Changing my rears..

Mudfrog

Lately I've been noticing that my Monitor 30's just sound too different from the rest of my setup. At times they sound kind of "hollow" and some scenes sound like two separate movies are going on (they don't mesh). Is there a better rear speaker I can use that is still wall mountable? I've thought about the 40's but being a 5.25" speaker I would think it still wouldn't sound right, or will having the dual 5.25's fix that?

ZLTFUL

From personal experience, I am going to say it is your AVR giving you the trouble/differences in sound and not the Monitor 30s.

I say this because the 673 in my signature was powering a pair of Monitor 30s before I bought the 40s. There was literally no difference between the 2. I thought my speakers where the culprit.

Having recently switched to a Yamaha RX-A1000 connected to an Emotiva UPA-5, I can assure you, the problem is with your AVR. Running the setup you have, I can pretty much bet that the AVR is dipping down to around 50-60wpc (Bear in mind, your AVR was rated 80wpc with only 2 channels driven) with all channels driven and the distortion level is probably increasing as well.

Unfortunately, your AVR doesn't have full pre-outs or I would recommend an amp.
I would advise putting money into a better AVR over replacing speakers that are actually plenty for your surrounds when powered correctly.

Mudfrog

I actually plan on upgrading to an Onkyo 818 so the receiver won't be an issue for long. That being said, I was watching Legion the other day and there is a scene where a dog barks (not much else going on) in the rear speakers, then in the front. It sounded like two different dogs. I could buy what your saying if it was a heavy audio scene but that particular scene was not.

cowtrimmer

Setting the crossover of your speakers the same takes away a lot of the difference in sound when it travels from the front to back or vice versa. After I run my audyssey I always go back in the menu and make sure the rears match the fronts.

Mudfrog

cowtrimmer wrote: »

Setting the crossover of your speakers the same takes away a lot of the difference in sound when it travels from the front to back or vice versa. After I run my audyssey I always go back in the menu and make sure the rears match the fronts.

I'll play around with that. I prefer my fronts set to large and my rears are set to small.

RamZet

I have monitor 40s as rears. I was using them with M70s (and now they are used as rears with B&W CM9s and CMC center). I think they blend great. To me it sounds like your issues is with the surround sound processor. Are the distances and delays setup correctly? I would leave the delay and distance settings at default. If your unit has audyssey or mcacc I would run the auto setup.

RamZet

Another trick is to run all your video/audio sources to the TV (HDMI) and then use the one optical audio output on the TV back to surround sound processor. This will remove any audio delay you may notice when watching video.

good luck

michael1947

I also use some m70's and they will eat up every bit of power your Onkyo has. I use an older Onkyo TXSR 805 which weighs 50+ pounds and about 135 wps in my workshop with the M70's and they suck the power down...but sounds nice. I purchased the Onkyo 708 as a refurbished unit with warranty from Club Onkyo for less than $300, in my main HT and at about 110 wps it only powers my rears and pre-outs to an XPA-5 which bi-amps my front SDA's and center. Change to something with pre-outs, an 800 series Onkyo or my personal favorite a Yamaha RXV 2700 which I use in my work-out room. Good luck.

ZLTFUL

Mudfrog wrote: »

I actually plan on upgrading to an Onkyo 818 so the receiver won't be an issue for long. That being said, I was watching Legion the other day and there is a scene where a dog barks (not much else going on) in the rear speakers, then in the front. It sounded like two different dogs. I could buy what your saying if it was a heavy audio scene but that particular scene was not.

But you stated yourself that you have your speakers set differently. If you are using a sub with the Monitor series, you should always set your speakers to "Small". With a crossover frequency of 80hz. You will notice a significant difference.
You don't have to believe me as I am just going by what information you provided and my own ears in a very similar arrangement to yours. But I can assure you that when running in 5.1 with *just* the M70s and the M30s, there is a very good match and balance front to rear.
One other thing that may be an issue is if you ran the auto set up and then didn't tweak things to your own ears. I know the 673 in my sig set my sub to 12.5 feet while it had my M70s set to 9.5 ft. They are only 6 inches difference when measuring to the listening position.
The 673 also set the rears quite a bit softer than I thought they should be. After tweaking, it was definitely matched if underwhelming. But since swapping to the Aventage and the separate amp, things have REALLY opened up.

Again, I am only going by personal experience so I may have no idea at all.

B Run

I ran M30's as rears for a while and thought they blended perfectly and handled surround duty no problem, I think your issue was either the source or the AVR.

Mudfrog

There might be a little confusion. The scene with the dog used the bark in the surrounds while the scene was focused on the main character, then the scene showed the dog and this is when I heard it bark up front. So it wasn't a delay, the bark just sounded differently, maybe it was different on the audio track. As for the crossover I typically keep my sub off unless watching certain movies, the 70's have enough midbass that I don't need the sub for tv viewing. If I turn the sub on sometimes I leave the 70's set to large, other times I'll set them to small with the crossover at 70. Audyssey set me speakers up for me, the only thing I changed was to back the the sub off a little bit and I added slightly more db to the center.

ZLTFUL

No confusion at all. I know exactly what scene you are referring to. I still think the problem lies with the signal source (AVR) rather than the speakers themselves.
I will play the scene on mine and see if I notice any drastic difference. I mean there *should* be a difference. Sort of like a dog IRL barking behind you and then turning around and facing the barking dog. It will sound different as our ears are designed to take in sound from the front halves of our head.

Mudfrog

Ok, wasn't sure if everyone was familiar with the scene. Once I get the 818 (or other receiver, still debating) I'll probably move the 30's to the rears and pick up some 40's or something similar (probably the 45b since the 40's aren't available anymore) for the sides.

ZLTFUL

That's what I did when I went to a 7.2 system. I will let you know what I find out tonight.