OWM 3's or OWM 5's with Monitor 70's?

marinpaul

I recently purchased a pair of Monitor 70's and a CS10 from Newegg and love the combo. (I would have purchased a CS2 but it won't fit in my media cabinet).

I now want to add two surround speakers to make a 5.1 system sans subwoofer. I am running an Onkyo TX-SR508. The HT system is at one end of a large great room with vaulted ceilings, with the fronts/center against one wall and a good 15 feet of open space behind the couch. I am thinking of getting the OWM 3's or OWM 5's. One would mount on the ceiling where the wall hits the ceiling a few feet to the left of the couch, and the other would mount on the ceiling a few feet from the other end of the couch and just past the vault peak.

I am a bit concerned that these speakers won't have enough "oomph" to match the 70's, but I need something white/smaller or the wife will be unhappy. Your thoughts and help would be much appreciated.

Paul

gsxr141

i have the owm3's as surrounds and i love them. i'm actually going to get 2 more to replace the r1's i have as rears. you can find them for $149 a pair, shipped. i think if i was going to spend $300 on the 5's, i would just get tsi 200's instead.

marinpaul

Thanks, gsxr141. I found a new pair of the OWM5's from a reputable seller on Ebay for $208 all in, so i pulled the trigger. I'll let folks know what I think once they are installed.

All the best,

Paul

comfortablycurt

The OWM5's should work quite well. They're a timbre match to the Monitor series, and are very flexible as far as placement options go. The white finish blends in nicely with most decor too.

The OWM5's would definitely be preferable over the 3's, especially with your large front channels. It sounds like you already know it, but you'd get a BIG increase in center channel quality if you upgraded to the CS20. With the Monitor 70's up front, you really need a bigger center channel to keep up. I realize that placement/space can sometimes dictate those decisions though.

marinpaul

Thanks, cormfortablycurt. I am tempted to (i) move my cs10 upstairs in the mancave to join my small HDTV and Monitor 60's, (ii) take my big flatscreen off its stand and hang it above the media cabinet, and (iii) get a CS2 to put on top of my low media cabinet below the wall-mounted flat screen since it won't fit inside the cabinet like the CS10. However, I may wait a while as the CS10 seems pretty good once I used the Audissey setup.

Thanks again,

Paul

comfortablycurt

Well it sounds like you're happy with it, and that's what matters. That should still be an excellent sounding combination.

gsxr141

nice grab. one of the reasons i went with the 3's, was the size. they are a little smaller than the 5's, and that helped with where i was mounting them. let us know how you like them.

BtrSound

I startes with the OWM 3's, but then switched to the owm 5's. The 5's are the way to go IMHO. They are more efficient and have more mid.

gsxr141

i really wanted the 5's too, but there's not enough room to mount them where i need them. i may get the 5's for the rear though.