speaker brand matching, is it neccessary?

[diggity]

g'day everyone. this maybe a dumb question but i had to ask it. compared to alot of people at this site i have only been interested in audio for a little time, most of my life is and was taken up by sport. but i thought for the ultimate home theatre experience one had to have the same brand and model speaker. however looking at other systems out there that is not the case.

is it recommended i still by the same series of speaker of a particular brand or does it not matter?

ceers: dazza

[markw]

The same logic applies to the center speaker.

For the best experience, it's best that all the front speakers produce a coherent sweep across the sound stage. This way, someone walking and talking from one side to the other will have the same sonic characteristics as they transverse the stage. It sounds weird if a baritone on the left channel, gets nasal in the center, and goes back to a baritone on the right.

The best way to assure this is to make sure they are from the same manufacturer and, preferably, from the same line. Most manufacturers offer a "timbre matched" center that blends well with their other speakers.

My vote for the front speakers is that they all be from the same manufacturer and line,

As for the rears, there's some debate about this. Some say that since, in HT, the rears are rarely used for voices and are generally used for sound effects, atmospheric sounds and the like, timbre matching isn't critical and you can cut some corners by using whatever small speakers you have lying around.

But, for multi-channel music, some feel it's best they match the front speakers since, depending on the mix, instruments and vocals can come from any speaker, and timbre matching would bean issue here.

Both rear speaker philosophies make sense but I tend to favor the all in the family approach.

enjoy...

[blackraven]

It depends how critical you are about HT. I use my Magnepans as front ch and a B&W center. They don't match but I could care less. The B&W gives very clear dialog and thats what mattered most to me. I have to be able to hear and understand what is being said in a movie. And to tell the truth, when a movie is playing, nobody notices that the speakers don't exactly match. Now I'm not anal-retentive about my HT set up but I am more critical of 2ch music and don't care for multichanel music.
As far as rear channels, I agree, that they are used mostly for sound effects. I bought a pair of 600 series B&W's as rears and returned them because the improvement in sound during movies did not seem to warrant the expense and unsightlyness of having another pair of speakers in the room. But every one is different.

[basite]

I'd definately recommend the mains and the center channel to be from the same brand, and model line. Since every speaker sounds different. also watch the size, if you have huge mains, you need more than a tiny center channel, you might get the same volume, but the voice matching isn't what it's supposed to be.

then, for the rears, I'd say get something from the same brand, preferably from the same model line, but in most cases it's less imporant as the mains/center matching.

The sub is different however. I'd just get the sub that best works in your room, and best fits your budget (get the best one you can afford though)...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[johnny p]

I happen to have first hand experience with this. At one time I had 2 large Cerwin Vega Mains, the matching Center channel, Sub, and two Bookshelf speakers that matched set for the surrounds. Here is what I did.....

One Day I went out and purchased the B&W HTM7 Center, and a pair of 686's I was going to use for surrounds. Now that I had these in the house, I had to figure out what to put where. The HTM7 obviously instantly replaced the CV center. I decided since the B&W 686's I just purchased were far superior to my old dorm-room-wall-shaker CV's (RE-30's, 12" woofers) I put them up on some stands, and had them matched with my HTM7 Center. I noticed the soundstage was off. Although the new center sounded glorious, and even music sounded grand when listening with the new 686's, during movies, the dialog just wasn't quite right. I started experimenting. The Big old CV RE-30's up front with the HTM7 was actually a little better because I was getting a LOT of sound, and still hearing a lot of crisp details from the Center, but for dialog, no matter how much I adjusted the levels, "echoing" is the best way I could describe it.... it was off also in the sense that the mains masked the center due to the amount of bass, and general "noise" coming from them.

Next thing I tried, was the 686's as surrounds, and the CV bookselfs as the mains. It was an interesting experiment, but I'd say everything that turned me off about having the 686's in the front, paired with the HTM7 center was there, but WORSE..... Glorious sound from the center, and muddied bass/treble coming from the L/R.

I was going to wait a 3 months before getting the 705's to match the HTM7, but all that changed. Including holidays etc. it was about 1 month until I picked up the 705's, and when I paired them with the HTM7, and moved the 686's to the surrounds, I finally was unable to differentiate the Center/L/R sound.... it all wove together, and sounded great.

I'm sure there are good matches, but for me, I found that not only do you have to keep the same brand, but the same product line as well.

good luck!

[diggity]

cheers for the replies fellas! very very helpful.
by a funny coincedence it is the speaker that "johnnyp" has that made me ask the question. the girlfriend and i have finally settled on the b&w 703's, but the HTM7 is absolutely HUGE!!! don' think i will be able to hide that without having to buy a whole new entertainment system (and that will take her sooo long to do). hopefully there is a smaller one out there that will do a similar job.

either that or i put my foot down...........

cheers: dazza

[Ajani]

cheers for the replies fellas! very very helpful.
by a funny coincedence it is the speaker that "johnnyp" has that made me ask the question. the girlfriend and i have finally settled on the b&w 703's, but the HTM7 is absolutely HUGE!!! don' think i will be able to hide that without having to buy a whole new entertainment system (and that will take her sooo long to do). hopefully there is a smaller one out there that will do a similar job.

either that or i put my foot down...........

cheers: dazza

I guess I can jump in here with a slightly controversial opinion.... If you don't have space yet for the HTM7, then just don't buy a center.... Use the 703's to create a phantom center.... I've done 4 channel HT, it's actually quite good....

[johnny p]

I am having a terrible time with placement of mine, but a new entertainment stand is in the works! I agree with Ajani though, wait on the center, but don't spend money on one that doesn't match. Besides, I got the HTM7 and 705's in Rosenut finish, and would have had a TERRIBLE time getting speakers to match in looks let alone sound. The 600 series B&W's are smaller, but I don't think they make any in the same finishes as the 700's, 'maybe' the light maple, not sure.

[pixelthis]

I guess I can jump in here with a slightly controversial opinion.... If you don't have space yet for the HTM7, then just don't buy a center.... Use the 703's to create a phantom center.... I've done 4 channel HT, it's actually quite good....

But not good enough.
Seventy to eighty percent of a HT soundscape comes from the center, thats where the dialog comes from, its clearly the most important one.
Dont skimp on this, at all.

[filecat13]

I agree with Ajani... and with pixelthis.

A phantom center is better than a poorly matched center, and a matched center is best of all.

[diggity]

howdy y'all. (my attempt at blending in with all the americans here as i seem to be the only aussie!!! lol). well you guys have a hard choice even harder, thanks alot.

only kidding, all the replies so far have been helping me heaps. i think the problem with me is when i decide to do anything, i like to get it over and done with real fast (girlfriend hates that). but it seems i may have to take my time with this one and get it done properly.

thanks for all the good replies so far everyone and keep 'em coming.

cheers: dazza

[filecat13]

No worries, mate! You're welcome. (Just trying to make you feel at home.)

[diggity]

had an idea last night (it happened after a few beers with a couple of mates whilst out clubbing, so it is probably is really stupid), can i just wall mount the centre speaker? that way the size of the centre doesn't matter at all. or will this just bugger up the sound quality?

just remember before you all start laughing, i was pretty drunk and there were hot girls everywhere so my mind wasn't 100% there haha

cheers: dazza