how do you match the speakers?

warhorst

hi,

how do you guys know what speakers go well with other speakers(timbre matching)?

so how do i know if the front speakers will match the center and surround.......

Thanks

gregure

The best way to achieve timbre matching is to have the same brand and line of speakers all around. This is because the same line from the same brand will utilize the same drivers for the speakers (ie the same design of tweeter/woofer).

Many people do not find it as important to match the surrounds, going with a nice setup for their left/right mains and center, but then cheaping out on the surrounds just to have some. Personally, I notice the benefit of having the same type of speaker all around, as the f/x blend better, and sound the same.

The absolute ultimate way to achieve timbre matching, however, is to have the same exact speaker on every channel (all Lsi 9's perhaps?) but few really go to that length when there are dedicated center and surround speakers with the same drivers to make the difference neglible.

Keep in mind, however, that this is not true of subwoofer, as the low frequencies do not register the same to the ears, in other words bass is bass. That's why so many of us have all Polk speakers, but then a sub from SVS.

From there, it's just about finding a good receiver to driver the speakers toward their full potential, and you are on your way to having an excellent system.

Hope that helps.

PolkFreak

In general you should go with speakers from the same company. They should also be of the same design as in ported, no port, or sealed passive radiator type. The drivers and tweeters should be the same size too. Having the same size drivers and tweeters as well as same brand of speaker will ensure that the sound traveling between the speakers will match
sonically. If you have the same exact speakers for the front and rear don't you think that would sound better than a setup with different size drivers and tweeters as well as being two different speakers like Polks for the front and JBLs for the rear both having different size drivers, tweeters, and ability to handle power? On top of that the speakers would be different in how sensitive they are. Depending on the speaker the one that is more sensitive will be louder at the same volume. That would be hard on the amp as well. So having the same brand speaker along with the same size drivers and tweeters would be ideal IMO. You could go with big tower speakers for the front and shelf speakers in the back. As long as you had the same brand the sound going from the front to the rear would be consistent and sound more real than mismatching them. Things can also depend on the room and WHAT SOUNDS GOOD TO YOU! Some people at least have the same brand of speakers, but different size drivers in the REAR than in the front and it sounds good to them. Another forum member pointed out that depending on the room different size drivers might sound better than ones that are the same size. IMO you can't go wrong with my "matching" Size of drivers and tweeters as well as brands comment. Do what makes you happy and you will be fine. I have SDA 2A floor speakers as mains and Monitor 5JR++ shelf speakers as rears. I also have the CS400 center "ported", and all of the speakers have 1 inch domes and 6.5 inch midrange/bass drivers and the sound shifting between the speakers is consistent and smooth. My post was first before I made corrections. I think the post now above this post says it perfect without going on and on like I have. That post is well put! There was no need for my post after that one was
made. I couldn't delete my post to save you from falling asleep. Sorry!
Good luck!

Early B.

I don't bother with attempting to match speakers. At one time, I had timbre matched speakers, now they're all different. Definitely loving my latest HT setup. Probably makes more of a difference with music, though, if you're into that surround sound, SACD/DVD-A thing (YUCK!).

warhorst

thanks for all your reply

i am interested in the home audio thingy and would like to know more before getting some "beginner" setup.

Currently looking at best value speakers available to me now

FRONT: RT800, RT600, RT400, R50, R40, R30, RTA12
CENTER: CS245, CS101, R15
SURROUND: FX300i, R15, R40, R30

So how would you guys set it up....as in which front goes with which center and surround.

Thanks

Dennis Gardner

Of the current choices that you listed, a RT800, CS245, FX300 setup would be a quality surround setup. Generally, the RT line is a step up from the R line, though many are happ with their R's.

What receiver are you considering for your HT and where in OK. are you located?

DG

warhorst

hello to all here okies once again..

i am in Stillwater.....OSU...

