[cfjh]

Hi all. I would appreciate some advice. I'm getting set up with a 7.1 theater room. The room is a large finished basement with hardwood floors and an area rug. Here is the equipment:


-Polk 6751 for the surround speakers (because they were white and economical)

-Polk Monitor 50 for L and R

-Onkyo SR606


I am trying to choose a center. Polk recommends the CS1 for the center. But I am looking at the Polk RM8 because it has less physical depth, and I would like it to be a little out of the way. This is for a projector, and the screen will be rolled up often. I would like the center to be less in the way when we are not in "theater mode." Is the RM8 just as good? Or would it mismatch?


My other question is whether or not it would be advisable to build an inset shelf for it; not necessarily sealing the thing up in the wall, but making a drywall box which would let it sit mostly in the wall, with some clearance around the sides. Is this possible, or stupid? This would work better with the RM8, which has about 3.5" depth.


Thanks very much for anyone's help!


Jeremy

 

[JohnLocke88]

I'd say go with the CS1; but to me, having a matched front sound stage is more important; Having a smooth transition from L to C to R and vice versa is very important in movies. The RM8 is a great speaker, but I'd say CS1 for the best performance.

 

[jnickrand]

Problem is, as much as 75% of the sound of a movie comes out the center, so skimping on the center is a bad idea.



Building an insert shelf might not be a bad idea but if your speaker is going to be close to the wall you'll want a front ported speaker. Can you accomodate a small table below the screen. Kinda like this guys HT: http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...ppuser/7451193

 

[cfjh]

Thanks. jnickrand, are you saying that the RM8 is not a good speaker?


I would probably mount a small wall shelf if I did not make an inset shelf. But I was worried that there may be reasons why putting the speaker into the wall is no good.


But it sounds like the CS1 matches the Monitor 50's better, then?


Jeremy

 

[JohnLocke88]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cfjh /forum/post/14181391


Thanks. jnickrand, are you saying that the RM8 is not a good speaker?


I would probably mount a small wall shelf if I did not make an inset shelf. But I was worried that there may be reasons why putting the speaker into the wall is no good.


But it sounds like the CS1 matches the Monitor 50's better, then?


Jeremy

I'm not jnickrand, but the RM8 is a good speaker, but it will sound very hollow compared to your M-50s. It's best to match the front sound stage (L-C-R) to have consistency in the sound quality. Your rear speakers will be handling odd surround sound effects, so the transition from L to rear L will be less noticeable than L to C to R, and vice versa, as well as dialog sounding much richer.

 

[cfjh]

Thank you all very much. Is, then, the CS1 the only center that is matched to the Monitor series, or are there other choices? Again, it mostly is the physical size I'm considering.