Mismatch help

jpl20

Hi all, 1st post, great site btw, anyway, I have been a loyal Polk follower for the last 20 years, with various combinations of speaker set ups, currently, I have this set up, (mainly due to size restrictions), Blackstone TL2 center channel, (on the fireplace mantle), Blackstone TL1 satellite surrounds, R40 mains, and Sony subs, (gift :redface:). The question is, what floor standing speaker would be best matched with the Blackstone TL series? Or would I be better off just keeping the R40's?
Thanks!
:biggrin:

rpf65

In my humble opinion, there is probably no floor standing model that will match the blackstones. Not trying to be obnoxious, or insulting here, it's just I think you have to pretty much start from scratch. There are some pretty good deals on Polk's E-Bay site, maybe look at the monitors, and get a timbre matched center for them. Keeping the front 3 in the same series will give you the most improvement to your ears. The idea is to have your front 3 working in harmony, so as to make it sound like one giant speaker blending together. That comes out to about 60% science, and 40% art.

Hopefully this helps.

Welcome to Club Polk.

jpl20

rpf65 wrote: »

In my humble opinion, there is probably no floor standing model that will match the blackstones. Not trying to be obnoxious, or insulting here, it's just I think you have to pretty much start from scratch. There are some pretty good deals on Polk's E-Bay site, maybe look at the monitors, and get a timbre matched center for them. Keeping the front 3 in the same series will give you the most improvement to your ears. The idea is to have your front 3 working in harmony, so as to make it sound like one giant speaker blending together. That comes out to about 60% science, and 40% art.

Hopefully this helps.

Welcome to Club Polk.

Thanks, the problem is my mantle is only 5" wide, that's why I had to retire my CS245 and go with the TL2.........it actually doesn't sound half bad with the R40's.......I thought 90% came from the center channel, no?

eclypse

What happends when your watching tv and the station isn't recorded that great (on mine theres a lot of them like that) and the center channel is also coming out of fronts at the same time? Echo echo much?

I couldn't handle that much at all after getting my new Tv and it having a feature where you could use the speakers on it (16) as a center channel with pre out from a receiver. Damn that drove our house NUTS!

Made a stand behind the tv with a shelf to hold up my CSi40 center speaker above the tv and all would golden once again.

After that short experiment (2 weeks) i'll never have a mix match system ever again.

eclypse

If it were me.. i'd either move the tv so you can use a matching large center channel or get a bigger mantle or new tv bracket that also has a bracket on it to support a center channel speaker kinda like this http://www.crutchfield.com/p_051VMA202/Sanus-VMA202-Sound-Bar-Speaker-Mount.html ... or get one of these center speaker supports to set the center on top of your tv http://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearch/center_mount.html

jpl20

eclypse wrote: »

If it were me.. i'd either move the tv so you can use a matching large center channel or get a bigger mantle or new tv bracket that also has a bracket on it to support a center channel speaker kinda like this http://www.crutchfield.com/p_051VMA202/Sanus-VMA202-Sound-Bar-Speaker-Mount.html ... or get one of these center speaker supports to set the center on top of your tv http://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearch/center_mount.html

Thanks, but not possible, the set up pretty much has to stay the way it is, the only real option I have is to change the R40's, but mind you, I'm pretty happy with the set up, just looking to improve where I can, if at all.

jpl20

eclypse wrote: »

What happends when your watching tv and the station isn't recorded that great (on mine theres a lot of them like that) and the center channel is also coming out of fronts at the same time? Echo echo much?

I couldn't handle that much at all after getting my new Tv and it having a feature where you could use the speakers on it (16) as a center channel with pre out from a receiver. Damn that drove our house NUTS!

Made a stand behind the tv with a shelf to hold up my CSi40 center speaker above the tv and all would golden once again.

After that short experiment (2 weeks) i'll never have a mix match system ever again.

When I am watch tv, and it is not recorded that great, that I need to run it through the 5.1 home theater system, I mute the tv so no sound comes out of it, all the sound comes out of the 5 speakers and 2 subs.....no echo echo.

jpl20

Any other recommendations?

thsmith

Why not just replace the R40s with Blackstone TL2s ?

leftwinger57

You never did say whether that was a working fireplace or just decorative.By your pix and the rug being so close I'm guessing you do not use it. If it's not mess in there there are a myriad ways of raising up the center in the fieplace and have a screen to cammo the speaker. If it's used then I'm out of ideas.

jpl20

thsmith wrote: »

Why not just replace the R40s with Blackstone TL2s ?

Because I am looking for floor standing speakers.

jpl20

leftwinger57 wrote: »

You never did say whether that was a working fireplace or just decorative.By your pix and the rug being so close I'm guessing you do not use it. If it's not mess in there there are a myriad ways of raising up the center in the fieplace and have a screen to cammo the speaker. If it's used then I'm out of ideas.

