AR HC6 - Upgrading Mains?? (1 Viewer)

[AaronD]

I'm a pleased owner of the new AR HC6 set, but I'm listening to more music than I expected and find my self craving a fuller sound from my stereo tracks. Is there any set of mains in AR's line that will mate well with the rest of this set? Or am I doomed to buy a new front sound stage? I'd like to just replace the front L&R speakers and keep the sub and maybe the center channel as I just bought these and would feel silly upgrading too much after only two months
Thanks -Aaron

 

[Brett DiMichele]

AaronD,

THIS is exactly why I prefer towers. The small speaker pro's

can tell me that Bookshelf's + a Sub can compete with Towers

till the cows come home. And I will always prefer owning a

good set of Towers with subs in them as well.

If you need "fuller" sound then perhaps just the low end is

lacking. While the sub you get with the HC6 system is great,

it's hardly an SVS (I mean hell just an SVS costs more than

the whole set)

Maybe you just need more clean low bass? Or do you feel that

the HC6's are lacking mids?

I haven't heard this setup yet so I can't tell you what other

AR's would timber match but what I can say is to go audition

a pair of AR5's or AR9's or AR1's (depends on what you want

to spend) And see if those sound like they will match.

 

[AaronD]

Well, I'm in an apartment so an SVS is unfortunately not an option... However, I'm very pleased with the performance of the HC6 set for HT and am overall well pleased with their musical performance. However, sometimes I feel that I'm not getting that 'I'm there' feeling from the musical performance. It's not really the low end, the supplied sub is more than capable of filling the room with low end (however it's not heart stopping or ground shaking ) but it's more the mid range like you mentioned. I'm not sure if this is just me after I realized I could have spent more on speakers (a phantom placebo effect?) or the fact that the 3 1/2" mid drivers in the set just don't have the "pop and shine" that I'm looking for. I suspect it's more me than anything, the performance of the set is far from shabby... I've always loved AR though, many years ago I demoed a pair of floor standing speakers and was very impressed...So when I found the HC6 in my price range I was very happy, especially since I was buying everything mostly at once and was trying to keep a tight reign on myself.
I suspect what I really need to do is find a shop to demo both the HC6, Performance, and Hi-Res series at. I've looked around my area and haven't found any place with a good demo environment that sells AR.
Perhaps I'm expecting too much?
Thanks!
Aaron

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Aaron,
The consumer always has the right to expect "too much" and
in my honest opinion "Too Much" is "Just Right".
Many on this forum swear by Bookshelf's and a Sub. While you
can most definatly have a great pair of Bookshelfs that when
combined with a dedicated sub can easily out do most towers
in the low end. I feel you will have a hard time finding a
Bookshelf that will deliver the quality of midrange that the
larger towers armed with more mids usualy can deliver.
I also agree that AR does and always has made cutting edge
products that IMHO have always been deemed worthy of the
audiophile badge. Your situation is diffrent though. Many
people want smaller and smaller speakers to take up less
and less room in thier environment, and for many diffrent
reasons.
I said above that a good pair of bookshelfs can contend with
a good pair of towers when matched with a good sub. But the
HC6 system much like many of the other packaged systems are
designed around an astheticaly pleasing look that will add
stature to your living space rather than detracting from it.
Not everyone prefers obnoxiously large mains or large speakers
in any position around the room. But when you choose these
types of systems you soon come to realize they do have some
short commings when reproducing music. They had to work with
very tight size constraints and while the mids that are used
in the HC6 system are GOOD mids, they are still SMALL mids.
Your best bet will be to find a shop or many shops that stock
the Performance Series, Stature Series, Hi Res Series and the
Phantom Series. Listen carefuly to each of the offerings in
each diffrent line that AR Produces and then pick a set.
Worst case Scenario if none "match" you can always run a pair
of Hi Res Towers for Music Only and keep the HC6 Sat's for
HT only.. And that would not be a bad idea at all IMHO..
What sort of budget are you setting aside for this? If you
have a receiver that puts out at least 100 watts a channel
you can pick up a set of AR9's from www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com
for $550.00 ish.. The AR5's (same tower with a Carver Sunfire
175w amp in each cabinent to power the 10" subs) will cost
substantialy more.
I run AR9's and I absolutely love them. I thought about the
AR5's but I didn't like the idea of being stuck with the
Carver/Sunfire amp in each cabinent. With the AR9's I can
Bi-Amp them with any brand or type of amp I choose.
I think you got a great HT system at a great price.. And with
some more careful shopping I think you can "add" onto this
setup to make it more pleasing for music.

 

[AaronD]

Thanks for the reply...Lots of good info. For my receiver I've got a H/K AVR310, which doesn't put out 100w/channel unfortunately.
I've been thinking about doing just what you suggested, using a new set of speakers just for music and keeping the current set for HT. Because of space constraints and the fact that I am in an apartment I've been looking more toward the Performance series, but would I be cheating my self by not going to the AR9's (because the perf. series has 6 1/2" drivers)?
Thanks,
Aaron

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Aaron,
I am not sure what the driver compliment is on the Performance
Series Towers from AR.
You will need to listen to them all and then make a decision.
The Hi-Res are going to sound drasticly better on mids and
highs than the Performance Series (IMHO) the PS are laid
back.. They use Poly mids and tweets where as the Hi Res use
Magnesium Mids and Titanium Tweets. You may like the laid back
sound of the PS or Stature series more. I like the Hi Res
better.
Just give them all a listen