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I was in a "high end" audio shop today, trying to buy a center channel speaker to add to my newly acquired HK 525 AV Receiver.
I have Avance Epsilon 980's in the front (left over from my 2 channel setup - very much like Thiel 2.1's) and 2 B&W 301's that I'll be using in the rear (at least temporarily). The guy was trying to convince me that you need to have the same brand all around in order to "match". Doesn't sound right to me, but I figured I'd ask the inmates.
Als,s any suggestions for a good sounding, reasonbly priced center and/or 5 speaker system?
Follow Ups:
I don't buy it at all. I do think that the sonic character of the fronts (inc center) should be similar - with maybe the center being just a bit more oriented toward the midrange for good voice articulation. Buy what sounds good to you.
Like Robert said, it's good to match all speakers, but not as critical for the rear, since they aren't major players. If you can't get the front 3 the same, well, at least try to match base tweeter types. In other words, if your mains are soft dome tweeters, look at soft dome centers to match the high texture/tone as best you can. It may take trying several to find a suitable match. Sometimes, getting a speaker designed to match existing speakers is tough, like my Sonus faber Extrema. Heck, they don't even make them anymore, let alone a matching center. But it wasn't designed for home theater to begin with, so there never was a true matching center. But my Solo matches pretty well, really. same manufacturer, both soft domes.But if all else fails on the center, you may want to try phantom. Some people like going phantom. (no center) But works best if you are center of the mains.
The ratioanle is to have them all timbre matched so a set from a single maunfacturer will all "sound the same" so your pans side to side and front to back will be seamless and you won't hear the change from speaker to speaker. Bottom line is the room is going to determine how they sound even if they are matched. At least in the midbass and lower midrange. I would really be concerned with LCR. That's where most of the action is. If you are really happy with your current mains and they will do well with HT try to find a center that "matches" them. What are you doing for a sub?? If your mains are full rangers you still might want to consider a dedicated LFE sub. Depends on how low they go and efficiency/power handling.
Robert,I'm going to pass on the sub for now. The Front L+R are 89db, up to 200 watts (floorstanders). I picked up (on demo) a B&W LCR600 S3 yesterday. It's huge and heavy for a Center, but will be checking it out all weekend. A dealer recommended this may be the best choice to mate with the Avance 980's.
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