I still consider myself a HT beginner. I'm interested in upgrading my 1070 setup sometime soon. It's not immediate since my wife is not working right now. With me being the sole source of income, I'm going to wait until she's working again before dropping any cash on new HT equipment, so if new products are around the corner, they're options as well.

I'm interested in an audio or video upgrade, but I would classify audio as the the priority. Given the setup you see, anyone care to suggest a decent upgrade? I have a couple micro-sized RBH speakers that could become speakers 6 and 7 but I need a profossional to fish the wires into my ceiling. That's a possibility. Right now I use the Xbox as my DVD player which has it's annoying moments (mainly the jet engine sound of the fan). I've almost purchased an Oppo up-converting player numerous times but I'm hung up on the fact that I don't have THAT many movies to upconvert. Meanwhile my HD-DVD player for the x-box has no HDMI which in itself is a little annoying. So I'm a little hung up. Cable upgrades? A second sub? More power? Help a guy out. I'm thinking something in the $1000-2500 range, nothing too drastic.

You seem to have some great stuff there. Not into audiophile territory but frankly better than my setup. Might be time to just have some fun and do the tweaking thing for a while?
Build yourself some new main speaker cables, put everything on spikes, try different stuff that you hear about but sounded too silly to actually work. Put concrete blocks on top of your CD player (kidding! - just use marble tiles).
Go to http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/tweaks.html and have a peek. I built the TNT FFRC speaker cables and they did add some clarity to my music listening. I went back and forth just to make sure and they do seem to work nicely. Plus they look very cool and cost a tiny fraction of what I could have spent.
Find a source of real good connections - I put on $6 a pop Nordost banana plugs and they are very nice. It's likely the only Nordost I can afford!
For fun you might want to try out some vinyl! You can probably find a great turntable for $100 somewhere and then a decent phono stage (NAD PP2 ish) and then hit up the local used book or vintage vinyl store and spend $100 or something. It's lots of fun, sounds very, very good and there you go - $300 and you've got a whole new hobby! You might just be surprised at how a $300 setup might put a $1000 cd player to shame.
For $1000 - $2500 you can have a year or more worth of fun tweaking and it doesn't have to be an all at once expense like a new tube preamp or something...
Good luck!

Thanks for the response.

I'm not sure making my own speaker cables would be much of a successful project. I dont mind DIY projects but they typically deal w/ drywall and saws, not wiring The turntable project sounds good. I may have to look into picking one up. In my stupid days, I got rid of a technics semi-automatic turntable and my father's entire classic rock LP collection upon return from college. I got a lot of use out of it up there and the LP's were quite worn. but in hindsight, i feel like an ass for not keeping all that. I didn't know what I was doing. In hindsight I could've thrown out a quality turn table but I'll never know now. My pops didn't buy junk but he didn't want it either. I didn't foresee the HT/audio junkie that I was going to become in a few years.

Now I'm thinking, to make my HT more audiophile friendly, I can see that using the SNT's as fronts could be a hearing bottleneck (for lack of a better term). I woudl think a pair of good towers in the front would be a sensible upgrade. I could always shift the front 2 SNT's to be channels 6 and 7 and purchase a pair of towers. Hmm...The upconverting DVD player is something that's back in my mind too. But I need to get this DVI switching on the 1070 to work if I'm to juggle the FiOS cable box and the DVD player with any grace.

REDSI,
just curious, what is it you are not happy with or want more of? I am going through a complete upgrade now, might be able to offer some direction I am using but really don't know what you are after.
UMtiger

