Hometheater question

[Dogbert]

I have a HT receiver with two speakers which I really like.
Those speakers won't be sold for much longer since new models will be replacing them soon.

Now a simple( ) question:

Should I wait till I really want/need to complete my setup and then find a center + rears that I like OR buy the rest of te set as soon as I can to have a complete set ?
in other words, how important is it that all my speakers come from the same brand/model ?


Another question is how important are the rear speakers in general ? I am thinking about putting rears as/alomost as large as my front ones for some extra bass.


If it matters, my setup is: Yamaha HTR5170 and Wharfedale Modus one six.
I was thinking about adding a pair of modus 8 or one six as rears and a modus music center.

[Gurm]

It isn't necessarily important that the center and rears are the same brand/set as the fronts. What IS important is that they are "matched", meaning of like wattage and acoustic properties.

My current setup, with which I am "fairly" happy, is two Technics fronts (big whamma jamma power-hungry early 90's models with 12" woofers), Bose bookshelf rears, and a Pioneer center. The center will be the first to be upgraded when I have the money.

- Gurm

[Dogbert]

Could you please elevate a little about the acoustic properties ?

I can't really hear the rears / center with my fronts unless they have the same in the store, so what exactly should I look for beside the wattage ?

[Greebe]

It's very important. To achieve sonic perfection you need a complete set of speakers which are acoustically matched to each other, ie designed to work together. To achieve this one would most certainly need speakers of the same series/model set.

When simply reproducing a stereo signal some people (myself included) prefer to have a frequency/phase matched mirrored pair. This means having many drivers to test for specs within a certain +/- dB range, typically within at least 1 db of each other... some getting as close as 0.25 dB. This is also true especially true when having more channels... 4/5.1/6.1 etc. The reasoning for this is to insure the sound stage is equal all the way around.

Otherwise if nothing is matched there will always be one set of speakers which reproduce some aspect differently than another. This would distract from the whole experience and would draw your attention to the Mains, or the back, or center channel in a manner which they score wasn't intended to be.

[ALBPM]

No need to have Rear Speakers with subs in them. I would keep that in the Front speakers and a dedicated subwoofer.

The Rear speakers only need a mid-range driver and a tweeter.

This way attention is focused to the Front of the system.

The term used frequently is "Timbre Matched" for fronts, rears and center speakers.

Remember that for DVD's almost 90% of the sound comes from the center channel. If this doesn't match the Fronts it will be quite obnoxious.
See if your Dealer will let you try a few different Centers before buying.

Paul

[Gurm]

Ahh yes, pardon me. I was not aware that you were shooting for "sonic perfection".

Hey Greebe, I have a $5000 power cable to sell you - it's made of solid silver and has "acoustic noise cancellation". Interested? I'll let it go for the bargain price of $4500.

- Gurm

[Jon P. Inghram]

Tara labs' THE ZERO interconnects... they retail for $12,000 per meter pair.

[Jammrock]

Only if it wipes my...

$12k per m cables are for one type of person...obscenely rich!!! If I was making a 7 digital salary I would buy cables that much if I could really tell an improvement in acustic quality and soundstage. They'd go great with the $125k Wilson Audio X-1 Grand SLAMM speakers. Back in the real world...

Ditto on what Greebe and ALBPM said. If you want to go surround, defiantely get matching speakers. There's a reason why you never see high-end audio stores mix speakers on high-end rigs.

On the flip, if you you do know what you are doing, it is possible to mix speakers and get good results. KvH has talked about a friend who pulled it off. But the easiest way is just get the speakers that are made for each other.

Jammrock

PS - Bets on whether ALBPM will upgrade something in his HT now that a new thread is up?

[DuRaNgO]

I feel the rear speakers could be of a different brand/style with little effect on sound quality provided they are in the same class (middle range front and centers should have middle range rears, high end front and centers should have high end rears)

However, the front speakers and center should almost always be matched with either the same model or style

My system consists of:
Onkyo 797 receiver and cd changer
Mission front and centers (761i)
Pioneer DVD, 200wt. sub and rear satellite's

[Greebe]

That's OK Jason I have 10,000' spool of 28 gauge heavy silver plate 99.99% OFC Kynar wirewrap wire that I intend on making my own cables from... got it for a grand total of $9.95+tax

[DuRaNgO]

[KvHagedorn]

It isn't necessarily important that the center and rears are the same brand/set as the fronts. What IS important is that they are "matched", meaning of like wattage and acoustic properties.

My current setup, with which I am "fairly" happy, is two Technics fronts (big whamma jamma power-hungry early 90's models with 12" woofers), Bose bookshelf rears, and a Pioneer center. The center will be the first to be upgraded when I have the money.

- Gurm

(good grief)

I really couldn't think up a better argument against your judgement in this first paragraph than you yourself have provided in your second, Gurm.

To translate this into your field of expertise, your speakers are the audio equivalent of using the cheapest generic VIA chipset motherboard with a K5-100 processor and 8mb of RAM with the inside of your case being jam-packed with a gigantic dust bunny.

[Gurm]

Blah blah foo foo. I haven't had the money to upgrade, ok? I can make this LOUD, and the rest of the system is H/K. The wire is the nicest "gimmick free" monster cable I could buy, and I've tweaked the hell out of the setup.

Do I want nicer speakers? Yes. Can I get the wife to go along? No, since I can't even explain the acoustic differences between my setup and her Aiwa boom-box to her, much less the difference between my power-hungry (and bass heavy) Technics and a NICE set of speakers.

The fact that I have a crap set of speakers doesn't mean that I don't know what's nice.

- Gurm

[KvHagedorn]

You gotta be more creative, there, Gurm.. you could pretend to break in to your own house and smash up your old stuff, then act all distraught and she'll let you buy all new..

Or just come home with them one day and tell her you got a heckofa deal, but make sure the guest bed is made up first..

[PAugustin]

Dogbert, you should at least buy the center speaker, it is the most important. Because it can be hard to find one that match your front speakers. It is very important to have front and center speakers that have the same sound. So go for the center, you can wait for the rear speakers... but I'm sure you will enjoy having a full HT@home, you'll watch and HEAR your DVDs differently