Monitor 30's vs 40's

Stotan7

So I'm putting together my first real HT. I'm going to be running a pioneer vsx-1121k, just purchased the PSW10 sub, I think I'm going w/ the CS2 center channel but have not ruled out the CS1, and now I need to decide on my front and rear surrounds. I will be running 5.1 setup as I want to use the other 2 channels for outdoor speakers. I don't want to go with floor speakers for room set up reasons and hope to be able to mount the rears from the ceiling. The system will mostly be used for movies/tv/and some gaming (will use it for music but just through pandora when guests are over for fun). I have read reviews on the cs1, CS2, and monitor 30/40 but would appreciate some feedback from you guys as to best combo, if 30's will be over powered by cs2 and anything else I should consider. Thanks in advance.

Glowrdr

I would say use the CS2 and a set of 40's for the fronts, and a set of 30's for the rears?

The CS2 is clearly the better of the 2. And since it plays a major role (probably the most important) in 5.1, it's not the place to skimp out on. The 40's are a nice little speaker, and can be placed on a stand, or mounted with some speaker mounts (pinpoints get high praise around here). The nice thing about the 30's is they already have a keyhole on the back for hanging. The 40's do not.

That's my recommendation anyways. Bigger up front, and the easiest to hang in the rears. Realistically, I'd say go 40's all around - but I understand the addition of providing your own mounting solution vs just hanging them on the wall.

Good luck, and welcome to the club!

wutadumsn23

^^ What he said.... Seriously though, he is spot on, esp. with the center. Go with the CS2 and don't worry about it "drowning out" anything, you can always turn it down if it does. You want to "future proof" your HT as best you can when you start out, because trust me, you will want to upgrade, lol. The center channel IS the most important speaker in any HT setup as about 75% of any movies audio track is formatted to be played through that speaker, so don't skimp. I had a set of 40's as my surrounds before I got a set of TSi 500's, and they are a pretty darn good speaker. I had them up front a few times for poops and grins, and they did very well. Getting the 40's all around would be the best case scenario, but mounting them can be a pain, since they lack the keyhole slots the 30's have. There was a thread on here a while back that someone put up that was an excellent step by step for wall mounting them and it looked really good once he was done, I'll try to find it and link it. Welcome to the Club.


-Jeff


http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?93943-To-get-Monitor-40-s-or-not&highlight=monitor+wall+mount This isn't the one I was looking for, but looks like another option. They used the Pinpoint mounts.

tonyb

I'll go with the suggestions above, but I have another question for you. How do you plan on running the extra surround channels to power outside speakers ? Don't know if it has it or not but the receiver needs a seperate zone to do that.

wutadumsn23

Good point Tony, didn't even see that. You will need a Zone B to power the outside speakers, not your 7.1 channel inputs. Luckily for you, it has one. :-)

-Jeff

EndersShadow

I would go with Monitor 50's for your fronts over 40's. The cost difference between then is basically null once you consider the cost of Monitor 40's + stands. The Monitor 50 is basically the Monitor 40 w/ built in stands.

Go CS2 for the center and Monitor 30 for your surrounds.

P.S. if floorstanders really are not an option than the 40's for your fronts. However they are beasts of speakers and you want to make sure you spend good money on quality mounts or they will rip out from your wall.

jpena53

It does have a zone B.

A couple things, you might want to get outdoor speakers based on where you live and climate or you will need to properly shield your speakers from the elements, I have the 30's as rear, and they are not bad but it seems like my CS2 overpowers them a bit, but the CS2 is awesome imo.

Two, at some point, you might want to upgrade that PSW10 to atleast to a PSW110 or PSW111, or best PSW505. From what I heard it seems lacks. I have a PSW111 and PSW505 and they don't even compare to each other. The 505 is better in every way.

Last, nice receiver. Hope you put some nice speakers to it. Once you get some more money, maybe a pre-amp.

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

How big is your room, because running larger speakers as surrounds is fairly useless unless you have a lot of space. There just isn't enough information back "there", so even M-30s would be fine. It's not like you're ever going to ask those speakers to "do" anything under 80hz--and they can certainly handle that well enough! Concentrate on the front three speakers--put your money up front "and" into your SUB!


cnh