RedSI, I feel your pain. Sounds like your dad abondoned something similar to the Technics SL1950 changer I just picked up. I'd have preferred a single play unit but I'm still pretty happy with it for now. If you want to get back into it you can do worse than the ProJect Debut III or Xpression models. In the US they must run about $350 and $550 or something.
You have considered the Oppo and from all I read that would be a great addition. I almost kick myself for having bought a Pioneer Elite DV46-AV recently! Having said that I am pleased with the image on my old Sony 53" rear projector. I hope to pick up a front projector very soon to take advantage of the HDMI/DVI output.
Were you having trouble with the DVI on the 1070? I was under the impression that the DVI to HDMI converter cables worked pretty well...
I don't know too much about the speakers you have although our only local HiFi store sells B&W almost exclusively. They say you should put most of your money into your speakers. You have the same conundrum I have though. Since you have a sub then you don't necessarily have to go full range although lots of purists figure full range fronts make the best music speakers. You also have the issue of matching the center channel speaker. With your budget you might be able to pull off some very good main speakers and a couple of decent monoblock amps. Say $1000 for the speakers and $1500 for amp(s). Just add them to your stuff and drive them from the Outlaw pre-outs.
And don't be afraid of wiring. Heck - it's just twist, strip, solder!

This isn't popular, but I've got to say it...

Room Treatment.

And I don't mean hocus-pocus, either, I mean bass traps, dampening material, maybe do some work with lighting and curtains too to help out the video as well. Eliminate the floor-ceiling bounces. This will make ANY system sound better.

It's also not expensive, though it can be quite time-consuming, not to mention you may have to work to find room treatments that you can live with on a daily basis. But you'll be glad you did.

I've got to agree with R.M on room treatments. I'm beefing up rugs over my tile floor and I'll soon add some Knauf insulation boards (similar to Owens Corning 703) on the walls. I'm taking care of first reflection points where I can achieve some WAF. For example one of the wall reflection points will have the insulation board behind a quilt my wife made. I have to admit, she is not thrilled about the insulation board on the ceiling regardless of how nice I tell her it will look!

Yeah the room treatments will be a tough sell to the wife, considering we JUST repainted and laid new carpet in this room. Like I said in my original post, I'm still pretty new to the entire spectrum of mods that are associated to HT, so room treatments didn't even occur to me when I was doing this room. Horrible to say, but true. I'm still kicking myself for not trenching the ceiling drywall to get channels 6 and 7 wired up. Now I'm stuck in 5.1 and have no wife-friendly method of going 7.1. Brutal, I tell you When I sit in meetings at work that have nothing to do with me, I brainstorm ways of getting those wires to the other side of my room. (It's a finished loft.)

ANYWAYS...I think I have some reading to do. Another side benefit of buying floor B&W's is that my fronts are spaced too far apart. My speakers should ideally hang where windows are. Inside that and they're blasting into my television. Floor speakers would give me the flexibility to aim the fronts just how I want them. See pic...

Maybe a new Outlaw amp plus some towers would be in order. I appreciate all the recommendations though, fellas. Now, I just need the wife to start working again!

Hey one other question - do you guys think the shape of my ceiling in this room is helpful or harmful to the overall sound in the room?

It's an interesting space. The WAF is always a pain, luckily mine has her own space at the other end of the house. Smaller places don't get that option and I sympathize.
The angled ceiling would tend to focus reflected sounds on the listening area and I would think you could expect a more diffuse soundstage... even perhaps to the point of being confusing. Some fairly directional floorstanders might be your best bet. Judging by the picture you are looking at a 'near field' listening experience and I know certain kinds of speakers are better for that.
I have also read that sometimes just having lots of difusing surfaces is better than too much damping although up to a point 'deader is better'. My intuition says that your current setup would tend to lift the soundstage into the air a bit. Not necessarily a bad thing judging by the setup of a lot of the theatres I've been in - both symphonic and cinematic.
Having said all that it's always what sounds best to you. The wall mounters make it a little hard to experiment with positioning. Given your investment in B&W I would suggest the best floorstander B&Ws you can afford. They would be more likely to match the voice of your center speaker and you can't argue sound quality - although some do.
It's a nice space. I hope you find a happy medium.

Speaker placement is pretty important to the overall sound and in most cases the electronics can't overcome difficult placements. I have set up my L & R so they are apart just less than the distance from the speaker to my listening position (85% actually). After some research it looked like that the 85% ratio was the best for stereo music. I think THX specifies that speaker width equal the distance between the listening position and the screen. In your case floor standers (either towers or speakers on stands) would allow you to adjust the L&R location closer to that ratio.

