Can I mix speakers?

[northantsbloke34]

I have just recently bought some Wharfedale Pacific surround speakers secondhand. Im think the rears which are standmounts may look a bit big either side of the sofa. Im just wondering if would be able to use my old keff eggs for the rears which still mounted on the wall at the moment? I have a Yamaha RXV671 receiver .

Howard

 

[RickyDeg]

I have just recently bought some Wharfedale Pacific surround speakers secondhand. Im think the rears which are standmounts may look a bit big either side of the sofa. Im just wondering if would be able to use my old keff eggs for the rears which still mounted on the wall at the moment? I have a Yamaha RXV671 receiver .

Howard

In theory you can always mix any speakers together, but in practice reaching a convincing and natural soundstage (which is the goal) with different brands and models is nearly impossible. Some claim the rear speakers dont matter as much, but any experienced listener knows all speakers in a multi-channel rig matters equally. They should all "pull in the same direction" in order to get that convincing all 'round tone. Especially nowadays with high-quality HD-soundtracks from Blu-ray this is even more essential. In an ideal set-up all speakers are exactly the same, and thus the reproduction is completely uniform and non-distracting as no speaker sounds different from the other. In some receivers (donno about yours) you can equalize the speakers to sound as close as possible to one another (manually or automatically) though the result varies hugely. I think you gonna have to try it out to see (hear) for yourself, but if I were you I'd pick the same model for fronts and back (and center, if at all possible? if not - a similar model in the same range).

 

[The_Lhc]

Some claim the rear speakers dont matter as much, but any experienced listener knows all speakers in a multi-channel rig matters equally.

Presumably the rest of us don't have the benefit of your years of experience then.

For my part, after 15 years I'm pretty happy with my non-matching rear speakers...

Might be different if you're listening to multi-channel music, but for movies you'll probably be alright. But I agree with the idea to try it and see what you think. You've got everything you need already, so there's nothing to stop you trying it. It's not going to hurt the amp, if that's what you're worried about.

 

[RickyDeg]

Presumably the rest of us don't have the benefit of your years of experience then.

That just might be a good presumption if its coming from you, yes

 

[proffski]

My original setup was the 1st generation large Wharfedale Pacific Front Side and Rear, all bought on ePrey.

Front and rear were different finish as were the side speakers, but so what? Like these but the limited edition not shown here. http://www.hometheater.com/images/archivesart/202wharf.1.jpg

They sounded fabulous with visitors often saying how good the subwoofers were, when the subwoofers were off! A good big one is better than a good little one...

 

[Anonymous]

Ideal for them to be the same all round yes, 100% necessary no. Like all things in life we have to compromise, I've had to with the front 3 to get the quality I want when listening to 2 channel music and it sounds awesome. As mentioned above your AVR will balance out the soundstage as mich as it can, so in movies you should be OK. Just remember to set it up properly.

 

[fayeanddavid]

@markjaspi

So how are the R100s then, I've heard the 300s and they are something else, are they that good??

We also use the T series, and I'm thinking of moving on to the Rs for the front and gathering some user thoughts evetually going to do the demo thing as well

 

[Anonymous]

The idea that you can't mix is ludicrous. Even in "matching" systems, the rears tend to be different anyway, in terms of drivers, driver size, sensitivity, impedance, power ratings etc etc.

I've always had different rears in the past, although I recently downgraded my main TV system so now they are all the same brand other than the sub.

 

[Anonymous]

@markjaspi

So how are the R100s then, I've heard the 300s and they are something else, are they that good??

We also use the T series, and I'm thinking of moving on to the Rs for the front and gathering some user thoughts evetually going to do the demo thing as well

The R100's seem to retain the detail and the mid range of the 300, but with less bottom end. They where running some 300's on store when I picked up mine and there wasn't a huge difference, especially as they are half the price. I'm now trying to find a way in my mind to house the matching 200C and even some 800ds rears.

 

[RickyDeg]

The idea that you can't mix is ludicrous. Even in "matching" systems, the rears tend to be different anyway, in terms of drivers, driver size, sensitivity, impedance, power ratings etc etc.

I've always had different rears in the past, although I recently downgraded my main TV system so now they are all the same brand other than the sub.

