my experience with HTIB speakers is they are crap and often 3ohm. your receiver probably doesnt recommend using 3ohm speakers with it anyway.
my recommendation on your price range is this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pioneer+...99165100050018
these pioneer speakers are great, especially for the price. the combo package basically gets you the rears for free versus buying all the components separately. i have the towers and center and love them. there is a huge thread praising them at avsforum too. mine are paired with an onkyo 609.
That looks really interesting, just sucks it's from Best Buy. Maybe I could get over my loathing of them to get a good deal.
Yeah my current speakers are all 3ohm and the center is 6ohm. Is that super bad, couldnt damage the receiver right?
Like Howard says, if you want to do a speaker upgrade for $200-$300, you are looking at upgrading the front two to an OK pair of bookshelf speakers. A good center channel is nice though. MIght even be better off getting that upgrade since alot of hte voices come through it.
If getting hte better sub amp, how about an upgrade plan to a better sub one day? If you had to get the sub of your dreams, how big would it be?
I had no idea how much this stuff costs. Dont know if I'd like going from 5.1 down to 2.1, but I suppose the difference in quality makes up for it.
I dont know enough to have a sub of my dreams so...a really big one?
If you get a sub I would get 3 HTD middies @ $90/each and forget the rears till you have more money (running a 3.1 system)... or just get two middies, run a 2.1 setup, save up for better fronts, buy better fronts when the money is there and move the middies to the rear for a 5.1 setup.
What are HTD middies? I looked around on amazon and couldnt find anything.
So how much would 5
decent speakers cost vs 5
good speakers?
I might have some more money coming in soon.
Thanks for all the help so far, this reminds me of when I got my first PC.
edit: also do I need to buy a subwoofer cable like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-Ultra-Shielded-Subwoofer-Connectors/dp/B003FW0WIK/ or do they usually come with a cable?