Audyssey DSX - Monitor II Series

zredsox

Long time reader of Club Polk, but being most of the questions I have had were generally answered, I haven't had a reason to sign up until now.

I currently have Monitor 70 fronts, with Monitor 60 surrounds and a CS2 center.

I am planning on buying additional speakers to fill out an Audyssey DSX setup, adding wide and height channels (I recently picked up an Onkyo 608 AVR which added this new capability.)

I was wondering which speakers in the Monitor series would fill those roles best.

Right now, because of the way my room is configured (two large corner bookshelves) I was planning on placing the wides at the lowest point of the bookshelves (which would put them level with the top driver on the 70s and about 4 feet away) and the heights on top and slightly in (about 7' above the floor.)

I'm leaning toward monitor 40s although from an aesthetic point of view I also was thinking about using 4 CS1 center channels being I planned on laying the 40s flat anyway (although I am not sure if it would be wise to use centers for this purpose.)

I also thought about getting monitor 50s for wides and monitor 30s for heights.

I'll admit, I've gone through about 20 different arrangements in my head (including using the 60s I have as wides and buying 50s for surround) and I change my mind every few hours.

I know that Audyssey recommends first, that the wides be of the same family and driver size (although just same family is second best) but I feel it would be overkill to buy two more monitor 70s for wides (being I have no idea what impact they will provide) and the same goes for getting CS2s for wides.

Also, I really haven't heard much at all as to what speakers would be best for height channels, beyond that they should be of similar timbre.


Any advice would be appreciated.

LeftCoast

You might want to double check on your Onkyo.
I believe it can handle height OR wide...not both at the same time. There are others that will. The 1008 and the 5008...Those units will handle height and wide simultaneously.

zredsox

Ahh, ok. Even though you can connect 9 speakers (using the zone 2 spring clips) only 7 can be powered at one time, correct?

I just assumed because the configuration menu allowed you to set high (Surround Rear) and wide speakers (Zone2) that you'd be able to use them simultaneously.

Well, I guess that means I only need one set of speakers now.



Edit: And I've already convinced myself that I now need two sets of speakers so I can switch from a traditional 7.1 setup and wide/high configurations.

LeftCoast

You can google audyssey. Then audyssey dsx.

It will show you which avrs have it, and even their msrp

You can now get the Denon 4810ci fur under $1,800.00....but if you are looking for an AVR that does 3D....

zredsox

LeftCoast wrote: »

You can google audyssey. Then audyssey dsx.

It will show you which avrs have it, and even their msrp

Right, the SR608 is on that list (it has 6 DSX modes, including just DSX and combination modes with PLII and DTS.)

Honestly, I didn't really care about DSX out of the gate, but being it is built into the 608, I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, switching between traditional 7.1 and standard 5.1 with wides/heights should be enough for me to play with in the near term and then I'll consider AVR alternatives during my next buying cycle.

zredsox

Thanks for the PM leftcoast. When I gain enough clout (i.e. 10 posts) I'll shoot a PM back.

I ended up asking Audyssy what they thought the best setup would be with my AVR and current speaker configuration and they recommended to go with the wide channels (which is what I figured they'd say.) I ordered Monitor 40s for that role.

I'll also try them as Heights and Surround back and report in what I think sounds best at that time in case anyone else has a similar setup and wants to know.

kuntasensei

I tried wides briefly, but I didn't care for them. Despite what Audyssey says, I preferred running rears and heights in a 9.1 configuration. I already get pretty decent sidewall imaging and pans, so wides just didn't add much to the sound of my rig. Heights, however... VERY NICE.