Timbre matching

sjbtmc

I'm in the process of planning a home theater and have decided to go with Polks. I don't have a ton of experience with audio equipment and maybe this is a dumb question but is there a site or a list somewhere that shows what speakers are timbre matched each other? I don't have a huge budget....looking at monitor 50's, 60's, or 70's. Can I assume the RM6751's would be good surrounds for the monitors? CS series for center? Depending which ones I can get on sale or are most recomended.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

B Run

I'd go Monitor 60's, Cs2 and Monitor 30's, that's the best bang for your buck in my opinion.

sjbtmc

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. Just to clarify.....the Cs1, 10, 2, & 20 are all timbre matched to the monitors?

What about a sub....should I just get the most/biggest sub I can afford? I was thinking 10 or 12 inch. Room is 27x18 basement....no need to worry about neighbors complaining!!!!

Tour2ma

I agree that the 60's were the sweet spot of the Monitor floorstanders. The drop down menu under "Products" will get you to Polk's recommendations for matching. Here's the Monitor 60's page...
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor60/
Scroll down for the rec's...

Timbre matching for HT is most important across the front stage; far less important for the surround channels. Surround matching becomes more important for multi-channel music, but (IMO) is still not essential.

If you have RM's already, or can get a couple on the cheap, they will do for starters.

Welcome to the Club....

mdaudioguy

You won't be satisfied with satellites for surrounds if you run Monitors up front. I agree with the recommendations above. These guys won't steer you wrong!

Welcome to Club Polk!

Edit: ok, kind of... Yes, the 6751s will work, but trust me, you won't keep it that way for long! (I started there too.)

sjbtmc

Thanks again....Tour2ma, the link is a big help. I've learned a lot already. Can't wait to get started........Would the OWMs be easier to mount on a wall for the rear surrounds than M30s? If you think I can mount M30's on the wall, that's what I'll do. They just look a bit big and heavy.....thoughts?

sjbtmc

Ugh....M70s aren't much more that M60s....stick with M60s?

RuSsMaN

The OWM's are extremely versatile with mounting options. The 30's are easily mounted, just make sure you are anchored in a stud.

As far as timbre, you'll want at least identical tweeters all the way around. For TRUE timbre matching, you'll want five (or seven) identical speakers, ie M30's for EVERY channel, etc.

That being said, matching the lineage (tweeters) on the front stage is the most important - do that at a minimum (spend the money there) and don't sweat the rears too much if there are budget considerations.

Cheers,
Russ

JimAckley

sjbtmc wrote: »

Ugh....M70s aren't much more that M60s....stick with M60s?

When I built my home theater up, I didn't have a large budget either, so I bought the best front L/R speakers I could afford, a subwoofer, and a receiver with pre-outs. Later on, I added the center channel and surrounds. That way, you're not skimping on anything. Some Monitor 70s and a PSW505 will make you wonder if you're sitting at home or in the theater. Then a few months down the road, add a CS2 center and Monitor 40s or 50s for surround duty. You can't go wrong with that setup.

mdaudioguy

^^^ A very sensible approach, Jim! This allows for immediate enjoyment, and it only gets better down the road. The only idea I'm not wild about is using floorstanding speakers as surrounds. I know some do it and are happy, but for HT, I don't think it offers the ideal solution. Polk suggests that, "surround speakers work best when elevated at least two feet above the seated listeners' heads." Obviously, bookshelf speakers are better suited to achieving this.

JimAckley

Then 40s it is!

sjbtmc

Great advice. I really appreciate it! One last question. The Tsi300's are on sale at Newegg for a little more than the Monitor 60's. Is it worth it?

spock 2054

You would be getting less of a speaker with the 300. Why pay more and get less? Just my opinion. I enjoy the heck out of my 60's as surrounds. Good sound, and a great value.

sjbtmc

Sounds good......I can't wait to get set up!

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

BtrSound

I would recomend stepping up to the monitor 70's. Much fuller sound than the 60's. The 60's are also a great bang for your buck. I just think that the 70's are worth the upgrade.

sjbtmc

I actually thought of that. If I can find a good price, that may be the way to go. My budget for the audio part of my HT is about $1000. I think I could make it work.

JimAckley

A pair of 70s plus a 505 gives you around $400 left for a receiver. Just make sure you get one with pre-outs and you're set for some good times!

Just FYI, RadioShack sells 30' spools of Monster XP speaker wire. I'd grab some for your 70s. They also sell the 16' Monster THX subwoofer interconnect. They aren't top shelf, but are an improvement over your typical garbage.