I'm no expert in acoustics but I think the sloped ceiling and the close proximity of the fronts to the side walls create some interesting acoustic bounces in your room. Its good that the floor is carpeted and you have soft furniture to absorb some of the acoustic bounces. Moving the speakers in might reduce the impact of the bounces off the ceiling and walls. Alternately if you are going to replace the L & R you might look for speakers that are very directional. The tweeters on my M&Ks have a pretty tight dispersion and so I don't notice the bounces as much. One more thing, if you move your center speaker under your TV you will reduce the influence of the ceiling on the sound of that speaker. You may notice the dialogue is clearer since you are not hearing it twice (first from the speaker and second from the ceiling).

For more info try googling "acoustic treatements, first reflection points" and you will find a wealth of info on acoustic issues and treatment for HT.

Looking at your picture, I find myself joining others here in wondering if either towers or bookshelves on stands wouldn't be the most immediately beneficial improvement for audio.

ugh I hope no one is thinking "what an idiot!"

seriously though, I didn't have much of a choice and I had the speakers before I had a plan for the room. But I tend to agree. A nice pair of B&W floor speakers would be sweet.

Nah, no idiocy at all! Most of us around here find ourselves working with architectural, decor, and family-induced limitations of our environment that often rule out certain options, and it's always good to kick around ideas with others to see what has been done before that might work again (or what failed miserably before, for that matter). Besides, it's fun to help spend somebody else's money on new toys.

Gonk is exactly right. Good luck finding any hifi or HT nut who hasn't learned from past decisions. It's what makes all this stuff fun!
Frankly I'd hate to be so rich I could just spend $100,000 on the ultimate system. Where would you go from there?!

do you guys think that with no extra power, something like a full size tower like this one might be "too much" for a room? Is there such a thing? Considering no extra room treatments at this time...I'm thinking the relatively inexpensive B&W 705's on one hand, or the XT4's:

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.models/label/Model%20XT4

These are some pretty speakers. I have to find a dealer and bring a couple CD's. This could really open up my music listening.

Nice. Definitely do some auditioning for sure. My only concern would be the low end in such a slim enclosure but you're pretty much covered with your sub and the 1070's bass management options.

The WAF should be reasonable - those models are very stylish... although I don't see a lot of aluminum in your current setup. The leaning appears to be more towards the warmth of wood. Perhaps a trend that should be continued?

You and I were thinking along the same lines Cybermynd. After I posted this, I took a close look at the DM604S3, and at $1500/pair, they look like a good solution at almost half the cost.

Some people even say the 604's bass is heavy (the classical aficionados esp.), but I figure I can use the bass management on the 1070 to handle that stuff. I really want a nice 3-way in the B&W family.

plus that leaves some money for the other item on the wishlist - a bigger display.

Those XT4's are pretty wild looking, and certainly shouldn't be "too much" for your space. Neither option would be too much, in my opinion. Like Cybermynd, I'd suggest doing just what you are thinking about apready - load up some CD's and go listen to both.

Agreed, the XT4's are really sweet. However, I'm also looking pretty closely at the B&W 604 S3's, which are a really good price.

All this said, I sat and watched "25th Hour" tonight on the setup and was really into the sound, in such a way that I wondered why I'd spend more money. For those of you familiar with this movie, check out the club scene when they all finally get to the bar and the dance floor is going. The bass, the echoing of the turntable playing...fantastic. Life w/ the Outlaw is good

Red,

Yes, life with Outlaw is good! I really like looking at and listening to different speakers. I couldn't resist the urge a while back and upgraded every speaker except my sub. I have since read several articles that said what we hear from our HT is roughly 50% the equipment and 50% the sound's reaction to the room. Compromises must be made since most of us have our HTs in a family room or other multipurpose space. However, I decided not to spend more money on gear, and particularly speakers, until I had tried a few things.

