Home thater speaker match

[pajr2179]

Hi everyone,

I am inthe process of tearing down disguisting wallpaper in my room and painting. While doing this I want to mount speakers on the back wall. to match my front array. My fronts are RT38i's by Polk and the center is the CSi40. My space makes wall mounted rears a necessity. The Boston Bravo seems like a great all around speaker for my budget with a variety of mounting options. I will be buying three and using one as a rear center. Are the Boston's and Polk a match? The tweeters are different, but becuase they would only be producing surround effects I was not too worried. Should I be? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Pete

[poneal]

If at all possible, it is preferable to have all speakers timbre matched. Of course in reality sometimes this is not possible. In this case you will need to listen very carefully and decide which ones match you main speakers best. I've never heard the bravos so I couldn't tell you if they sound like polks or not. You are correct that the surrounds (when using a stereo source) are predominately used for ambience. After you make the purchase, be sure to set the speaker levels with a sound meter such as the radio shack SPL meter.

[pajr2179]

Hey Poneal,
Thanks for the advice. I had a chance to listen to the Bostons in a multi-channel music and surround environment and the Bravo's performed well. Im afraid of a bipole speaker because there would be too much reflection off the walls. Polk does not make a front firing surround speaker unless I go with my fronts for surround as well. Thanks for your help. Any other suggestions are welcome.

Pete

[F1]

Hopefully I get your question right. You can use any bookshelf speakers for surround like Polk R15. You just need to buy speaker bracket to mount your surround speakers to the wall. Speaker bracket allows you to angle and tilt the speaker for optimum surround performance. Good luck.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Hi everyone,

I am inthe process of tearing down disguisting wallpaper in my room and painting. While doing this I want to mount speakers on the back wall. to match my front array. My fronts are RT38i's by Polk and the center is the CSi40. My space makes wall mounted rears a necessity. The Boston Bravo seems like a great all around speaker for my budget with a variety of mounting options. I will be buying three and using one as a rear center. Are the Boston's and Polk a match? The tweeters are different, but becuase they would only be producing surround effects I was not too worried. Should I be? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Pete

Pajr,

Mounting the surround speakers on the rear wall ONLY is not ideal at all. The ideal position for the surrounds would be on the side walls, and if you are doing EX or ES, the speakers that handle this extension signal should be mounted on the rear wall. If you mount ALL of your speakers on the rear wall, you will find that channel seperation, the postitioning of surround images, and the frequency response of the rear channel will be profoundly effected.

If I were you, I would consider mouting your main surrounds on the side walls, and keeping your center rear on the rear wall. Engineers who mix these soundtracks do so with these positions in mind. This will get you a little closer to hearing what they did on the dubbing stage.

[JDaniel]

Pete - what about Polk In-Wall Speakers? While you are tearing out wall paper and painting would be the perfect time to cut a hole in your sheetrock. You can read about them here: http://www.polkaudio.com/home/products.php?category=9

JD

[pajr2179]

Hi all,


Thanks for the advice. I have now decided against mounting all three on the back wall. I will munt my two rears on the side wall, with the rear center in the middle of the back wall. Are there any set distances I should keep in mind form my front speakers to the rears? Rear speakers to back center? In- wall speakers is somethign I had never thought of but could be very intersting. Thanks again.

Pete

[Tarheel_]

as mentioned above, any of Polks bookshelf speakers will work as a surround. Just make sure they are within the same series..same tweeter, etc.
Polk is wonderful about answering emails, so fire off your questions. heck, after receiving my email, they called me to discuss my speaker placement.

bty...I use the RT15i speakers for surrounds and cannot find one complaint.