Topic: Brand-mixing in Home theatre setup

[mdelro]

Guys, is it okay to change brands sa speakers? I was planning to use a wharfedale WH2 dipole speakers for the surrounds on a Polk audio set up. Im thinking of using Rti-a5 for the fronts, then a4 for the center. Havent decided for the surrounds. The FXI A4 is kinda pricey so thats out of my budget. I can also get an Rti4 for the surrounds but the listening position is very close to the wall so i really want a dipole/bipole for the surrounds. Open to suggestions for the surrounds. BTW, the room size is 15x15ft. Thanks in advance for your replies. More power to PDVD

[Stagea]

Are you saying that you're close to the backwall or close to a side wall?

[mdelro]

Back wall sir stagea 

[ricky]

Personally I wouldnt mix diff brands of speakers in a setup kahit surrounds lang ang naiiba dapat from the same series and brand.

[Stagea]

Back wall sir stagea 

You might be better off with direct firing surrounds, and mount them above your listening position (firing towards each other).

Bipoles mounted on your side walls will bounce off a lot of sound on your backwall, which may emphasize how close you are to it.

[Tavus]

You can mix any brand Rear speakers, basta not the Center, L and R as the rears only carry very little information. 

but if you intend to listen to a lot of music, then its better there the same brand.

[JojoD818]

Timbre matching (to a certain level) can be difficult to achieve if you do brand mixing of speakers. 

[Conan]

Timbre matching (to a certain level) can be difficult to achieve if you do brand mixing of speakers. 

+1 on this. I used to have a carry over rear speaker from my old system to match with my new front and center Klipsch speakers. At first I thought the sound was acceptable but when I finally saved enough to buy the matching rear Klipsch speaker, wow! The improvement was like night and day.

[alfred]

The only component in your HT speaker that you can use other than your matched 5.0 without compromising timbre matching is your powered sub-woofer.

[sovrain]

howabout if, same brand but of diffrent series, say, MA's silver on front and bronze for surround?

[alfred]

basta same mid and hi drivers. dont underestimate your rear there are alot of sounds coming from them too.

[JojoD818]

howabout if, same brand but of diffrent series, say, MA's silver on front and bronze for surround?

speaker manufacturers often have their own "signature" sound that makes them different from other brands. you could probably get away with it even if you use different series. even the use of different size on the same series is possible since most AVRs have individual level adjustments for the LCR and surrounds.

if you have no other choice, timbre matching can still be accomplished even if you use different brands IF your AVR has individual tonal level adjustments and some help with active system adjustments like Yamaha's YPAO and Audyssey EQ systems.

this may prove to be a bit of a hassle for a system owner trying to maximize his setup, that's why the recommendation of sticking to the same brand of speakers in an HT system has been highly recommended.

[alfred]

nasa surround speakers ang "surprise factor" ng HT. just turn up your volume and watch the opening scene of fast5 when the cars come from behind to overtake the prison bus. never fails to surprise my viewers.

[sovrain]

maraming salamat Sirs...