Rti fronts and center with Monitor 50 as rears?

Nostalgic
Nostalgic Posts: 42
edited February 2007 in Speakers
Hi all.

I'm about to buy the RTi8's for fronts, CSi5 for the center, an HSU or SVS sub, and I need help with the rears.

I am down to the RTi4 or the Monitor 50's. I would like to do the Monitor 50 towers because I have a great spot for tower rears and like the look of them. Using RTi's as rears would be too expensive for me.

My question is this: Would this sound a decent amount worse than using the RTi4's because they are different?

I have researched this here and saw some threads but none with these specifics. Thanks for your advice everyone! This community is great.

N.

P.S. Please see my thread in the Set-up forum if you can take a minute to explain what wire's to buy and how to wire everything. :D
Post edited by Nostalgic on

Comments

  • Holydoc
    Holydoc Posts: 1,048
    edited February 2007
    Nostalgic,

    In the case of HT, don't sweat the small stuff. :) The rear speakers are there to supply dimension to the sound and give a transaction of action from the rear to the front stage. It is not nearly as important for the rear speakers to be timbre matched with the front stage since that transaction of action is usually very quick and there for impact purposes. If it is not that smooth due to timbre not matching, your brain usually does not register it since the action is usually pretty quick and thus you are usually concentrating on the movement rather than the smooth transition.

    They only time it may be a bit annoying is if you plan to play "all speaker" music where you make your two-channel music play from all 5 speakers. If the timbre does not match well, you will hear music coming from different speakers rather than enveloping you. Of course you can get around that by playing two-channel as two-channel. ;)
    Holydoc (Home Theatre Lover)
    __________________________________________
    Panasonic -50PX600U 50" Plasma
    Onkyo -TX-NR901 Receiver
    Oppo -Oppo 980HD Universal DVD Player
    Outlaw -770 (7x200watt) Amplifier
    PolkAudio - RTi12 (Left and Right)
    PolkAudio - CSi5 (Center)
    PolkAudio - FXi3 (Back and Surround)
    SVS - PB-12/Plus (Subwoofer)
    Bluejean Cables - Interconnects
    Logitech Harmony 880 - Remote
  • Nostalgic
    Nostalgic Posts: 42
    edited February 2007
    Thanks!

    Another question:

    My receiver can't do 3.1. How much will I be missing if I run my HT system as 5.1 without any rears for a while?

    I'm not sure how much 5.1 routes to the rears. Is it just little sound effects that aren't too important?
  • Holydoc
    Holydoc Posts: 1,048
    edited February 2007
    Before I say something wrong (like I haven't did that before!), what receiver do you have?
    Holydoc (Home Theatre Lover)
    __________________________________________
    Panasonic -50PX600U 50" Plasma
    Onkyo -TX-NR901 Receiver
    Oppo -Oppo 980HD Universal DVD Player
    Outlaw -770 (7x200watt) Amplifier
    PolkAudio - RTi12 (Left and Right)
    PolkAudio - CSi5 (Center)
    PolkAudio - FXi3 (Back and Surround)
    SVS - PB-12/Plus (Subwoofer)
    Bluejean Cables - Interconnects
    Logitech Harmony 880 - Remote
  • Nostalgic
    Nostalgic Posts: 42
    edited February 2007
    Oops. Forgot that.

    Harman Kardon 435.
  • Holydoc
    Holydoc Posts: 1,048
    edited February 2007
    Your receiver can do 3.1 just fine. All you have to do is enter the speaker configuration menu and set the rear and side speakers to "NONE". This will tell the receiver to broadcast all surround information to your left and right speakers. This is all explained on page 27 of your owner's manual.

    http://manuals.harman.com/HK/Owner%27s%20Manual/AVR%20435%20OM%20FINAL%20(web).pdf
    Holydoc (Home Theatre Lover)
    __________________________________________
    Panasonic -50PX600U 50" Plasma
    Onkyo -TX-NR901 Receiver
    Oppo -Oppo 980HD Universal DVD Player
    Outlaw -770 (7x200watt) Amplifier
    PolkAudio - RTi12 (Left and Right)
    PolkAudio - CSi5 (Center)
    PolkAudio - FXi3 (Back and Surround)
    SVS - PB-12/Plus (Subwoofer)
    Bluejean Cables - Interconnects
    Logitech Harmony 880 - Remote
  • Nostalgic
    Nostalgic Posts: 42
    edited February 2007
    Ok thanks. I would have played around with the settings myself but I won't actually get the receiver until Tuesday.

    Can't wait to get all of this stuff going.
  • Nostalgic
    Nostalgic Posts: 42
    edited February 2007
    I just wanted to add another "thank you". I appreciate you taking the time to dig up the manual and give me that specific reference!

    I'll repay the favor when I'm actually able to help a new member.
  • Ern Dog
    Ern Dog Posts: 2,237
    edited February 2007
    I've got Rti10's for fronts and the monitor line everywhere else. Does it create a noticeable problem when watching movies? For the rears, I'd say that I can't even tell the difference. For the center, there is more of a noticeable mis-match, but still pretty minimal.

    Keep in mind that right now I'm focused on building a killer 2-ch rig, since music is my #1 priority. After that, then I'll get matching Rti's for the center and surround.

    Holydoc is right on that it is Very noticable mismatch if I'd listen to 5.1 music. I prefer stereo, so this isn't a prob for me.