Will I be dissapointed with Monitor 60's? Instead of going with 70's?

psyotik

Well I missed neweggs deal of $150 70's, but they now have a deal up for 99$ 60's. This is much more tempting considering I would in total be saving $100 that can go towards a set of 40's.

Currently my setup:
Onkyo Rc260
Cerwin Vega CLS-12 (bought with a blown amp and replaced it with a boss 500 amp from PE)
Polk Audio CS2 Center series II
4 Dayton Audio Satellite speakers

This is connected through HMDI to my pc and my 360.

This is kept in a small loft upstairs which is my office/ gameroom/ mancave.

Is there a large difference between the 60's and 70's? I don't need the bass as you can see. But I believe I need more rounded sound.

You wouldn't believe how much of an improvement it was to upgrade from the dayton audio tiny 5.1 center to the polk cs2 center was. It rounded out my sound and the upgrade bug bit me hard.

tommyt21

I had the 60's there pretty good for music. I had mine hooked up to a Pio vsk 1020 then I switched them to a monster 140w Ice amp sc-35 for a short period of time and that exstra power made them sound sooooo good i almost canceled my order on my A7's at 100 bucks its a good deal.

Upstatemax

The Monitor 70's are a very nice budget speaker. The big change from the 60's to the 70's is the crossover design. The 70's have a casscade crossover design that gives them a much more cohesive/natural soundstage.

However, they will be more difficult to drive and they really start to shine with strong amps pushing them. So if you plan on upgrading the system in the future, they are speakers that can grow with your system.

nhhiep

short answer is yes. not just the bass, but the mid too. say around 80-150hz

Lietuvis91

I think m60s produce a cleaner sound, m70s produce a fuller sound, but to be clean and crisp they need power. I don't think you will be disappointed. You don't need a big speaker like the m70 if your mancave is small to begin with. I like the m60 a lot. It images better in small rooms than an m70 does. Big speakers need more square footage to sound their best in my experience.

If you like lots of hard hitting low end, you will need a sub regardless of which speaker you pick.

psyotik

With the Onkyo HT-RC260 in 5.1 will it produce enough power to create a clean sound for the m60's or m70's? And in 7.1? This unit is about 6 months old so It will not be replaced for quite a while.

tommyt21

I would try to stay away from 7.1 until you have reciever with dedicated amps IMO. It says 100 watts per channel but thats a little misleading. I would stick to 5.1. Look into getting some polk m30's for your rears along with the 60's for your front and you will be sitting pretty. of course all in my opinion

Lietuvis91

I agree with tommy, especially if you room is on a smaller side. Get your m60s and m30s and a nice little sub, and you will have one kick arse starter HT system

psyotik

I planned on sticking with 5.1 but was just wondering about 7.1. Just to verify the RC260 is capable of pushing the m60 enough to be clear sounding in 5.1?
Lietuvis91: I already have a small sub lols =D It vibrates the entire house! (subs in op but had a typo bash 500 from pe)

Lietuvis91

You will be fine with that setup in 5.1. I had something pretty similar when I started out and loved that setup. They key is to offset the low frequencies to the sub and run the speakers around 80hz or higher. That makes better use of the power the speakers actually get. Take the time to blend in your sub correctly and it should sound great!

psyotik

Awesome! I just ordered the m60's!
Yea I have been having a very hard getting my sub tuned in correctly with just having it and the satellites. But since I added the polk cs2 center I was able to turn it down even more and seemed much more balanced. Once I receive these m60's I'm hoping to be able to turn the sub down slightly more and balance everything correctly.

For the frequencies of these speakers what would you run them at?
cs2? 80hz?
m60? 100hz?
satellites? 150hz?
sub? 80hz (lowest setting)?

