How important is the timbre on the surround sound?

polkfarmboy

Just wondering if any polkys have different surrounds from the 3 fronts

I am pulling the plug soon for a martin logan centre channel to pair up with my source but was wondering if I can use my existing rti8 and 6's for surround sound duty

Does the surrounds have an entirely different sound encoded for movies or do you think it will be horrible and not even worth unpacking the polks

danger boy

i dunno.. worth trying out though and finding out for sure.

surrounds don't usually carry any dialog... so i would think it would not be a big deal if they were different. just as long as you run the auto calibration in your system. you should be ok.

Face

I would keep the front end the same, the rears aren't as important.

polkfarmboy

Thats the plan ... have a front soundstage all electrostat

Bernal

I use all the same. The result is excellent

______________________________________________________
01) DENON AVR-4308CI: Advanced 7.1 CH/5.1+2 CH/ 3.1+2+2 CH A/V Home Theater /MultiMedia Multi-Source/Zone Receiver with Networking and WiFi/170 watts x 7 channels
02) SUNFIRE Grand Signature - Bob Carver's
03) OPPO BDP-83SE Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio
04) OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio
05) DENON DVD-2500BTCI: Blu-ray Disc™ DVD/CD Digital Player/Transport
06) HITACHI P55T501. 55" HD1080 Plasma HDTV
07) POLKAUDIO LSiC (Center speaker)
08) POLKAUDIO LSi15 LEFT (Front speaker)
09) POLKAUDIO LSi15 RIGHT (Front speaker)
10) POLKAUDIO LSiC Vertically (Surround speaker)
11) POLKAUDIO LSiC Vertically (Surround speaker)
12) POLKAUDIO LSif/x LEFT (Surround back speakers)
13) POLKAUDIO LSif/x RIGHT (Surround back speakers)
14) VELODYNE OPTIMUN SERIES 12"(High Output Digital EQ SubWoofer 2400W/1200WRMS)
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=98096 (Not updated)

polkfarmboy

Thanks for digging deep into the fathomless pit of the accumulated wealth of knowledge guys

BeefJerky

I've had experience with this recently. I started out with R50's in the front, CSM center, and four R150's for the surrounds. The tweeters were different in the R150's compared to the front three. It sounded fine, but I found a deal on some T15's which have the matching tweeter to the R50's and CSM so I decided to try it. I find the surround to be much more seamless with the matching speakers. So, I wouldn't say it is absolutely necessary, but I still recommend it.

reberly

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Thanks for digging deep into the fathomless pit of the accumulated wealth of knowledge guys

hahaha, now thats a funny statement.

comfortablycurt

Ideally, you want all the speakers to be matched, but matching the surrounds to the fronts is less crucial than having a timbre matched front soundstage. Give it a try and see how it sounds. My guess is that it will sound great.

yepimonfire

its not entirely necessary, but having matching timbre on the surrounds makes them VERY hard to seperate from the rest of the speakers, which is a good thing because you tend to forget you listening to speakers and fall into the movie. for music i would say its a must, everytime ive set up a PLIIx music system ive always preferred to have matching surrounds because you can tell you have seperate speakers for surrounds rather then just having an expanded stereo image.

cnh

Curt and Face are right above but let Polk lay it out straight for you. In their newest entry line....NOT ONLY are the TSI drivers all matched but so are all the crossover points. EVERY TSI crosses over at 2500 kHz? Now gentlemen....start your engines. The question is WHY? The answer I do not think is hard to 'imagine'. Why would Polk do that?

Is that 'deep' enough for you....?

cnh

wutadumsn23

I have a set of TSi 500's that I run as surrounds in my otherwise strictly Monitor setup. It sounds great that way. I know when I had the 500's up front, they did not blend well with my CS2 center. Keep the front 3 timbre matched, that is the most important part. The surrounds aren's as important, as stated above.

-Jeff