First, I looked at speaker placement. My L & R were corner mounted and aimed at my listening position. I recently moved them towards my screen so they were 9'6" apart and 11 feet from my sofa. The difference was remarkable. I listen to a lot of stereo music and with the speakers closer together I got a very tight stereo image. With movies the sound from all three front speakers was virtually seamless. Second, I'm working on tasteful acoustic treatments that have a medium to high WAF.

Just my 2 cents...An inexpensive upgrade would be to place your current L & R on some temporary stands closer to your screen. If doing that alone adequately improves how your system sounds you could buy some nicer stands and save a bunch of money. If it improves the sound, but not enough for your liking then enjoy auditioning their replacements. In addition I'd consider buying a new center channel with the same tweeter(s) as the new L & R if they are replaced. Enjoy!

well thankfully the B&W's are pretty noteworthy for voicematching across all their line ups (speaking generally.) I'm pretty confident that the center channel will match up very well with any of the towers I'm considering.

I think your temporary suggestion of relocating the fronts is a worthy weekend mini-project. I don't have anything lined up this weekend either. I'll post up what the result is

Upgrades?
I thought of upgrading from a hk635 to a 990, that was until I got my latest copy of Mapleshade catalog.
Quotes from Mapleshade
" Laying speaker cables on an artifiicial fiber carpet will imediatly dull the sound of your stereo" [ Triad speaker cable lifts, $12 per lift.]

"Just like speaker cables, the wires that hook your CD player to your amp can make as much or more difference than your speakers." [ Ultrathin Analog Ribbon Interconects-1 meter $120 ]

"If you are using an ordinary or hospital grade power strip-replacing it with our power strip is likely to be your system,s biggest sonic upgrade so far" [ Clearview AC Power Strip-$270 ]

" who would have thought three brass footers could transform the sound of each of your stereo components, I garantee exactly that "
[Three brass footers -$52 ]

"I've heard $2000 speakers with off the rack wires that sounded worse than little $100 Radio Shacks with good cables".[ Golden Helix Cable, 12' set-$115]

After thumbing through Mapleshades catalog, I realized, I realy don't need a new proccessor. Just by adding there upgrades I could increase my systems sonics by 150 per cent.
Then by luck I stumbled on "TheAudioCritic.com"
It is cheaper and less confussing to believe the audiocritic, plus he makes me feel better about myself.
What does the audio critic say, "using coat hangers for speaker wires sounds no different that big dollar speaker cable."( that saves me over $400 I have lots of coat hangers)
" Radio shack RCA cables sound no different than big dollar RCA cables."( ohhhhh that one alone saves me thousands)
" Power conditioners are BS" .( well here I must admit he's right from personal exspernce, I've been down that road. And although I had to convince my wife I can hear a difference, I can't)
I'm going to save thousands by believing the audio critic. Even if he's 1/2 right I'll save enough to buy the 990. If he's not, hell I only have 1 good ear anyway.

LOL Bill O. I agree with slight caveats. I think the only thing that matters is how you, the owner/listener feels about the sound of your system. There are practical things you can do for not a lot of money. Sure the Nordost interconnects are absurd, the idea is to make sure you have a good, solid connection with good cables that don't cost more than your entire system.
It saddens me to read reviews of $1000 per metre cables that gush about the improved sonics. Maybe reviewer ears are just that much better than mine - I don't know. Wouldn't it be nice to have a set of Valhalla's around to swap with your 12AWG Home Depot specials? Good luck.
Now the caveat - there is a difference to be heard. My homemade Cat5 based speaker cables (which look awesome thank you very much) cost under $100 for the cables, sheathing and plugs. That and an hour of labour (while listening to music natch) created a couple of 15 foot cables that do indeed sound 'brighter' and/or more revealing than my 12AWG zip cords. I wouldn't have believed it either - I just think they look cool. But the DO sound different. Better? Don't know, some source material is better served with a dull cable.
The important things always make sense. A clean CD should sound better because of reduced error correction. A vibrating CD player is a bad thing for the same reason. Those things do seem to make sense so yeah - I'll spring for some $4 vibrapods and put $8 worth of spikes on my turntable stand and a $3 slab of marble on top of my DVD player. It's fun and part of the hobby.
Think rationally, spend wisely and have fun. That way you'll never find yourself attempting to connect your foot with your buttocks because your new $500 power cord doesn't really seem to help much.