Lietuvis91

I like the cs2 at 100hz or higher, because for some reason the dialoque does not seem clean enough with lower frequencies. However, that will largely depend on the acoustics of your room, location of the center channel, and so on. So you will have to try some different settings and see what makes sense in your case. I found that replaying the same scene in a movie after you change settings helps to find the sweet spot.

cnh

That is interesting? But I do think that it's pretty room dependent and placement dependent. I run my CS2 at 60hz (I think). But it sits over 4' above the floor and a foot and a half from the back wall in a fairly narrow but long room (11.5' width x 25' length..viewing 11.5 x 16.5). And I find that I need those lower frequencies to give that center the "presence" it should have for HT? At 100 hz or higher it just sounds like a set of TV speakers...weak.

But then again, if you notice my placement the bass should be fairly clean..and it is. I also equalize a bit, not much but it helps. Probable back off the bass by -2db and boost the treble a little. Can't complain once it's all tweaked. YMMV!

One last thing, I calibrated all 5 speakers with an SPL meter--the sub as well..but I sometimes run that a little "hot", depending. According to the SPL meter, the CS2 is almost equal to the settings for the M-70 R/L channels.

cnh

Lietuvis91

I think the furniture and shape of my room has a lot to do with the settings I am using. Even so, I still find that the higher crossover point results in much cleaner and more detailed sound. It's awesome to hear every tick and pin drop like it was happening right in fron of you, it's very engaging. I mostly focus on HT though, for music I would likely cross over at a lower point for a "fuller" sound. In fact, for music I would probably run stereo mode in full range without the sub.

dorokusai

You will love them just as much....enjoy!

halo71

Personally, IMO, I would look for some vintage Monitor Series locally. Perhaps Craigslist. Monitor 7, 10 or 12.

Lietuvis91

halo71 wrote: »

Personally, IMO, I would look for some vintage Monitor Series locally. Perhaps Craigslist. Monitor 7, 10 or 12.

This is interesting. Why is that? I never heard those speakers, but I do see them on cl every no and again.

halo71

I say that because a friend of mine has the 60's. And I was not all that impressed with them myself. Just my opinion though. I preferred my Monitor 10's.....and so does he.

He was running them on a run of the mill Onkyo AVR though. I run my 10's on separates. I' like to get his 60's on my set up and try them out.

Lietuvis91

Well the m10 is a much different speaker all together. It has a 10 inch woofer for one, so it's more well rounded I suppose. It's also much bigger (wider). Running them on separates has an impact too i'm sure. If the price was close and you had the space, maybe that would be a better option. But then again, given his AVR, he needs something that is easy to power... don't see that 10 inch woofer making much steam without some extra gas.

dorokusai

Two different speakers, two different sounds in every way. I'm not sure why it would be suggested either but its a good speaker.

There's nothing in common with either loudspeaker aside from the manufacturer. I'd probably go with the MON10 in regards to overall sonics as well but I'm a vintage fan and it's a 20+ year old speaker. Not everyone cares and would rather have new.

halo71

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

Well the m10 is a much different speaker all together. It has a 10 inch woofer for one, so it's more well rounded I suppose. It's also much bigger (wider). Running them on separates has an impact too i'm sure. If the price was close and you had the space, maybe that would be a better option. But then again, given his AVR, he needs something that is easy to power... don't see that 10 inch woofer making much steam without some extra gas.

Keep in mind that "10 inch woofer" is a passive radiator. They are not that hard to drive. I have had good results running them on average Onkyo, H&K and Pioneer AVR's as well.

Also, I have commonly seen nice pairs of 10's on Craigslist for $100 or less. Just a thought....

dorokusai

Yeah, agreed, very easy to drive loudspeaker.

ibewbrother

I have my Onk avr crossed at 80hz. Then I used a cheap Radio Shack spl meter to adjust all of the levels to around 100db. My stuff is all in a very small room, though, so corrections should be made. I also have an old Polk sub behind my couch(not listed in sig) just for a little couch vibration.

piker

I used to have an Onkyo TX-SR606 running some monitor 60's, and they paired up great. I then upgraded my AVR to the NR-808 and thought that with the extra power I could then upgrade to some M70's. To me, the 70's didn't sound as good as the 60's when I had all of the speakers running in 5.1 off of the 808. I ended up buying an Emotiva XPA-5 amplifier to bring the 70's to life.

