Tsi200's vs Monitor 40's (and other questions)

Ruiner13

Hello Polk community! I am the new proud owner of a pair of Monitor 70's and a CS20 all cherry, hooked to a Onkyo 707. I just got the system put together a few days ago with 12g wire and a assortment of banana plugs from monoprice and amazon.

My question is this:
I plan on adding some surrounds to this system, i all ready have the wire and the cable guards to run it going into place so it will look professional and the wife will approve. I plan on eventually making this a full 7.2 system but I don't know what would make a better surround to match what I have, seeing as I have both main from the Monitor series and a center from the Tsi series, (and I think it sounds good) I was toying with the idea of using Tsi200's for two of my surrounds and then maybe two Monitor 40's for the other two, the left and right surround and the left and right rear surrounds respectively. I would like too lay the two rear surrounds down on their sides if possible because they will be sitting on a overhang in a room with vaulted ceilings. Laying them down would create a much lower profile that I'm going for.

I read in another post that laying these speakers down affects the sound quality? Is this really true? and would it be ok too continue to mix-match the two series? Also, witch is the better speaker, usually one could assume that the more you pay for something the better it is, is this the case with the Tsi 200's vs Monitors 40's?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I eagerly await some feedback!

Ruiner13

Come on guys! At least give me some info on laying the speakers down on their side? I don't want to plan to do something that is going to have a large negative effect, do I have anything to worry about fellow Polkers??

MANSKITO

Ruiner13 wrote: »

Come on guys! At least give me some info on laying the speakers down on their side? I don't want to plan to do something that is going to have a large negative effect, do I have anything to worry about fellow Polkers??

Nah you should be good because the tweets are Dome tweeters and broadcast sound evenly in almost any direction so putting the speakers on there sides won't effect the imaging to much and there surrounds so they won't get that much information to begin with.

Just grab 2 sets of monitor 40s instead of mix and matching even more.
Reason being cause you can usually get a discount on the monitor line of speakers and any sonic advancements (if any) found on the TSI line are way too small to be worth more then what you would save going with the monitor line.

Thats my advice any way

lmacmil

Ruiner13 wrote: »

I was toying with the idea of using Tsi200's for two of my surrounds and then maybe two Monitor 40's for the other two, the left and right surround and the left and right rear surrounds respectively.

For surrounds you could get by with Monitor 30s and probably never notice the difference. They are a little smaller and wouldn't look as funny laying on their sides. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

wutadumsn23

I would have to agree that laying a surround speaker on it's side wouldn't have as much of an effect on it's performance as laying the center or mains on their sides, lol. Having said that, I would recommend that you try to stick with the 40's all around, rather than mixing the TSi series in there even more. The surrounds aren't going to make a huge difference as far as timbre matching, and I would be more worried about the front three. As you stated, the Monitors and TSi's share many commonalities, and the differences between the two, IMHO is asthetics and price. Don't assume that since the TSi's cost more that they are that much better than the Monitor's, IMHO that isn't the case. One other thing to mention is your room size. If the room isn't that big, you won't gain much by trying to go to 7.1. A well setup 5.1 will outperform a cramped up 7.1 anyday. The Monitors, IMHO can't be beat for the prices they can be had for these days. Hope this helps, and good luck.