R30's Front and Back-Good/Bad Idea?

rlam01

Seems fry's has the Polk R30's on sale for $158/pair.

Would having the R30's front and rear be a good or bad idea?

I am new to the auido stuff and am not sure what characteristics the front/center/rear/surrond need to have whether indiviually or in concert.

I have read that the center speaker puts out most of the dialogue on dvd's.

Thanks all.

Airplay355

yes the center puts out the majority of the information.

having the same speakers all around is a perfectly fine idea, you wont have any problems with matching. the only problem u might find is that because the towers will be low, and are a directional speaker unlike the fx surround series, is that you might be able to locate where the sound is coming from.

other then that ur good

rlam01

I just got an integra 5.4 receiver so, my options are 6.1 or 5.1. The room is not very big. I could get a 6.1 if need be.

Anyone have a pro/con between a 6.1 & 5.1 setup?

Would adding a fx to the center rear help out if I go with the R30's fronts and R/L-rear? Or are just two fx's in the rear a better choice.

Airplay355

i wouldnt add an fx as the rear center channel...the unbalance of the drivers would most likely sound weird. if u have the space then sure go for 6.1 but if u dont the 5.1 is great too. there arent alot of dvds encoded in 6.1 anyway.

if you plan to use your system for mostly movies then the fx series might be a better idea, they diffuse the surround field better. however the tweeters are not matched to your r30's so u will have timbre issues.

why not take home a pair and return them if u dont like the way it sounds?

rlam01

Originally posted by Airplay355
if you plan to use your system for mostly movies then the fx series might be a better idea, they diffuse the surround field better. however the tweeters are not matched to your r30's so u will have timbre issues.

What do you mean by matched? How can I tell if they are matching on a spec sheet (so I can match a center speaker)? What is timbre as it relates to speakers?

Sorry for all the Q's. Thanks again.

Shizelbs

Fine idea to me. I use R15s for my surrounds. They work fine. Sure, they are a little directional, but, when in action scenes, and you have bullets and bombs whizzing around from all 5 speakers, you still feel pretty surrounded.
The one concern I would have with using the R30s for surrounds, is they are a little short. I like my surrounds just above my head. I assume you sit on a couch when listening to your movies, so, the height of the tweeter and woofer could be an issue. You could always try R30s up front, and R15s or R20s in the back and put them on some speaker stands.
Also, if you can swing it, I would try and snag the R50s, despite the additional cost. I think there is a big improvement over the R30s that you will surely enjoy. I think the R series are a great entry level speaker. I still enjoy mine, and I consider myself beyond the "entry" stage. I use R40s as fronts, CSi20 as center, and R15s as surrounds.
Let us know if you have more questions and keep us up to date.

Welcome to the forum.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by rlam01
What do you mean by matched? How can I tell if they are matching on a spec sheet (so I can match a center speaker)? What is timbre as it relates to speakers?

Sorry for all the Q's. Thanks again.

basically, a great bit of the detail comes from the tweeters in your speakers...and the tweeters in those speakers I don't think is the same tweeter in the fronts...

Honestly though, I don't know how much you'll be able to hear the difference...surrounds in movies typically don't carry too much detail, not enough that you'd have issues...

Shizelbs

Originally posted by rlam01
What do you mean by matched? How can I tell if they are matching on a spec sheet (so I can match a center speaker)? What is timbre as it relates to speakers?

Sorry for all the Q's. Thanks again.

The FX surround speakers use a different tweeter than the R series speakers. The CSi20 is the center channel speaker that matches the R series.
The way I think of timbre is as follows. Say a trumpet, trombone and french horn all play the same note, say F, at the same octave. Its the same note, but the timbre of each instrument will make it sound that much different. Now think of each tweeter in your system being the instrument. With noises 'moving' from one speaker to another, you would, ideally, want each speaker to sound similar, or have similar timbre. If the timbres are unmatched, the same voice, bullet, car, scream, what have you, will sound slightly different from each speaker that is not of the same timbre. Make sense?

Shizelbs

Originally posted by rlam01

Sorry for all the Q's. Thanks again.

Don't apologize. There are a lot of good people around here that like to help out. We try to encourage questions. Keep them coming!

Airplay355

polkmaniac is right, you wont eb able to tell a big difference because surround channels dont carry that much information. you'd most likely to tell the most difference if u did an A/B comparison so dont worry.

rlam01

Now that I will have R30's in the front and rear, what would be the range of speaker models that "match" the R30's (and possibly future R50's)?

Shizelbs

R15s, R20s, R30s, R40s, R50s, and Csi20 are all 'matching.'

rlam01

What about the CSi3 & CSi5? Are these also timbre matched To the set above?

Shizelbs

I believe they use a different tweeter.

kingkip

They definately use a different tweeter, and I didn't think they matched well at all with the R30. The R50 opens up the sound a bit more, and I found the csi3 to be allright with it, but not the R30. Of course this is purely an opinion item. Give them a listen, most CCs around me have the 50s 30s CSi3s and 5s in the same room, so if that is the case it shouldn't be hard. I also found I didn't like it when the center was too much for the mains. You can tone it down through the receiver, but it still sounded awkward to me. By too much I mean CSi40/5 with the 50/30, and to some extent I found even the CSi30 to be too much for the R30.

Enough rambling--Good luck and have fun:cool:

rlam01

I posed the "which center channel" to polk and this is the response I received:

[From: Schmidt, Lauren <LSchmidt@polkaudio.com>
To: rlam01@lausd.k12.ca.us
Date: 2004-Apr-19 13:07:10
Subject: RE: HOME: Customer Service

Hello,

I suggest the CSi30 center channel, it will blend well with the R50's.

Sincerely,
Lauren]

I am still confused. ??? I guess the safe bet would be the csi20.

Airplay355

im confused too, i dont know why they would say that. they will blend well but it wont be a perfect match and u may find that its not to your liking. the tweeters are different and this is where issues my arise. the csi20 is the math for r50s but u could pull it off with a csi30

hellotheworld

Recently I wanted to buy a center channle to match my R50 and went throught polk website. I found that almost all the tweeters of old center models are Tri-laminate dome (diameter of the tweeter may vary). And all the new center model are Silk/Polymer composite dome.
Exception:
CS175 and CSi175: 1 - 3/4" silk dome tweeter

CSi40, CSi5, CSi30, and CSi3 use 1 - 1" Silk/Polymer composite dome tweeter to match RTix or RTixx serial speakers, and only CSi20 uses 1 - 3/4" Silk/Polymer composite dome to match R serial front speakers.

Almost all the tweeters of front speakers of old models are Tri-laminate dome tweeter except RT15i which uses 1 - 3/4" silk dome tweeter (CS175 and CS175i were design to match it).

RTixx and RTix serials use 1 - 1" silk/polymer composite dome. R serial uses 1 - 3/4" silk/polymer composite dome.

So I think to find a right center channel first one can do is to compare the tweeters although you can swing. I posted a question about which center I should use in the forum and got a lot very helpful ideas.

Unfortunately, I have not bought the right center yet:(