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Mixing Speakers for HT/Music application

268 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by Tnilsson, May 12, 2006

Stu Pedaso

Discussion Starter · May 12, 2006

Here is my scenario: working with my HT guy for our media room. I've become pretty fussy with music over the past several years, so the 2.0 is pretty important to me, and I'm willing/wanting to throw a whole lot more at the R/L speakers than the center and surrounds.

Now, what I'm being told (and I've heard it before) is that you don't want to mix speakers, because of sound matching. Which I can understand and appreciate. But here's where I'm at - he's spec'ing James Loudspeakers all the way around. Well and good, I don't want to get into a brand argument, I have yet to audition these, so everything is pretty theoretical at this point.

My "what if" was what if I did some bigger/fancier R-L James and went with the "normal" James that he was proposing for all 3. And then rather than doing Jame$ for the 4 surrounds, using Speakercraft @ approx 1/4 the price. The idea being that the $ difference on the surrounds would go toward the R-L.

He's very philosophically opposed to this concept at this stage. He REALLY wants the front 3 to match for HT purposes. Which I guess I can understand a little bit. I hate to spend big money on a center because I want the R-L to really kickass when I listen to music, but if it's really going to present a potential issue, I can accept that.

Now for the surrounds, he mentioned having the sound change as the movie object moves from front to back. My contention is: Wouldn't it change as it shifts from mains to ceiling surrounds anyway? Wouldn't the difference in characteristics between mains and ceiling speakers be more significant than tonal differences between brands?

Talk to me Goose. Tell me if I should force my hand on this deal, or if I should have more faith in the guy.

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Tnilsson

· #2 · May 12, 2006

Your HT guy is right that the front 3 speakers should be timbre matched. You should go with the same brand for the front 3 speakers. But getting 3 of the same speaker is totally unecessary overkill. Just make sure that your center speaker is the same brand as your L and R fronts and timbre matched to them. And I don't think it is necessary to get the same brand surrounds as your fronts. It is probably best, but not necessary.

If I were you, I'd get some pretty good L and R fronts, a lower priced but timbre matched speaker in the same brand as your center, and then either (1) whatever value consious surrounds the speaker maker itself recommends from its line-up, or (2) some different brand surrounds that will match well with your fronts. Heck, if you told the speaker maker that you will not under any circumstance buy their surrounds because of your budget, they might even tell you what less expensive speaker they'd recommend to match with the fronts you are buying from them. Maybe they would not, but they might and it does not hurt to ask.

And, I assume it goes without saying that you should listen to as many speakers as you can before you decide on anything your HT guy recommends. At least that way you will know if you agree with his recommendations.

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