importance of timbre match on rears?

ROFOD

I've had my new polks for a couple of weeks ( was able to take advantage of reduced prices on the R series!) Rti70's, CSi40 & PSW404. Question is, right now I am using a pair of Bose 201's for rears and they seem adequate to the task but are technically not timbre matched, should i replace them with R series polks before they get phased out this summer? How important is it to have timbre matched rear effect speakers. Most of my listening is music and am soon to upgrade to SACD. Thanx.....

burdette

The technical answer is that it is important... you probably sort of know that or you wouldn't have asked. The practical answer is up to you.

I used a different brand center for almost a year and it sounded fine/good to us, so it wasn't a problem. I think matching is less important for surrounds than it is for L/C/R.

If you have the money, I'd probably buy some matching Polk speakers so you have a full suite. You said you listen mostly to music... so... if you sit and listen to movies and aren't consciously realizing something is 'wrong' or 'off' about the surrounds.. then you could probably not bother.

There.. wasn't that helpful?

i4gotmyid

The reason its ok (but not prefered) to have non-timbre matched surrounds is that surrounds are used to create a diffused, enveloping surround soundfield so you are trying to avoid any localization.

In plain english, you are not supposed to hear where the sound is coming from when it is coming out of your surrounds, rather it should sound like it is surrounding you.

Since this is the goal of surround sound, you will rarely hear eoungh of anything purposeful (dialogue) coming from your surround speakers that you will notice a difference in timbre matching.

Notice I said rarely.

Besides placement affects (or is it effects) timbre matching, so even if they are timbre matched, if you place your surrounds on the wall above you and the fronts are ear level and your center is above your eye, none will sound timbre matched anyways. So even if your speakers are timbre matched, chances are you are going to move them out of the ideal location for utilizing timbre matching each speaker anyways.

ROFOD

Thanks to both of you for the input. I think i am safe in keeping the bose 201's untill i have my new SACD setup. ( Marantz SR6300 A/V receiver and Pioneer Elite DV-45A Dvd, CD, SACD etc. player.) Since SACD is true 5.1 surround i will see how the rears sound with music. Hopefully I will have my mind made up before the RTi bookshelfs are all gone. Thanx again!

Airplay355

ooo so thats why my cs245i sounds alittle different then the rti100's ( difference in height and depth into the room). or is it just the difference in the tweeter? questions questions

faster100

actually i think you should get a set of 28's or 38's, i have had and have both sets and they sound great and match, although i might not be able to tell the difference, I would get me while you can as i did with my rti38's i got last month, got a great deal and after there gone the price will actually go up, as did the cs400i still holds value of around 250.00 -275.00 and its getting to be 2 years old, grab em while they are cheap and available.. why wouldn't you want all matching speakers?? they look cool that way

VR3

He could get Bose mains, a CS1000p Polk Center, Sean's JBL bookshelfs for surrounds!!

dorokusai

If you have more pressing equipment needs, then skip the speakers and work on that issue. The speakers are easy, low cost additions for your system.

You may find that you want to upgrade your speakers as a whole, after hearing a new source like SACD.

RuSsMaN

TRUE timber (timbre for you audiophiles) matching will only occur with IDENTICAL speakers. Eg: Five RT35's, Five Bose 201's, etc.

TOO CLOSE TO CALL timber matching will occur with speakers from the same series. Eg: Two RT800's, One CS300, Two RT35's.

Following the previous statement, imo for most practical applications, if your tweeters match all-around, you will be hard pressed to tell a difference.

MOVIES:

I agree, the front stage (L,C,R) should at least be from the same series, and have matching tweeters. Is that written in stone, hell no. Eg: 1. Some Polk forum members have found a certain Def Tech center channel to work very well with SDA mains. Eg: 2. See Burdette's response above.

I don't believe you MUST match the rears to the front in a Prologic/DD/DTS home theater. Fact of the matter is the human brain has a VERY hard time processing audio AND video with the detail it can on just one or the other. That being said, some mis-matched rears just may not groove with the front stage, but in your case, they seem to do o-k.

MUSIC (5+ch):

If you are seriously going to take a leap into multi channel music, I highly suggest you buy all your speakers from the same series. Without the additional video stimuli, your brain might easily pick out the tonal differences from front to rear.

Without changing your current RT purchase, I'd give good a good though to considering ANOTHER pair of RTi70's for rears, and get as close as possible. HOWEVER, any RTi series speaker should do a fine job.

FWIW:

I use my HT rig, for movies, tv, sports etc. I have 2ch rigs to satisfy my musical needs. In my HT rig, I run a B&W front stage, and Polk Atrium rears. I don't plan on changing *anything* speaker wise.

Cheers,
Rooster