Hi There. I wonder if you can give me hand. I was saving some money to buy a new AV Amp (maybe the Pioneer 1015) and mentioned it to a relative who surprised me with a Sony STR-DE 698 as a gift. It was nice of him but from the reviews I’ve read I know now that is not the best Amp around. I needed some advices on which speaker are best suited considering the limitations of the Sony. I was thinking of buying a good pair of stereo speakers for music listening (I’ve seen a pair of Kef’s Q3 for a good price) and get the other speakers and sub separately to build a 7.1 system. Is this a practical solution? I’ve listened the Sony STR-DE 698 in a store with 5.1 JBL Speakers and Sony ??? DVD player. The sound was “pleasant” while playing movies although not very powerful, but it felt really weak while playing music. Something was missing in the mid range and the bass lacked detail. First I thought it was the speakers fault but it might be the Amp also. Do you think that a good pair of stereo speakers will solve this? Will this pair work well with an additional 5.1 speakers? Thanks in advance for your feedback! I have a living room with 5mts. by 4 a bit cramped with furniture.
whats your budget like for equipment? sony's lower end receivers were never really very good. if you can afford it, i'd personally build a system, starting with a 'good' receiver, then working on speakers. to answer your question though, good speakers wont make a crappy receiver sound good, vice-versa.... like the saying goes..... you cant get blood from a turnip !
