New Polk S35 Center + Denon 3400H, MC60s, PSW111

derekcentrico
derekcentrico Posts: 5
Good morning, all! Obviously new to the forum and ignorant with speakers to a high degree...

My house has had Polk MC60s in the ceiling for surround sound since we moved in. I have a Denon 3400H, Polk PSW111 8in sub, and I just installed a Polk center S35 last night. I noticed a lot of difference in hearing voices on shows, concert blu-rays, etc., which is great.

My wondering is if there is anything I can do to better tune the speakers to sound great. I used the Audyssey setup mic, cool. But, I saw another thread where people suggested changes to crossovers, speaker sizes, etc., for someone with a larger speaker size setup.

What can I do to get the best bang out of the setup? I won't have dinero to buy larger speakers for some time and really want to get the best experience possible with the limited MC60s as Front L/R and Surround L/R alongside the new center speaker.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Comments

  • UGH - apologies for placing this in the wrong sub-forum. I must've clicked somewhere to change sub-forums after registering to write my first post. Feel free to move this mods!
  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,454
    What are your front left and right speakers?

    All speakers should be set to "small" C/O should be 80hz or higher.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
  • Yeah so my front L and R and two surrounds are Polk MC60 speakers, 8in I believe.

  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 7,952
    6.5 inch woofers, I would cross over at 80hz minimum, might consider 100hz.

    I would save up for s20s or s50s for the mains and use the front in-ceiling speakers as atmos height speakers. My def techs are now used that way, but I used them as main LR speakers for a couple years. Sucks for music, no other way to put it. Okay for movies and TV since the vast majority of the content comes from the center and sub, but yes you will notice a difference when sounds are panning or a voice suddenly comes off from the side. Not much you can do about it with your current setup unfortunately. The good news its still a really fun setup and SOOO much better than a soundbar or HTIB, so enjoy!
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
    Game Room 5.1.4:
    Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra

    Bedroom 2.1
    Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
  • Cool. I wish I could get those speakers you recommend. If we get lucky at our next house, whenever that will be, I won't have such a crappy viewing area. Basically we're in a townhouse and the TV is on a wall that is flanked by stairs to the left and a small hallway to the right. We have about 1ft on either side of the the TV to the corners of its wall. I'd love to go all out but I think for our viewing area that would put center and front L/R way too close.
  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 7,952
    Can you get some s15s and mount them to the wall? Then use them as surrounds when you move...
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es; Squeezebox Touch with Bolder Power Supply
    Game Room 5.1.4:
    Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra

    Bedroom 2.1
    Cambridge Azur 551r; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
  • derekcentrico
    derekcentrico Posts: 5
    edited January 2019
    Attaching (hopefully) two photos to show my physical limitations and seating. Not sure if the sides of the TV would be good. I'm dumb here but I figure side speakers should be hitting me from further to the side. Wish I had a full wall to work with.

    as9qziovg788.jpg
    3uv7fv8w407m.jpg
  • tonyp063
    tonyp063 Posts: 1,044
    Realistically there is only so much you can do, given the restrictions you have.
    Ideally, in that space, a pair of S15s or S20s, as mentioned above would make significant improvement. Mounted lower left & right of the bar & as far out as is possible.

    But if you can't , you can't.

    Doing the crossover frequencies as noted above is going to give you the best results, given what you have to work with.

    I'd also suggest you try the well-known "sub walk" (Google is your friend) as placement of that can make a huge difference.