Most likely i am looking at the Onkyo TX-SR501 or the Yamaha HTR-5730SL....as they are pretty affordable...

jcaut

"Home audio thingy"?

Given the choices you listed, for HT I'd choose:

RT800 fronts
CS245 center
FX300i surrounds

From my experience, the front channels need to match the center channel pretty closely. The surround channels need to be close, obviously, but aren't as critical as the front 3 channels.

The 800's have respectable bass performance for music, but for theater-type bass you'll need a subwoofer as well.

Save enough money for a decent receiver. The quality of processing and amplification does make a difference, so don't skimp.

Jason

warhorst

ok the setup for RT800, CS245, FX300i is the best for the choices then.

So for a substitude for the surround, Which is the next best ones?

Thanks

PolkFreak

Warhorst, most Polk speakers run at 4 ohm. The ones that say "compatable with 8 ohm outputs" tend to be 4 ohm. The statment means they will run on an 8 ohm amp at lower levels, but will be at their best on a 4 ohm amp. My friend ran his RTi 70's
on an Onkyo TX-SR501 and he blew it after listening for a short amount of time. He wasn't even clipping it. Those HT Onkyo claim to be high current and do not handle low ohm rates well. I talked to someone (a lady) at Polk they said the RTi 70's were rated at 6 ohm nominal, but my meter rated them at 4 ohm with the jumpers on or off. My friend got another Onkyo TX-SR501 and the same thing happened. I told him to get a Yamaha RX-V440 like mine. He then did and we set the ohm switch to 4 ohm or higher before we set it up. You can then use 4 ohm or higher speakers as the mains and 6 ohm or higher for the rears and center. My friend can now crank his RTi 70's loud and clear for hours without any problems. All of my Polk speakers run at 4 ohm and my Yamaha has no problem in HT mode. Some of the HTR Yamahas can only go as low as 6 ohm, but the other HTR's can go 4 ohm.
The HTR and RX-V series are supposed to use pretty much the same technology, but the RX-V are much better IMO. Some of the HTR's seem to be made cheaper and you can get a better RX-V at around the same price. The RX-V receivers are also a part of Yamahas "higher end" receivers and all of them can use 4 ohm speakers except the THX ones. The THX ones that I have seen only use 6 ohm. THX is just a name anyway. I think Yamaha is a good "cheap" alternative for people on a budget IMO. It is also much more capable of high current than Onkyo as well IMO. They also have a better Bass management system. You can set the speakers to Large if they are full range speakers. If you have floor speakers you can send the low frequency F/X to them or to both the mains and sub. I send my LFE to my mains and don't use a sub. Look Yamaha up on EBAY and you will see people selling brand new Yamahas for whole sale prices.

Dennis Gardner

Most Polk speakers are listed nominal resistance of 8 ohms instead of 4 ohms for a reason. They are closer to 8 than to 4.

Onkyo receivers don't generally all blow up when driving Polks. This is absurd to paint this picture. Many here on the forum have great performance from their Onks.

Speaker (driver) sizes has less to do with timbre matching than construction of the tweeters. A Polk speaker of the same line with a 5.25 inch midbass may be a timbre match for another with a 6.5 inch midbass since there isn't much timbre in the bass regions themselves. The matching sound comes from predominantly the tweeter and upper ranges of the midbasses.
Speakers with exactly the same driver size are best, but definately not required as much as tweeter types. If this were the case, then an LSi7 would match perfectly with an RT25i since the mids are exactly the same size. Those 2 examples are night and day different in their sound. It just isn't that simple.

Construction, meaning the material and design of the driver itself is much more important in matching timbre. Try to keep materials the same in the driver compliment if you can. Example, silk to silk, metal to metal, etc.

Not ragging on your comments, just trying not to confuse newbies.

