mixing rear surrounds

[callas01]

Question about mixing brands on rear surrounds. I am switching over to Energy speakers from Sony speakers, I will be adding some Energy bookshelfs in a month or so, but it may look like I will still have one Sony surround back in my 6.1 configuration. Will that throw off the sound in the back or should it really not be that big of a deal?

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by callas01

Question about mixing brands on rear surrounds. I am switching over to Energy speakers from Sony speakers, I will be adding some Energy bookshelfs in a month or so, but it may look like I will still have one Sony surround back in my 6.1 configuration. Will that throw off the sound in the back or should it really not be that big of a deal?

It should not throw anything off ! just so you're fronts are the same !

[callas01]

Yeah, up front it will be Energy C-300s for R & L and the C-C100 for the Center, the surrounds (4th & 5th speakers) will be Energy C100s, but the 6th speaker will be a Sony B1000.

Pretty much I thought it wouldn't matter, but just wanted to ask

[jomari]

my priorities land in the soundstage - LCR should be smooth enough to not differentiate any changes amongst the three. for the surrounds, ive found it lesser of a priority. if id have money to spend on a 5.1 system, most of the funds would go towards the front channels, and then some towards the rears.

in this case, as long as you've got timbre matching, or a good 'sweep' in the back, you should be too worried about it. as long as the signal doesnt 'jump out' so to speak. you can tweak your receiver settings to resolve this.

a good colleague of mine did an analogy using this example. if you were in a room with the phone ringing, you should hear it from any direction sounding the same, no matter where you face (towards the phone, away from it, behind you). now, with respect to home theaters we want the same effect as well, recreating the sound of the phone ringing where you cannot necessarily differentiate the sound 'different' from each other.

when you have this, you have created a better spatiality, making a soundstage into a soundfield.

[HAMP]

I would add!
Just check to make sure the Ohm's are not that different to the Energy speakers from Sony speakers. If they are different better make that change in the receiver also.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by HAMP

I would add!
Just check to make sure the Ohm's are not that different to the Energy speakers from Sony speakers. If they are different better make that change in the receiver also.

I'm good here. I made sure since my Sony 920 receiver only lists 8 ohms, I went with 8 ohm speakers, just to be on the safe side.

[callas01]

Originally Posted by jomari

my priorities land in the soundstage - LCR should be smooth enough to not differentiate any changes amongst the three. for the surrounds, ive found it lesser of a priority. if id have money to spend on a 5.1 system, most of the funds would go towards the front channels, and then some towards the rears.

in this case, as long as you've got timbre matching, or a good 'sweep' in the back, you should be too worried about it. as long as the signal doesnt 'jump out' so to speak. you can tweak your receiver settings to resolve this.

a good colleague of mine did an analogy using this example. if you were in a room with the phone ringing, you should hear it from any direction sounding the same, no matter where you face (towards the phone, away from it, behind you). now, with respect to home theaters we want the same effect as well, recreating the sound of the phone ringing where you cannot necessarily differentiate the sound 'different' from each other.

when you have this, you have created a better spatiality, making a soundstage into a soundfield.

Yeah, I will definetly be adjusting the speakers to make sure they have spatiality. I did that with my current speakers too. Later I will prolly change out the 6th speaker to an Energy with the same tweeter and all, but I think after I get the 1st pair of surrounds the WAF is gonna need some re-energizing before I spring on her another addition.... know what I mean!

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by callas01

Yeah, I will definetly be adjusting the speakers to make sure they have spatiality. I did that with my current speakers too. Later I will prolly change out the 6th speaker to an Energy with the same tweeter and all, but I think after I get the 1st pair of surrounds the WAF is gonna need some re-energizing before I spring on her another addition.... know what I mean!

Before I bought my C-300s towers, I used C-200s (bookshelf) L/R Front, C-C100 center, C-100s (bookshelf) for side surrounds, and a vintage pair of Tannoy Sixes (6o9 model) for the rears to make a 7.1 system. The Tannoy's blended in remarkably well with the Energy speakers. They were a lot more efficient though and required turning the level down 3 or 4 db lower than the Energys were.

After getting the C-300s, I sold the C-200s and C-100s and bought 4 C-R100 bipole surround speakers. Those are neat because they easily mount on the wall and are high (ca. 6 ft) off the floor. They sound awesome for the surround effects found in movie sountracks. The WAF acceptance was 100%.

[callas01]

Yeah, well after she listened to the C-300's today, she cannot wait to update the rest, so I will prolly add a pair of C-100s as surrounds and a C-50 for the rear. Shes digging the new sound so I getter strike will shes in the mood... Hmm, that sounds familiar somehow.....