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Currently lousy space for rear speaker - How important is getting matched rears? (1 Viewer)

sasha

Grip
Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
22
I live in an apartment, so of course it may change in the future. I have a relatively large living room (but probably relatively small by house standards..) My front speakers can be 6 ft apart and somewhat away from the wall. The situation for the rears is worse. The couch is all the way to the back wall. Things are clear on one side of the couch for a speaker, but on the other side it sits in the corner formed with the back wall by the back of the (non-removable) wood bookcase, and the couch can't be moved away from that corner more than just to squeeze the speaker in. I imagine this is pretty horrible for a speaker placement.

I am getting close to deciding on B&W CM4s for the front, but really don't know what to do for the rears - the matched, same-line CM2s are $900, while lower-line 601s are half that. I wonder if it would be a waste to get CM2s for rears especially with my current placement - or should I really look forward, to DTS music perhaps, lots of movies, future different living place, etc. - and get a matching speaker set? I guess what I'm asking is, does the difference between CM2s and 601s - for rears - or, in general, ANY different-series, step down speakers from the fronts - would warrant extra $500 in the ~$2500 system? How important is the issue of matching...

Thanks.
 

Susan S

Auditioning
Joined
Dec 23, 2001
Messages
11
Location
Amherst, Virginia
Real Name
Susan
Sasha,

Matching the timbre of your surrounds only becomes more important in listening to music...be it 5-channel surround that the newer receivers can do, or even in surround music as the timbres should match. This is less important for movies or 5.1 music. In movies & 5.1 music you want the mains and center to match as closely as possible, and the surrounds and rears can be chosen from a much-lesser speaker (both in size and frequency response) as it is mostly special effects, occasionally low music effects,etc.

If 5-channel music is not that important in your future, same some money and go smaller..even smaller than the 601's...for the surrounds and rears. However, if you do think you'll be "into" 5-channel, then buy 4 identical speakers if your poor pocketbook can take it. :=)

Susan

who took the lesser road for the surrounds and rears..I like live DTS concerts in 5.1 and movies in 5.1, but listen to my music primarily in 2 channel.
 

Bob Christensen

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 3, 2001
Messages
100
Ditto the above. With rear surrounds I have found that even DD/DTS is not all that demanding. You may want to go with smaller rears that can be mounted in the wood bookcase (if it is facing the couch). The proximity to the listening position may require much lower output from the rear surrounds, so large rears are probably not a must. Don't worry about the timbre matching too much, but try to avoid something REALLY different. I had some trouble establishing an acceptable level once when using 4 ohm rears that were relatively inefficient compared to the fronts, so you may want to "stay in the ballpark" WRT efficiency and impedance as well. Most (all??) receivers allow you to set the level for each speaker, so it really takes a mismatch to be "outside the ballpark" WRT matching your rear surrounds.
 

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