Hello, I have a pair of boston vr-950 to start out my home theater setup and I know that I have to get same brand center channel within the same line but do I necessarily nee to get the same name brand surrounds as my front and center? I'm looking at some paradigm in particular. Thanks in advance
I would stick with the VR tweeter so everything is has the same timber characteristics. You can get by with the CR line but I would stay with the same manufacturer.
It's always possible to mix 'n' match speakers in a home theater system. But it's harder to do, because it's almost impossible to evaluate speakers in a dealer showroom. They may sound utterly different in your environment with your system. If you're going to try another brand for surrounds, I would make sure that you buy from a dealer who will let you try them out in your listening environment and return them if they're not a good match with the fronts. BTW, I have the Boston Accoustics VR-MC, and it's a wonderful center channel speaker. It's the only BA speaker in the system; my original center was damaged, and I had to replace it with something that matches with a no-longer-manufactured line of Monitor Audio fronts and rears. M.
I used to have an all Infinity setup. I recently sold my center channel and 2 towers to a buddy and purchased Definitive Technology towers and center. My rears are still from the Infinity setup and at first I was worried about how they would sound together but they actually sound alright. IMO, since it seems like you are setting up from scratch then I would go ahead and match them up. Just my .02
