[cbadie]

Hi - getting a B & W Centre S2 this week.....we may also upgrade the fronts, depending on how much of an improvement we hear in the center. Currently we have OLD B&W fronts.

When we auditioned the center, besides the B&W fronts we also liked the Martin Logan 40, and Paradigm Monitor 9. Does anyone have experience mixing these front and center?

Thanks

 

[drunkpenguin]

Generally you want to keep all 3 front speakers the same model, next best is same manufacturer, last option is mixing brands. I had a mismatched center for a while but all the speakers were different versions of Inifinity so the sound was good enough for me. I recently upgraded to 3 matching vertical speakers and I will never try to mismatch again. It's a different world when all 3 are identical.

 

[cbadie]

That's a good way to think about it I guess - thanks! My impressions of the Paradigm speaker were that they sounded 'natural' - much like the B&Ws...but the "its a different world" color commentary is very compelling.

 

[drunkpenguin]

Different speakers have different sound characteristics. They call it timber matching. So if you mix brands it will be more obvious that your center is a separate device from your mains, instead of the front stage blending together. If you stick with the same manufacturer you have better odds of timber matching the speakers, but mixing them will likely not give you that result. Kinda like a group of singers that are harmonizing, if you got one singer out of key from the rest he's going to really stick out.