Working natural gas fireplace.

thsmith

I guess its a matter of looks over function then. I would be more interested in best sound than looks. Good Luck

jpl20

thsmith wrote: »

I guess its a matter of looks over function then. I would be more interested in best sound than looks. Good Luck

I think you can have both, also, you think I can have a better sound out of the tl2's than a floor standing speaker?

thsmith

IN your size room I think it will sound better from the perspective they will be a better match.

monepolk

I had the TL250 with a DSWpro 500, then I added the RTI8s and they complimented each other very well. So you may want to try the RTIA5 with the TL2 center.

jpl20

monepolk wrote: »

I had the TL250 with a DSWpro 500, then I added the RTI8s and they complimented each other very well. So you may want to try the RTIA5 with the TL2 center.

The RTIA5 looks like a beefed up R40, lol, are there major differences?

monepolk

I personally have never heard the R40 so I can't comment on them. The RTIA5 is the newer version of the RTI8 and the reason I purchased it was because I already had a sub and they sound great. Those can be powered with your existing AVR and the TL2 will still hold its own. Then if you decide to upgrade to a larger center (which you probably will and I did also) the RTAI will still work with it. I think, just my opinion, if you go up to the RTIA 7 or 9 you're going to want to upgrade that center pretty quickly. And will need an amp to power them.

jpl20

monepolk wrote: »

I personally have never heard the R40 so I can't comment on them. The RTIA5 is the newer version of the RTI8 and the reason I purchased it was because I already had a sub and they sound great. Those can be powered with your existing AVR and the TL2 will still hold its own. Then if you decide to upgrade to a larger center (which you probably will and I did also) the RTAI will still work with it. I think, just my opinion, if you go up to the RTIA 7 or 9 you're going to want to upgrade that center pretty quickly. And will need an amp to power them.

I do miss my CS245, but, so far, the TL is one of the only Polk centers that fit my application, I wish they had the CS performance in a TL size........but imho, the TL sounds pretty good.

monepolk

Maybe you just need to find a way to incorporate the CS245 back in your system.

rpf65

I still think you would want a timbre matched center to go along with whichever floor standing speakers you decide on. If you have a gas fire place, the wall above the fire place should allow you to add a shelf above the tv. Not the ideal position, but I think it would sound better than what you currently have. If you can live with adding a shelf cut to the speaker size, they have wall anchors that will support up to 50 pounds on 1/2 inch sheet rock. Mouting the brackets behind the tv, painting them and the shelf to match the wall, and keeping the width of the shelf to a minimum wouldn't look all that bad.

Not a perfect solution, but a workable one. That would probably be the direction I would take.

jpl20

monepolk wrote: »

Maybe you just need to find a way to incorporate the CS245 back in your system.

Would it be possible to cut down the housing?

jpl20

rpf65 wrote: »

I still think you would want a timbre matched center to go along with whichever floor standing speakers you decide on. If you have a gas fire place, the wall above the fire place should allow you to add a shelf above the tv. Not the ideal position, but I think it would sound better than what you currently have. If you can live with adding a shelf cut to the speaker size, they have wall anchors that will support up to 50 pounds on 1/2 inch sheet rock. Mouting the brackets behind the tv, painting them and the shelf to match the wall, and keeping the width of the shelf to a minimum wouldn't look all that bad.

Not a perfect solution, but a workable one. That would probably be the direction I would take.

If I did that the center speaker would be 8.5 feet high, with the floor standing speakers at about 4.5 feet, I think it would mess up the soundstage, mind you, the set up as it is sounds great, but I'm always looking to improve.....

Mystery

rpf65 wrote: »

I still think you would want a timbre matched center to go along with whichever floor standing speakers you decide on. If you have a gas fire place, the wall above the fire place should allow you to add a shelf above the tv. Not the ideal position, but I think it would sound better than what you currently have. If you can live with adding a shelf cut to the speaker size, they have wall anchors that will support up to 50 pounds on 1/2 inch sheet rock. Mouting the brackets behind the tv, painting them and the shelf to match the wall, and keeping the width of the shelf to a minimum wouldn't look all that bad.

Not a perfect solution, but a workable one. That would probably be the direction I would take.

One of my friends did the same.
He had very narrow shelf over the fireplace and was afraid heat damage on the TV so he replaced it with a much wider shelf.
Now it's well shielded for TV as well as he has space to put a bunch of thingies.
But it's not cheap (if hiring a professional) and a lot of work so better if other alternatives work.

eclypse

Wont matter as long as all the tweeters are pointed at ear level.

Currently my center speaker is mounted above my 82" DLP on a shelf. The tweeter is 75" high and the 2 front towers tweeters are 39" from the floor. Everything pointed at ear level from the seating position using lasers to make sure and all the sound sounds like its coming from the center of the screen.


Maybe you could make a cutout in the dry wall above the fireplace so the speaker wont be so deep. If theres no 2x4s in the way.

monepolk

jpl20 wrote: »

Would it be possible to cut down the housing?

Anything is possible, but not a good idea.