Front A/B Speakers

[Samd]

Have recently purchased Denon 2300 and Mission MCubed and am very pleased particularly as the room is only mid-sized and the 'kit' has to be in a corner.

I am considering buying possibly Q Acoustics 3050s to set up as Front B Speakers for hifi only easily auto-switched by Harmony Ultimate One. Could someone please advise on the following:

1. Given that only one pair of front speakers in use at a time, can the M3 FL and FR sit on top of the floor standers?

2. Silly question but when the Front B speakers (hifi only) are selected, are all others dormant?

3. Is Front A/B the best path for such a set up cf Zone 2?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

1. Yes. But not sure how good either will sound.
2. Most A/B enabled amps are A and / or B selectable, although notionally only half the juice goes to each pair if you select A and B.
3. Depends on your receiver.

Why not just replace the fronts and use them for surround AND music duties?

 

[Samd]

Thanks. 1st Choice will be to use new speakers as replacement for FL&FR but you (me!) hear so many 'stories' about non-matching speakers producing slightly out of phase sound when used in surround sound so the questions were aimed really at a fall-back position.

Anyone any comments of the Q Acoustics please?

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Most of those "must use the same brand and model" comments come from speaker salesmen (or customers who've fallen for it).

Yes, ideally the FL, FR & FC speakers should be IDENTICAL, or at least same brand and model range, but it's not vital. For surrounds I would argue there's no real need at all.
As long as the sensitivities are about the same (so you get the same or similar decibels per watt), and the same timbre (so they sound the same), you'll be okay. And don't forget modern room equalization software built into most receivers will iron out an awful lot of wrinkles.
I would try it and see. If you really can't live with the sound, flog your old speakers and buy a centre matching your new fronts.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

PS it's about timbre, or how the sound, erm, sounds, not phase.
Room equalization will take care of distances from speaker to ear, resulting in the sounds reaching your ear at the same time.

 

[Samd]

Very useful info - thanks

 

[Samd]

For £699 I can get Marantz PM6006 stereo amp plus Dali Zensor 5s which is a saving of about £250. It would mean I have to feed, for example, flacs from the NAS through my AVR to the Amp using Zone 2 but that should be OK??

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

The 6006 is an integrated amp with its own DAC (I think), and therefore seems to add nothing to what your receiver is doing already. Unless, of course, the integrated amp is sonically superior to the receiver. I would think about a decent power amp rather than an integrated, therefore.
If you do go down the integrated amp route, I would connect the pre-amp outs for the front channels of the surround sound to the Aux ins of the integrated. I would also connect your music only source(s) directly to the integrated, not the receiver. I, for one, still subscribe to the mantra of "proper stereo for proper stereo, surround sound for surround sound, and never the Twain shall meet", but hooking up your fronts via the stereo actually works pretty well. BTDT with Cyrus kit and ProAc Studio 140 speakers.

 

[Samd]

So instead of the Marantz I could get, say, the Yamaha 602 which has ethernet and everything I need to get my music direct from the NAS. Doing that, it would mean that, although everything is in the same area of the room, music would be totallly separated

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Well, a photograph, anyway.

Sadly it doesn't have pre-amp outputs other than for Zone 2 / Zone B / whichever Denon call it.

So you're stuck with the Denon for surround sound, all channels thereof, and for "proper stereo" duties as well unless you're prepared to configure your stereo as "Zone 2". Once you've figured out how to set up the receiver that way (I would ask a teenager, he / she will do it in 20 seconds flat), it could work pretty well.

Before embarking on buying a new amplifier just for stereo duties, I would upgrade your speakers first, spend the money there first, and listen to them after they've run in for 24-72 hours of actual relatively high volume use. One tip to speed up runnign speakers in is to point the two speakers at each other 2-3 feet apart, crank up the volume, go out for the day, and sod the neighbours! Runnign speakers in basically gets the diaphragms used to moving, loosens them up a bit.

The reason I say this is that you might be quite surprised how good, relatively, a newer model receiver handles stereo. The DACs in them are pretty darned good these days, and being Denon I would be surprised if the pre-amp stages did anything to harm the sound. It's probably the power amp stages that let the side down - down believe the "one point twenty one gigawatts" sticker on the box! A meaty power amp will give the dynamics and headroom proper stereo really needs.

You could try taking your receiver to your local hifi shoppe and asking them to demo some speakers for you with your favorite CDs, or FLACs, or itunes, or, shudder, MP3s even. They might even have a Denon 2300 of their own you could use.

If you still don't like the sound, then your options are (in order of rising cost and clutter):

1 - to add a stereo power amp using the Zone 2 outs on your reciever as the inputs to the power amp;

2 - to add an integrated amp, connecting the Zone 2 outs from the receiver to the Aux or AVR inputs of the amplifier, and connect your other music sources either directly to the integrated amp (probably the best option) or via the receiver;

3 - to buy a whole, completely separate "proper stereo".

 

[Samd]

You are really very thorough in your responses and for that I am very grateful. Speakers first then but that doesn't mean I wont be back when I get next month's pocket money!

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

But honey, I really NEED that ....

Her shoes, us stereo (firm Sid the sexist here).
We've all BTDT.

Good luck!