Matching Home Theater Speakers (1 Viewer)

[Kha:T]

I skimmed through some home theater magazine at a bookstore yesterday and saw an article on Noel Lee, the "Head Monster" at Monster Cable.

The article said that he's an engineer before he founded the company. He's also a guitarist. The man is obviously a multi-millionaire now. So I think it's a non-issue regarding his selection of home theater A/V components, which were listed in the magazine.

What struck me as odd was the fact that he doesn't have all the same brand of speakers for the front stage (L/C/R) and the surround back in several rooms. If I remember correctly, he has Magnepan L/R speakers and NHT center and surround speakers. Isn't it the rule of thumb to have the same speakers throughout? Back in the early days of home theater, I think it was O.K to do what Noel Lee did. But isn't it a big no-no now?

Now I have a dilemma regarding my own home theater. I have a pair of Infinity Crescendo bookshelf speakers (L/R) but there wasn't any Crescendo center or surround speakers available. I may be wrong, but that's what I remember. Now, I'm using an Infinity Alpha center channel, which I think is very close to the Crescendo speakers in timbre. For the surrounds, I'm using some 5-6 year-old Mirage dipole surround speakers. For the center back surround, I'm using a Cambridge Soundworks MC300.

The setup seems to work O.K. for me. I'm thinking of getting the Swan center and surround speakers because they will physically match my Infinity Crescendo speakers much better. I also love how the bronze-colored drivers in the center speaker look. The problem is, I'm worried about the tonal and timbre matching between the Swan and Infinity speakers. I know that Swan gives a 30-day money back warranty, but I don't want the hassle of returning stuff.

Suggestions as to what I should do? Should I stick with my current setup (which basically consists of 4 different types/brands of speakers), or go ahead and try out the Swan center and surround speakers? Any recommendation besides the Swan speakers? And does anyone have a setup like Noel Lee's?

Edit: I don't want to replace the Infinity Crescendo speakers yet. They're some of the best speakers that I've ever listened to.

 

[Jerome Grate]

As to what you should you do, if everything sounds fine to you then keep it, but if you want to match the Crescendos as close as possible, it would require you to of course listen to some speakers and see what provide the closest sound to the Cresendo. The way I suggest you do this without taking speakers home and returning it by placing the cost of the speakers on a credit card etc., is to find a good cd or movie and listen to a song or view a scene and remember what the Crescendo's response to that song or scene. It'll take a little time but once you have it down in your head, go to a store with that cd or movie and listen to the variety of speakers and listen for the ones that mach closely. That's what I did and my results lead me to the purchase some Polk RT 25i for my rear center channel to match my Platinum Audio speakers.