Bill O - you take the cake for the funniest post I've ever read on this site. It's true friend, I'm practically asking for help in blowing money. These guys pointed out what could be considered a glaring issue w/ my front B&W's. They're aiming right past my left and right shoulder by about 2-3 feet on either side of me. Now when I listen to music, I find myself moving in front of one, and in front of the other, to see if I can hear a major difference. My findings - I can't. I think I may be tone deaf or something. I know one thing. The setup makes people jump when I play explosive movie scenes. It makes me jump sometimes. The highs are so clear. The lows are incredible sounding. And I had this dumb teenage stoner smile on my face when I rocked my new Wolfmother CD last night. I know I can't speak audiophile, with all their proprietary adjectives. I don't hear things like that. And I won't try to act like I do. So I suppose, maybe I should just cool out and enjoy the ride. But then like Cybermynd says, this is a hobby, and hobbyists are never truly satisfied. I suppose I'm trying to find that listening skill - learn the language or at least think of how my system sounds in that language. Maybe it will come along. Maybe it's cheaper to let it go as it stands We always have to tinker with stuff. what to do, what to do...

It's encouraging to hear everyones kind words. I thought maybee it was just me.This is a great site, and I learn mucho by just reading posts here.
I know I'm no Phi Beta Capa. I'm starting to think because of that, my hearings not as good as the people reviewing Audio gear ( Stereophile)
On speakers: from that highly aclaimed catalouge
" Mapleshade"
" Nearly everybody sits to high, [The tweaters at ear level rule ] sounds logical but fails when tested. For a test, sit on one or two phone books: you'll hear an amazing new warmth and fulness in baritone voice, trombones, tenor sax, plucked bass-and far more nuetral treble balance"

OK , That sounds resonable till I read further.

Mapleshades-"Almost all speakers are on stands that are way to high ( 24' and up)- and all to often, too flimsy.Want to hear how much bass and warmth your speakers are losing? Try em on the floor, tilted back with a wood or metal block under the front. If you're on carpet, lay down a heavy plank or cutting board first See page 60 for even better sounding solutions."
I'm perplexed, to get my tweater above ear level and the woofer at ground level I have to dig a hole in my sitting area where my head is just above the floor. (This is a bad idea because my dogs would continualy lick my face). Whats my solution, oh it's on page 60.
Page 60
"Maple Bedrock Ultra 2 with standard brass footers: $570 per pair ."

This all leads me to the question; " where in the hell did Mapleshades get my address"?
Well I never got it untill I subscibed to Stereopile The nice thing is, I can read the stuff in Mapleshade and actualy be entertained by it's exotic claims.( and prices) When I read Stereophile, I simply feel unworthy.I wish I could walk with the " anointed" of stereophile, but I can't, I've only got a 12th grade public education which equates to a 4th grade reading level.
I'll keep Maypleshades and cancel Stereo"pile." Although I can't walk with the anointed, I can waller in the mud with the best of con men.
Tommarow is a big day for me, I place my order for the 990, Wife gave me the go ahead just now.

Bill O - Thanks for making me laugh out loud!

Glad to help out .
I feel pretty good myself as I just ordered the 990 on line. Although I feel realy anxious to get it, hopefuly it will take a couple weeks to get here. That way my upgraditis desease won't start again for 2 weeks.It's kinda like a rash, but mental.There should be some type of Government program to treat it, I just haven't found it yet.

- I hear that somebody's coming out with a patch to help with it. Unfortunately it's credit card-shaped and is followed by a bill about a month later...

If someone were to describe the user experience difference between a 990/7700 combo and using a 1070, what would that be?

Two boxes.

The 990 has better DAC's and a few other extra features (editable input names, addressable component and DVI video inputs, and a second zone). The 7700 also offers more power, of course, plus the other benefits of a separate amp.