HT noobie. (1 Viewer)

[Rotasol]

Hi, I am new to the forum, and anticipate all of your ideas, responses, and criticism good and/or bad.

The following is my home theater setup, any input is greatly appreciated.


Receiver:

Arcam AVR100

Front Mains

Angstrom Omega

Center

Monitor Audio Bronze

Rear Surrounds

Focal Cobalt SR800's

Sub

None.



Please let me know what you think,

Also, I am looking for some decent cables and interconnects.

If anyone has any ideas of decent wire companies at competitive prices, please let me know.

Thanks for viewing.

Mike

 

[Kevin Stewart]

I'm not sure what your questions are but you need to get a sub.

Go to monoprice.com for cables.

 

[Rotasol]

I was asking what people thought about this setup. I know it is a mix'n'match setup, but I have high respect for the people here, as I have read through some of the threads, and can tell that people here definately know what's going on when it comes to HT.

 

[Rotasol]

No feedback?

I would like to know what you guys think of my setup.

Whether it is a decent setup, or if I should ditch it for a matching set?


Any ideas?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

You've posted to the HT Projects section, which is really devoted to HT rooms - special seating, construction techniques, in-wall wiring, sound-proofing, that sort of thing. You might do better if you ask one of the moderators to move it to the HT Basics area. Since I'm not familiar with the particular equipment you list, I can only offer three comments:

1) Kevin is right - you need to add a (powered) sub and buy your interconnects from Monoprice or Blue Jeans Cable. Don't get suckered into paying $100 for a 3 ft. cable that is not one whit better than a $10 cable you can get on line.

2) It is really desirable that your front three speakers be timbre-matched. Rear and side surrounds should match one another, but it isn't as critical that they match everything else in the system. But the fronts should present one continuous sound field and that won't happen when the speakers are different makes and models.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Rotasol]

Thanks for the reply.

Mods, can this please be moved to the appropriate area?

Sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by timbre matched?

Are you mentioning that the three fronts need to be the same brand?

I did my research on these models, and I have read rave reviews on them.

Will the difference in front mains, and center have a serious negative affect?

thanks again.

 

[troy evans]

Hey Mike, Kevin and Joseph are spot on. Also, I would recommend getting an SPL meter and running the receivers test tones to calibrate the speakers so they all output at the same sound level. Most here chose 75db as the standard for that. Just to see if that will improve on what you already have. But, I want to ask what your problems with your current set-up are? Are you dissatisified? Are you planning an upgrade? If you are happy with what you have that's all that really matters. This hobby can be very expensive if looking for audiophile quality. What are your goals here?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Mike,

Welcome aboard.

Not sure where to move this thread at the moment as it covers so
many areas from speakers to wiring.

I am happy to see our long-standing members are offering you assistance.

If anyone thinks this thread could serve better in a particular forum
please let me know which one you suggest.

I would recommend Blue Jeans Cable as they
are not only a sponsor of this forum but do offer good prices
on premium cable. Don't overspend on cable purchases.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

To quote from Wikipedia:

"...timbre is what, with a little practice, people use to distinguish the saxophone from the trumpet in a jazz group, even if both instruments are playing notes at the same pitch and loudness."

Timbre is the "color" or tonal quality of sound. With timbre-matched speakers the same sound from the same source will sound identical in all three speakers.

To use the Wiki example above, if you play the same jazz recording through two mismatched speakers, you should be able to tell the sax from the trumpet listening to each speaker, but if you play them together you might find the sax on speaker "a" sounds exactly like the trumpet on speaker "b". (This is an exaggerated example, but you get the idea.)

Now, let's say there is a scene in a movie where a New Orleans jazz band playing a funeral marches from the left side of the screen to the right, and the music similarly pans from the left front to the right front speaker. With timbre-matched speakers each instrument will sound exactly the same as the music pans across the soundstage. The move will be seemless. But if the center speaker isn't timbre-matched to the other two, all of the instruments will sound anywhere from slightly different to radically different as the music moves into and then out of that speaker.

How important this is depends on the listener. Some people will barely notice, others will find it so distracting it takes them out of the movie entirely.

This is not simply a matter of the speakers all being the same brand. It is a matter of materials and construction and components. Most speaker brands have a number of speaker lines at various price levels. Speakers at the same price level are likely to use the same tweeters, mid-ranges and woofers (if present), the same wood and construction techniques, the same cross-overs. These will likely be timbre-matched. But a center channel from the Klipsch RF-10 speaker set (MSRP $1494) is not going to be timbre-matched to the front left and right speakers from their RF-83 set (MSRP $7094.)

In theory two speakers from different manufacturers could be timbre-matched just by chance, but there would be pretty much zero chance of identifying them. And while any individual speaker can get good reviews, the thing about a multichannel system is that it is just that, a system. A given speaker that gets stellar reviews might be wonderful if you use a pair of them to play stereo music, but that doesn't mean they're going to work well thrown into the mix with other speakers playing back anything from 3.1 to 7.1 channels of audio.

For movies the surrounds are mostly used for directional sound effects and dialogue, and there is less front-to-back than side-to-side panning, so timbre matching the surrounds to the front speakers is less of an issue. But for multichannel music you would likely want to have a full set of speakers designed from the ground up to work together. It is a little bit like a sports team. In theory an "all star" team made up of the best individual peformers at each position would seem unbeatable, but if they just show up and try to play without practicing together, they could easily get skunked by a "lesser" team that practices and plays together all the time.

Regards,

Joe