additional surround backs

gmcgee78

I just ordered an Onkyo TX-Nr809 and want to add suround backs to make a 7.1 system. I have 2 old realistic Mach 1's for the fronts and a CS20 for the center. The surounds are TSI 200. What Polk speaker should I use for the suround backs or the hight fronts?

Geoff4rfc

Hey McGee, welcome to the forum. Nice score on the AVR, I have an 807 and have really enjoyed the performance of the Onk.

If you have the room, your AVR does a very nice job on sound when using wides. You don't have to have tons of space, anywhere from 10" to 2' outside of your mains will do the job for adding wides. And speaking of your mains, those Mach1's look cool. Your TSi200's are better timbre matched to your CS20.

If you want to keep the Mach1's, you have plenty of options. First off, when I got my first dedicated H.T. room, I did some sound comparisons between heights, wides and rears using plenty of material that would cover all three positions. My conclusion was that the wide channel convincingly provided the most sound of all three channels.

So instead of telling you what arrangement you should have, I would recommend that you do a similar test so you could decide for yourself to what would sound best to you in your room.

Also, I would concentrate on timbre matching my front stage; L/C/R, since you have the CS20 you may consider adding from the TSi line or from the Monitor line for your mains and move your Mach1's to either wide or surround. If you put them in surround, that would leave you to place your 200's in either rear, high or wide.

So food for thought, and if you prefer to use your Mach1's as mains, that's ok too. Lot's of members have blended front stages and are very happy with them.

Best of luck and be sure to let us know how things turn out.

gmcgee78

Geoff: Thank you for your reply. I have been looking at the TSI 500's or the monitor 70's for the fronts. I hate to give up the old Mach1's because I have had them for 25 years and they have 15 inch woofers. I have a TX-NR609 now and I did not think it would drive the 500's. But now I am getting the 809 I think it will. I am suppose to get it Monday and can't wait. I know Onkyo has a strong amplifier and the 809 has loads of other features. I was going to get the 818 but couldn't see the extra 400 dollars. I would like to hear your thoughts.

Geoff4rfc

Oh yeah, 400 bucks saved is 400 bucks spent somewhere else In fact, if you can find a deal on the Monitor 70's, that'll save you even more over the 500's. The only thing your spending extra for on the 500's is a nicer finish on the cabinet. The sound difference is so minimal I don't know if you could notice enough to make a difference.

So, 70's for mains to your CS20, you could experiment with placement by using your Mach1's as wides and your 200's as surrounds and then swap them around, unless you've got your heart set on rears and then you could do the same thing there.

I use towers in my set up for wides and I double my sound stage. I had used M40's like your 200's and wides were okay, but after getting A9's for mains, I moved my Monitor 70's into the wide spot and what a difference that made, I'll never go back.

Anyway, that's what I think, I hope that helps some.

kuntasensei

I feel the need to point out that while wides can sound good, they're limited to Audyssey DSX on your receiver... whereas there is a lot of native 7.1 material on Blu-ray now that 7.1 is a theatrical standard, and that can only be properly reproduced with rear surrounds. Not saying Geoff4rfc is wrong in any way... but for me, the priority is first to be able to reproduce theatrical mixes in their native configuration, THEN add additional channels if space permits. In my case, that ended up being heights (I'm running 9.1) since my mains are placed wide enough that additional width channels didn't provide much of a change.

I say snag another pair of TSI200s for rear surround duty. While it's better to have your front soundstage matched, if you're determined to use the Mach 1's, Audyssey on your AVR should mitigate any major differences in sound across the front.