Replace MA radius with MA Silver/Bronze? Will Radius work better if close to a wall?

[b33k34]

I've currently got a Monitor Audio Radius set up running -

270 floorstanders, 225 centre, 90 rears and a BK XLS200 sub. This suited the layout of my old room where the TV was on a stand in the corner with the floorstanders to either side.

I'm moving shortly and will be creating a new room where the TV and speakers will be firing across the room with a bookcase built around them. The room isn't huge so I'm planning to use ceiling mounted surround speakers - Monitor Audio C265FX

I know these are supposedly 'matched' to the Silver range rather than the Radius, and I'm thinking it coudl be a good opportunity to move to a more conventionally sized set of main/centre. The MA silver 1 or 2 look the right size. However, I think these are rear ported so won't work well backed against a wall.

Any suggestions? Will my current Radius speakers likely perform better than the Silver's in this scenario (and should I worry about the 'mis-match' between the ceiling FX and the mains - I've not set them up to test yet)

 

[Leeps]

I can't comment on the Silvers, but I have my 270HD's 450mm away from the back wall (not a corner set-up) and I still have to bung the ports a little to prevent bass becoming an issue. My previous stand-mounted Ruark Epilogue 2's were rear-ported too but never suffered with bass boom. (& my sub takes care of everything lower than 80hz anyway).

So I guess it depends on each speaker and how the port is designed. A home demo would obviously be handy, or if not, try and replicate any demo as close as possible to the speaker distances that your domestic setting permits.

How about wall-mounting the Silver RXFX's? Perhaps buying three (if the dealer will) for the front 3?

 

[Frank Harvey]

The Radius models will work better close to a wall.

 

[b33k34]

Thanks David

In my last house I used R90's as surrounds mounted high on the side walls. That's not going to work in the next place as there wont' be a side wall to one side of the listening position.

I've picked up a MA 265-FX ceiling speaker from eBay (though waiting for delivery) and I was planning to get a second to match and ceiling mount these to either side of the sofa. Any idea how noticable to difference in timbre will be between these and the Radius? (I'm in a temporary flat at the moment with most of my stuff in storage so not easy to test).

 

[b33k34]

double post

 

[Wotski]

Hi b33k34, I had a similar issue with rear ported speakers close to walls; found using a cut-up memory foam pillow to block the ports and then adjusting the subwoofer cross-over was a good solution.