HELP! Do i upgrade?

Hello all!

Thanks for sharing all your insight! :bowdown: With that said I need some help. I was thinking of upgrading my main speakers... I am the second owner of a pair of well loved Aerius i (Aug/1998) and a dynamo (jan 2006). I live in a smallish (listening room is a few hundred SqFt) condo here in Chicago so i mostly listen at low/moderate volumes. I have a jolida 202A (40wpc) tube amp powering them. I MOSTLY use them for DVDs/TV/and gaming with 25% or so for music.

So my questions are... (drum roll). (Basically whats my best bet)

1) Do i leave as is b/c this set up is perfect for my place/listening tastes...

2) Replace panels, cone speakes, and such and be happy with what i got. With an option to upgrade to better/bigger speakers when i get a bigger place...

3) Buy new/used vistas b/c they are that much better than my current speakers...

4) buy a real nice pair on requests at a shop near me b/c they are that much better than my current speakers.


thanks all,
matt :rocker:

Matt,

Those are good questions and you have a nice system already, so the good thing is that you don't need to be in a hurry to do anything at all.

I lived with a pair of Aerius i's for 7 years and was quite content with them. However, in March of this year I couldn't resist the Vista's and bought a pair and haven't looked back. Everything that I liked about the Aerius, the Vista's had, but it was more. After I had the Vista's for a couple of months I visited a high end store in Phoenix and listened (briefly) to a lot of really high $$ systems (MBL, Sonus Faber, Dali Megalines, and Summits) and at the end of the day, rather than having extreme system envy, I realized that my system captured a large percentage of the sound of those other systems. Would I like to get a pair of Summits? You bet, but in the midrange, at moderate volumes in a smallish room, I feel the Vista's are fully competative with just about anything you can think of.

I don't know how the Requests would compare to the Aerius' but my guess is that in a smaller room there would be a difference in the sound, but the overall character of the sound would be very much the same.

I think the Vista's coherence and midrange elevates it above the Aerius and the Request.

If you really want to spend the $$ I would vote for the Vista's. If you want to add a bit more money to your 401K, you could live with the Aerius' a bit longer and still be content that there aren't too many systems out there that would better it.

Just my 2cents. :meditate:

Chuck

Considering that you stated 75% of the use is for TV and Gaming........ Save your money !!! If your music someday approaches or exceeeds 50% then maybe it would be justified.

I agree with Dave. For your current room and listening requirements, I don't think that upgrading will buy you a lot.

ReQuests fair best in big rooms, large enough to accomodate ample side/rear wall clearance, so I would hold off.

T-