Why would a matching system "tend to be different anyway"? If you have identical speakers all round the only thing standing in your way of total cohesion and uniformity of the soundstage would possibly be speaker placement and your room. Now, how easy it is to set up identical speakers might be another issue, depending on what speakers you have and what your room allows.

After years of mixing speakers (models and sizes, not brands) I'm myself now using identical satellites front and rear, and thus experiencing clearly audible benifits which makes it "impossible" for me to go back to anything else. Natually, it depends on how picky and demanding you are of your audio reproduction, and perhaps on how sensitive your ears are.

I get the impression people often dismiss the relevance of identical speakers all round simply because they haven't had enough (or any) true experience of it. The difference can be substantial, and thus the advantage dramatic (compared to an ill-matched speaker system). I look at it like this: as audio is reproduced through my speakers (music or film alike) I dont want the tone to suddenly change, sounding 'off' and different depending on which speaker its coming from. That tends to pull me out of the listening experience, rather than pull me in. Its not without reason some of the finest mixing- and recording studios in the world use identical speakers all round.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree RD that with 100% the same speakers all round the sound stage would be at its best inc. the centre (which the standard Apex package does not have, and I know as an ex-owner). As this is how the audio is mixed for home viewing in the studio. I think all we are trying to say is that it's not always possible, due to room layouts or the wife factor, and that it's OK to mix, if the person in question is happy with the result.

 

[RickyDeg]

I agree RD that with 100% the same speakers all round the sound stage would be at its best inc. the centre (which the standard Apex package does not have, and I know as an ex-owner). As this is how the audio is mixed for home viewing in the studio. I think all we are trying to say is that it's not always possible, due to room layouts or the wife factor, and that it's OK to mix, if the person in question is happy with the result.

Oh absolutely, I'm well aware of that and in essence I agree. Like I said, I've been there! Alot of people dont even consider the idea of identical speakers though, which is really ashame.

 

[fayeanddavid]

@markjaspi

So how are the R100s then, I've heard the 300s and they are something else, are they that good??

We also use the T series, and I'm thinking of moving on to the Rs for the front and gathering some user thoughts evetually going to do the demo thing as well

The R100's seem to retain the detail and the mid range of the 300, but with less bottom end. They where running some 300's on store when I picked up mine and there wasn't a huge difference, especially as they are half the price. I'm now trying to find a way in my mind to house the matching 200C and even some 800ds rears.

Thanks Mark

Don't want to hijack the thread so maybe I'll start a separate heading, interesting subject the R series.

 

[Anonymous]

The idea that you can't mix is ludicrous. Even in "matching" systems, the rears tend to be different anyway, in terms of drivers, driver size, sensitivity, impedance, power ratings etc etc.

I've always had different rears in the past, although I recently downgraded my main TV system so now they are all the same brand other than the sub.

Why would a matching system "tend to be different anyway"? If you have identical speakers all round the only thing standing in your way of total cohesion and uniformity of the soundstage would possibly be speaker placement and your room. Now, how easy it is to set up identical speakers might be another issue, depending on what speakers you have and what your room allows.

After years of mixing speakers (models and sizes, not brands) I'm myself now using identical satellites front and rear, and thus experiencing clearly audible benifits which makes it "impossible" for me to go back to anything else. Natually, it depends on how picky and demanding you are of your audio reproduction, and perhaps on how sensitive your ears are.

I get the impression people often dismiss the relevance of identical speakers all round simply because they haven't had enough (or any) true experience of it. The difference can be substantial, and thus the advantage dramatic (compared to an ill-matched speaker system). I look at it like this: as audio is reproduced through my speakers (music or film alike) I dont want the tone to suddenly change, sounding 'off' and different depending on which speaker its coming from. That tends to pull me out of the listening experience, rather than pull me in. Its not without reason some of the finest mixing- and recording studios in the world use identical speakers all round.

I'm more commenting on the more expensive 5.1 packages (Dali/B&W etc), where you have 3 distinctly different speakers, usually some big floor-standers, some bookshelfs at the rear and another design again for the centre.

Strangely, it is the cheaper "style" packages that have identical speakers, and then they are usually very small and have their own set of problems such as subwoofer positioning to avoid directional bass.