I am about to set up a home theatre system. I currently have a old jvc 709 with some very old KEF speakers.
In talking with the sales people at variouos audio stores they all say to go with one make of speakers for the from surrounds and centre so that all the speakers are timbre matched. I understand the concept.
Quite few post here suggest that you can mix and match speakers.
So is timbre matching that important? IF you add a sub woofer should you match that as well?
I plan on buying a receiver first then getting speakers.
A. Norther- Hi, I saw your question and I can answer it for you- All audio enthusiasts mix it up alot. You actually could have four different brands from the front two, back two, center & sub. Don't worry about matching timber because even brands like infinity are known to use particle board- they just hide that fact better than the lower price speakers. The highest end priced speakers do use real wood, however you are also going to pay alot more for that. In the seventies they used real wood for even the lower end models that a company had, after the seventies everything kinda went down hill. Good luck on your journey though.
AdamT
Posted on
Hehe, I think you're confusing "timbre" and "timber". Timbre, according to Meriam-Webster, means: "the quality given to a sound by its overtones: as a : the resonance by which the ear recognizes and identifies a voiced speech sound b : the quality of tone distinctive of a particular singing voice or musical instrument"
As a general rule it's important to have matching front and center speakers, as the seamless effect is ruined if you have, for example, neutral fronts and a really brassy sounding center. Timbre matching is less important for the surrounds unless you plan on listening to a lot of five+ channel music. It's not an issue at all with subs, since they're reproducing a completely different register.
A. Nother Newbie
Posted on
Thanks Adam.
I did manage to match my fronts and centre (went with Klipsch rf-15). For the simple reason of sound and style. As I will be looking at them as much as listening to them.