M70's may only be one step up from the 60's, but they use larger drivers, and more of them. The higher power requirement of the M70's is not to be ignored. Coming from first-hand experience, I would go so far as to say that it's a waste of money to run M70's in a 5.1+ surround setup without using a dedicated amp.

I think you will be very happy with the M60's and your RC260.

EndersShadow

Personally I started with Monitor 60's and a CS2 from a Sony HTIAB. They sounded quite good, and the 60's are still in my office setup and eventually will be moved to the bedroom.

For the price they are quite good and you will be more than happy with them. While vintage Polks might be better, you dont have a warranty, have to worry about finding matching centers, etc.

You will be very happy with your Monitor 60's for right now.

Lietuvis91

piker wrote: »

I used to have an Onkyo TX-SR606 running some monitor 60's, and they paired up great. I then upgraded my AVR to the NR-808 and thought that with the extra power I could then upgrade to some M70's. To me, the 70's didn't sound as good as the 60's when I had all of the speakers running in 5.1 off of the 808. I ended up buying an Emotiva XPA-5 amplifier to bring the 70's to life.

M70's may only be one step up from the 60's, but they use larger drivers, and more of them. The higher power requirement of the M70's is not to be ignored. Coming from first-hand experience, I would go so far as to say that it's a waste of money to run M70's in a 5.1+ surround setup without using a dedicated amp.

I think you will be very happy with the M60's and your RC260.

This was my exact experience, and many other members here will agree.

I started with m60s, cs2 and onkyo 608. This with my ultra sub sounded awesome. I added m70s to this setup, and was not happy with the result, until I bought my sr7002 avr and a parasound amp to feed the m70s.

Geoff4rfc

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

This was my exact experience, and many other members here will agree.

Yes, I will agree!! And I think Piker put it as good as it could be explained.

I've never heard the 60's as the 70's were my first Polk purchase. I drove them with an NR-807. My kid came over to check them out (now even though they're not typically your musical speakers, they still sound pretty good musically), and after listening to some Stevie Ray, he says, "That's it?" Your kids are so brutally honest!

Since then, I've gotten an amp to power the front three and I've regained respect from my son

cnh

Classic Monitor 10s are a very nice speaker for a two channel system. In a home theater that won't matter as much. They are, I agee, pretty easy to drive. I've had mine on an old Marantz 2265 for a while and you could fill up a decent sized room with that combo. The 10s didn't flinch even when you pushed the Marantz.

BTW, that was a synergistic match. I've had trouble with the Marantz and some speakers but not with the Monitors!

cnh

aarons915

I've only had my M60s since Wednesday but so far I think they sound amazing but they do need to be set up right as far as bass management goes. I personally think they sound best crossed over at 80hz and with the bass set slightly (maybe 10 degrees positive) above neutral, it gives them a nice punchy bass while allowing the sub to handle the deep bass. Also at first I thought the tweeter was kind of bright and turned the treble down slightly but now after going back to my other speakers(Rti100) my Monitors sound crystal clear and don't hurt my ears after a few days of listening to them.

MrGlobe

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

I think m60s produce a cleaner sound, m70s produce a fuller sound, but to be clean and crisp they need power.

This quote properly sums up my experience with these two speakers too. Well said.

mingo

I've read this many times now. Could you be more specific about how much power is needed to be crisp & clean?
I'm considering the Monitor 60/70 or RTI8's for a 2 channel system which I may expand with JBL's as surrounds.

Current setup is: Denon AVR 590 75wpc (independant)
JBL L-26 Decades
Denon CD player DCD-620