And I'm pulling my pricing for the speakers from Newegg. You might score an even-better deal from Polk if you call and tell them you're a Club Polk member.

sjbtmc

I've been looking at Amazon and Newwegg....I didn't know about being able to call Polk....I'll have to give it a shot. Luckily I prewired my basement with Monster XP before I finished it off. I actually wired it for 7.1 but I'm not sure I'll use it all. From what I've read, 5.1 may be enough.

JimAckley

Smart man. It's better to have the option of upgrading and never need it than want to and not be able to.

Call the 866 number in the top right corner of the page tomorrow and see what their pricing is. Buy from Newegg instead of Amazon. They're an authorized dealer.

sjbtmc

Lol....occasionally I do something right....

Thanks again for the advice. I'll call tomorrow.

sjbtmc

M70's, 505 sub, cs2, and m30's for surround or M60's, psw 110, cs1, and m30's for surround....Is it worth spending the extra $ for the first setup? I am by no means an expert. I just want my HT to sound really good and not be too expensive. Thoughts?

Earthy

JimAckley wrote: »

Buy from Newegg instead of Amazon. They're an authorized dealer.

Both Amazon and Newegg are authorized online vendors.

http://www.polkaudio.com/dealerlocator/online.php

JimAckley

Ty Earthy. I've been doing most of this from my phone in between studying and hadn't looked into that yet.

I would hands-down go with the first setup. You wanna start off with the right gear from square one and not need/want to upgrade soon. My best guess is that your first upgrade will be swapping the surrounds from M30s to either 40s or 50s. At that point, you could move your 30s to side duty, or start a 2-ch rig. If it's gonna squeeze your budget down for the month, pick up the sub and 70s, then grab the center and 30s next month

sjbtmc

Sounds good to me!!! I had selected the 30's becuase they must be mounted on the wall pretty close to the ceiling well behind the sofas. The 40's look pretty big, do you think they would mount sturdy enough? I have about a 12 inch dropdown from my ceiling where I have to mount the rears. Not sure they would even fit.....

JimAckley

I used wall anchors for my LSiFXs since studs were not exactly where I needed the speakers to be. They go into the wall and the end spreads into a T to give it that extra security. I got the highest-rated ones I could find in Lowes, which were something around 140-150 lbs ea. Take a visit to Lowes or Home Depot

However, since your speakers are more "directional" than FXs, I would see if you couldn't fit wall mounts into your budget. Take a look at this guy: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_121AM40B/Pinpoint-AM40.html?tp=2727 They can hold your 30s without breaking a sweat, and would allow you to easily switch to 40s, which I'm pretty sure don't have the ability to hang on the wall like the 30s. The main plusses of going this route are the ability to aim them at the listening position instead of just hanging flat on the wall, and you won't have as bad of a midbass "hump" by giving your speakers a little distance from the wall.

Hope this answered all of your Qs!

Tour2ma

For your room size, the 505 is the better sub choice.

FWIW, your option 2 would be my choice excepting I'd substitute the 505 for the 110. Assuming you set mains and center to "small" (which is best for bass management) with the Monitor 70's and the CS2 you'd be paying for additional bass that you will not be using.

Plus for the occasional 2-ch music listening, I think the 60's are a much more balanced speaker, but that's me... If you?re into bass, the 70's may be more to your liking? but remember you could always go with the 60?s plus sub for 2-ch as well.

cnh

I've always found the M-60s a bit 'thin' compared to the M-70s for music on their own with no sub in the DIRECT or PURE mode. This mode on many mid-fi receivers will reveal some weaknesses of the M-60s with no sub to back them up. I also feel that, when properly placed, M-70s image better than 'any' of their little brothers? But that's just me as well. Some people say the 70s are muddier than the 60s? I don't find that to be the case. All I find there is that you're not supplying enough POWER to them. (I own M-70s and TSI-300s [actually I'm Polked out have at least one set from lots of series, SDAs, Monitors, LSIs, Rtis, etc,) and have heard the M-60s and TSI-400s many, many times).

For HT, though, with the sub set to 80hz. Yeah, you probably won't hear these 'differences'.

cnh

sjbtmc

Great info....I really appreciate it. BTW, I've just received a pair of JBL Control 5 speakers from a friend of mine. Would they work as surrounds or should I stick with M30's? There fairly large for surrounds but if they sound good I can make them work....thoughts? Is it bad to cross-brand for surrounds?

JimAckley

The JBL Control speakers aren't a bad set of speakers. It wouldn't hurt to give them a shot if they were free or cheap

sjbtmc

I guess it can't hurt since they were free. I'll give them a shot.

JimAckley

If you really want your T15s back in your HT, put the JBLs in your 2-ch rig. It looks like the only notable difference is that the Polks can dig a little deeper. I was going to use some controls in my garage but then I got my KLHs for free. Can't argue with free speakers :biggrin: