythmik F15hp.

Very happy with he setup.

[racrawford65]

I agree that the HTM200's work great for surrounds/ATMOS speakers. Before I moved to the Towers, I was using HTM200's as surrounds & ATMOS with S2's across the front. Moved the S2 (now S2EXv2) to surround duty when I got the Towers. HTM200's still as ATMOS heights. Sold the S2 center and moved the other pair of HTM's to our house in Brazil.