Cheers,

DG

PolkFreak

Driver material is a point I forgot to directly mention. That should have been the first thing I mentioned since it has always been a very important point to me when I'm putting together a system.
I would also think it is good common sense to think a paper cone
is going to sound different than a Polypropylene cone. Some people new to audio don't always think that way though. Most of the old Polks are rated a 4 ohm. For example, most the SDA line is rated at 4 ohm except the SDA CRS+ (6ohm) as well as most of the Monitor line of the same era except the Monitor 10 which is 6 ohm as well. I tested my SDA 2A's at 4ohm. I've also tested many other Polk speakers that said , "compatable with 8 ohm outputs"
and when I tested them they rated at 4ohm. Polk has been advertising a lot of their speakers at 8 ohm on their website including some of their old vintage speakers which when looked at in an old Polk ad you will see that these vintage speakers are rated at 4 ohm and NOT 8 like the vintage section of the website claims. You will also notice that when you do test these speakers with a meter they ARE rated at 4 ohm. My SDA 2A's are 4 ohm as are my 5JR++ speakers. Other speakers I've tested include the RTi 4's, R15's, LSi9's, Monitor 7C's, and the RTi 70's. All of these speakers were rated at 4 ohm. They even say the Monitor 7C is an 8 ohm speaker in the vintage section of this site and the 7C is in FACT 4 ohm. I noticed all of the speakers that were 4 ohm were listed as 8 ohm. The Monitor 10 was listed at 8 ohm and the 10 is in fact a 6 ohm.

warhorst

wow...thats huge...=)

Thanks for all the infos.....in a car audio system timbre matching is not that important as compared to the sound staging....great help by all to make me understand more abt home audio.......=)

Dennis Gardner

Interesting to see that even the manufacturer has inconsistent specs published throughout its history. Measuring a speaker across the speaker binding posts tells you very little about what resistance your amp will experience throughout the freq. range. Some 8 ohm speakers really tax amps when driving hard bass.

I think the most important factor in matching your receiver to a set of speakers is simply to buy more amp, not less than you think you need if you listen at high levels or have a big space. Underpowering and clipping an amp will destroy speakers faster than overpowering them with clean wattage.

We can't disagree on good clean power!!

DG

Dennis Gardner

You are right that in car audio, we mix and match drivers all the time in high-end systems. The manufacturer of your home speakers actually does the same thing. The LSI line has Vifa tweeters with mids designed in-house I believe. It is standard to build cabinets to create voicing that will blend well with the sealed tweeters to get a smooth frequency response across the entire range of music.

How about those Pokes! Big 12 Champs!!!!!!!

warhorst

thats a good one....=).....GO POKES.....@ POLKIES Forum....

Any SOONERS here.....???

Dennis Gardner

House divided here. Family that went to OU and OSU!!

okiepolkie

I'm not as upset with the seeding this year. I thought we deserved a number 1 seed last year, but I'm happy with the number 2 seed this year.

Oh, btw, I am only partial OSU alumni.

warhorst

just wondering if there are any decent audio shops in OK?

Never like Circuit city and such.....too bad we have no Frys Electronics.....

okiepolkie

There are a couple of nice audio stores on North May. I think one of the stores is named Audio Dimensions, but I can't remember the other one. I've only been in there once, and it has been a long time ago. Both stores are right next to each other(or at least they used to be).

Hope this helps.

Zach

PolkFreak

Dennis, I should have mentioned the fact that the speaker rates
were based on the speakers being inactive void of current. I do
understand the speakers impedance changes while active and running. I mentioned that my friend did not clip his Onkyo. What I
mean to say is he was running it within safe levels of operation.
Just thought I'd mention I did test the drivers alone as well. Not
that it would change the fact I did not mention the speakers rates change as it runs.

Underpowering and clipping an amp will destroy speakers faster than overpowering them with clean wattage.

That happens to be the first thing I learned about the audio world.:)

It is a good to have you here to point out the things I'm leaving
out so Warhorst and others can understand in full what I'm talking about. Cheers to you!