Speaker selection help please! I'm stuck

DrhDrock

New here and I have been reading a ton. I am replacing my old Sony home theater in a box and want a bunch more umph! I have picked up a used Denon avr-3801 and have been watching newegg to pick up some Polk stuff. So far I grabbed a PSW505 and a CS1 series II. I also have two 6.5 coaxl in ceiling speakers for rears. I want the system for both music and theater. The room is 22' wide, 14' deep and 8' tall. 46" Sony above the fireplace which is centered on the wall. This leaves just enough room above it to squeeze the cs1 in. There is also windows on either side of the fireplace/tv. I liked the idea of a RTi6 on each side of the tv but newegg shipped me bad open box set and the wife didn't like how far they would protrude off the wall. Is there an option that it less deep? I think I am down to some floor standing speakers or the other idea I had in the first place was a CS2 series ii above the windows. I have read that you can get some bad imaging from that configuration so I chose the RTi6's but now that is scratched so I am thinking about the cs2's again. Has anyone ran 3 centers? How did it sound? If I went with floor speakers would theater sound odd with 36" floor speakers and the center channel 8' off the floor? Also if I went with floor speakers I could only get them about 8' apart.

That is about all the relevant info I can think of. Thanks a ton all!

SDA1C

It helps to know where you are. There is a sticky (I think) about SDA and Monitors for sale local CS and such. Search that sticky.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?134423-Vintage-Monitor-and-Sda-Speaker-Deals&highlight=sda+deals

DrhDrock

And I thought I had covered everything, I'm in Northern Michigan. Abc Warehouse is the only shop in town so I tend to shop the net.

hochpt21

If your going with Newegg, the Monitors are on sale quite a bit. If the CS2 wont fit under the tv, and you are stuck with the CS1...I would recommend maybe the Monitor 50's. They are the smallest floorstanders of the Monitor series and shouldn't overpower the CS1. If you end up going with a bigger floorstander, I would definitely recommend the CS2 for a center.

I know that only answers some of your questions, but that's what I got. :cheesygrin:

Welcome to Club Polk btw...

DrhDrock

Cs1 is all that will fit above my tv. I was considering the cs2's for front right and front left speakers...

SDA1C

Talk him down some. http://nmi.craigslist.org/ele/3276247584.html

might buy just the towers on this one http://nmi.craigslist.org/ele/3292051875.html

Id be talking to this guy though... http://centralmich.craigslist.org/ele/3251429813.html

Gotta look around bro, the deals are out there.

DrhDrock

Ya, I have seen them, at this point I am trying to nail down what type of speaker will fit my space the best. I like the look and size of cs2's over the windows but will I notice the imaging problems? Will floor speakers sound funny so much lower than the center in ht?

SDA1C

You will definitely have a discontinuity of sound in the center channel plus some weird bounce off the ceiling. If I were stuck with having my center that high I think I would, if possible, hang the front left and right from the ceiling. Or try a set of bookies on top of the ETC. I might try to aim them down a bit as well. First though, and I know it sucks, I would see if I could remount the TV higher and put the center under it on the mantle or thereabouts.

3 centers in most cases will do fine for movies. some have crossover differences that make them more ept to voice than music if that is a concern. With a sub you should do fine and not notice a bunch of loss until you AC/DC at volume 11.

hochpt21

Sony above the fireplace which is centered on the wall. This leaves just enough room above it to squeeze the cs1 in.

My bad...I thought you meant squeeze the cs1 in above the fireplace.

I was recommending the cs2 as a center if possible, because I started with a cs1 and Monitor 70's and had to upgrade to the cs2.

hochpt21

Also if I went with floor speakers I could only get them about 8' apart.

That should be plenty far apart, especially since your room isn't super deep. I know that doesn't help the center being high issue.

DrhDrock

So I guess my space, wife and budget has me down to two options.

1. Run two CS2's for front right and front left which would be at the ceiling along with the center.
2. Run Monitor 60's on the floor which will be much lower than the center.

Anyone have any idea which will sound the best? Thanks, D

DrhDrock

SDA1C wrote: »

With a sub you should do fine and not notice a bunch of loss until you AC/DC at volume 11.

What does this mean?

hochpt21

DrhDrock wrote: »

So I guess my space, wife and budget has me down to two options.

1. Run two CS2's for front right and front left which would be at the ceiling along with the center.
2. Run Monitor 60's on the floor which will be much lower than the center.

Anyone have any idea which will sound the best? Thanks, D

I would vote 60's on the floor. I'm just not sure how all three speakers mounted that high would sound.

Also, you said the system is for movies and music. 60's on the floor gives you a fine 2-channel music setup.

Again, my opinion only.

Upstatemax

Honestly, I would forget the center for now and put the money into something like the RTi A5's.

Much easier on the eyes, making it much more acceptable for the wife plus I find the RTi series to be a much more dynamic speaker.

I've been "ghosting" a center channel in my HT for months now and I barely miss it... I say get the better towers from Polk eBay store and if you want a center, get it down the road, something like the CSi A4

RodneyWoodford

Def the Polk Audio store on Ebay is your best bet