Advice on HT with vintage gear

[tommywpg]

i've got a pair of Mach Ones heading my way soon and thought I'd put together a bit of a media centre with them as the fronts. I also have a pair of JBL 4406s that might come out of the attic to join in.

Any advice on how well these might work for this application?

[jocko_nc]

I think most on the forum will recommend that you match the mains with the center as closely as possible. That mat be tough with Mach One's. Do you have room for a Mach One center?

I am running a vintage HT based on Klipsch Heresys, two Heresys for mains, two subwoofers since Heresy doesn't have any bass, and a FrankenHeresy for a center. The FrankenHeresy is a DIY made with Heresy parts. The K-77 tweeter and K-55 midhorn are identical, as is the crossover. I replaced the 12.00 with dual 8.00's that closely approximated the 12.00 in SPL and impedance. The 8.00's side-fire into two wooden horns that reflect the sound outward. It actually works. It's similar to a design I saw somewhere else.

What seems to matter for the front in 5 channel HT and music is the highs and mids. Those are critical for imaging and need to match the mains. The bass not so much. There is limited bass output from the center, anyway.

If you don't have room, I would recommend a DIY made from Mach One parts, the tweeter and mid. The woofer will have to be a compromise.

It can be done and it does sound nice. I can only imagine what I would have to pay to match my system at the store.

jocko

[jocko_nc]

Oh yea... I am still out-to-lunch regarding the rears.

I don't have a good solution for placement. Not so much the room itself but the way we use the room. Also the fact that this system sees 95% music or music DVD service. Heresys for rears is just nuts, the wife would NEVER allow that. I have temporarily used a pair of Infinitys (polycell monitors, forget the model) that sound quite nice. I just don't know how to employ them and am not comfortable tearing into the new house. I have EMIT 3-ways and a pair of Polk Monitor 5's as well. Polycells closely match the Heresy, believe it or not.

This system sounds sweet and detailed and will blow you away. Go vintage!

jocko

[Mr Peabody]

What Jocko says is true about the center and mains matching in timbre. You can mismatch but you will not have a seamless sound across the front. Another possible solution is using the "phantom center" or now I think most receivers just have you click in the set up menu what speakers you have hooked up and it compensates by directing the sound to other speakers. The center info will come from both front speakers to come together in the center. A true center usually sounds better in a HT set up but I'd go without before mismatching personally.

[tommywpg]

Interesting. I don't have room for big rear speakers. I was thinking about using a pair of JBL 4406s. Any thoughts on that?