Totem Forests - Mains / Totem Model -1 center Sign / Totem Hawks Rears
Set-up 3:
Totem Forests - Mains / Totem Model -1 Center Sign / Totem Arros Rears
Question1: Please tell me which of these set-ups is good for HT ?
Question 2: Set-up1 has the rears mostly matched with fronts and center from woofer and tweater perspective. Is this a very important thing for HT ? Is matching rear speakers an important consideration for HT ?
Question 3: Which of the above 3 will be the best for HT
Question 4 : Which of the above set-ups will be best for Multi Channel Music
Question 5 : Best set-up for both HT and Multi Channel Music
If the manufacturer has a specific recommendation for a speaker system, I would use that. Otherwise to worry excessively about which is "best" among relative equals is wasting time when you could be listening to music.
The effects of your room and the speakers' placement will undoubtedly make more difference than any pair of speakers from the same manufacturer.
This the message that is connected to my original message title "Best Speaker for HT & Music". The reason is I want to decide whch s the best combo ?
When I am not seeing a movie, I can simply use my rears to listen to Music....So I had a doubt whether Arros are better for Music (or) Hawks are better. I have read somewhere that Hawks have the combination of best of Arros (Imaging and soundstage ) and Staffs ( Deeper Bass ).
Also, will Arros server better as rear speakers in HT along with Forests/Model-1 Sig center (or) will Hawks do a better job ?
You're asking very difficult questions to answer. Personally setup 1 seems out of balance. You would be better off with Model-1 Signatures all the way around with the Model-1 Centre speaker, than with those Forests at the front. This would be better balanced. If you wish to use Forests at the front then setup 2 makes more sense than setup 3 since the Hawks are closer in presentation and scope to Forests than the Arros.
Setup 5 is a well balanced setup too. Since you're using a Model-1 Centre in all these scenarios, you'd be better off considering my suggestion of Model-1s front and back with the Model-1 centre and put the extra saved on the Forests toward a better sub such as the Thunder.
I agree with Frank. It is very tough to answer and at the same time it is very tough for me to get an audition with all these combos. That is why I posted this question so that folks who tweaked with their systems (or) auditions can help me.
Set-up 1 is something Totem folks have recommended if anyone wants to build a HT with Forests as the mains. One of the guys in AVS forum has this setting and he recommends it. But I am not sure how Forests compare to Arros in Music. Tawaun strongly feels that Forests are not good for Music and can not compare to any Totem Speaker for Music. So I was thinking Forests, Model-1 sign cneter and Arros/Hawks as the rears. That way I can use my rear speakers for Music, if Forests are not as good for Music.
2. How good are Hawks to serve as HT Main L/R speakers ? How do Hawks compare to Forests for HT Mains?
3. Set-up 5 as you said will perfectly balance for the Maisn and rears. But I am not sure whether Model -1 Sign Center will timbre match seemlessly with Hawks Main L/R speakers. Can you let me know your opinion ?
4. Set-up 4 is something I have put in because I read in several postings saying Hawks are very close to Arros in Music presentation. If that is the case, I assumed they can fit in as rears. This will also give em the option of using Hawks and Arros as my 2 channel set-up for Music. Can you throw some light on this ?