Matching 5.0 speakers to my existing right/left - Give me some info.

Buffman

Buffman

Buffman

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hey all some pretty basic Hifi queries below... my existing set up is

Pioneer VSX-920
Tannoy Eclipse 3 floorstanders front/right
Mission (cheapo) centre speaker
Mission (cheapo) rear surrounds

I'm considering upgrading the rear/centre if I can get a good deal on ebay/similar (already got my eye on one for the rears!)

Am I correct in saying it will sound best if I get the same brand?
To be honest the main reason I would be upgrading is for boredom and physical looks but I want it fairly future proofed!

If I bought new Tannoy eclipse speakers for centre and rear would they later improve if I bought a new amp? Also would a subwoofer purely just increase bass? I could consider one but as you can see from the photo theres not huge amounts of room at the front, and having already hidden the cables I CBA putting one round the back!!

Pic of current fronts

Wmp3Refh.jpg
 
New rear speakers to match the fronts. (cheapo off ebay! Shame they were packaged terribly!)

wIoKI16.jpg


I assume I should get a matching centre to match?

Also there doesn't appear a way to tie them to the bottom of a speaker stand? Are they generally not screwed in? I was gonna buy one for the back left.

Also I've seen some q acoustics 2070s subwoofers that are slim and would fit adjacent to the fronts, are they any good and does it matter the brand doesn't match?
 
people use blu tack to put speakers on floor stands. this is why i opted for wall mounting as it clamps the speakers in place. plus gives you more floor room. wall mounts cheap off amazon
 
Ideally you'd match the centre to the fronts, but that mission speaker looks like it fits your cabinet really well!

You will notice the difference with a sub in movies, but you run the risk of muddying the bass if you go for a cheapo one. Your floorstanders should be doing a reasonable job of bass while you have a think about what to go for.
 
tom_nieto said:
Ideally you'd match the centre to the fronts, but that mission speaker looks like it fits your cabinet really well!

You will notice the difference with a sub in movies, but you run the risk of muddying the bass if you go for a cheapo one. Your floorstanders should be doing a reasonable job of bass while you have a think about what to go for.
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Yeah it fits nicely but there's a fair bit of room on the underside behind the front wood plinth in that shelf so it could be changed. Does the height of the centre speakers sitting at make a big difference? (ie better on top of the unit?)

And yeah the fronts do give off a fair amount of bass. Im not sure if I need more, as it's easily overdone in some cinemas and movies.

Psycho Sonny said:
people use blu tack to put speakers on floor stands. this is why i opted for wall mounting as it clamps the speakers in place. plus gives you more floor room. wall mounts cheap off amazon
Click to expand...

Ah, my only concern was knocking them off the mounts tbh!

Don't want to wall mount as they're fairly deep speakers, and currently don't overpower the room (note the room has about 2m length behind where the photo was taken)
 
You want to match the center to your Tannoy main speakers. You want this speaker

http://www.tannoy.com/lifestyle/products/Home-Theatre/Eclipse/Eclipse-Centre/

You can upgrade to a better, more powerful amplifier, which'll improve sound quality. You cannot add a power amplifier though, you'll need to buy a new AVR.

A subwoofer adds more bass, but what it means bass that your speakers cannot handle well is re-directed to one that can. It also means your speakers can play louder, with lower distortion, and better dynamic range as your amplifer is no longer amplfying a full range signal to speakers that cannot handle it. You'll get more power as well.

Your speakers although floorstanders have a poor FR, no way sufficient for action movies. After all it's only two 5" driver. You really need a subwoofer.

I use speakers with 3x8" bass drivers and compared to a good subwoofer, the speakers don't even come close. You're looking at £500+ for a good subwoofer, either want 12" sealed box or 12" ported. Something like SVS SB2000 or PB2000
 
actually really a subwoofer adds the bass that you're either missing now because

a) Your speakers cannot handle it
b) They attempt to reproduce it, but it's a much lower volume and with higher distortion.

A subwoofer just plays the frequencies you're missing now, and also upto the point of the crossover, typically 80hz. So 80hz and under from all channels is re-directed to the subwoofer, and this is combined with the LFE signal. So your amplifer for the 5.0 speakers is only reproducing 80hz and up, and because of this power will go up for all channels.
 
you don't need to spend £500+ on a sub. look at BK subs they start at around £200 and go up to £500. if you go for a ported sub it will have loud booming bass - great for movies. if you go for a sealed sub it will be more controlled and refined - great for music and gets even better the higher the tempo compared to a ported sub.

you want to send frequencies to the speakers that are best at reproducing them. i think my setup currently is 120hz for centre, 80 for rears and 60 for fronts but i'm going to increase these a little. basically with a sub you want the sub doing all the bass. leaving your woofers on the surrounds to deal with mid range and the tweeters will do the higher frequencies. it will also place less strain on your amp too.

so I'm thinking possibly 80 for fronts, 100 for rears and keep centre at 120hz.

although i think my speakers are much more bass orientated than yours. so you ideally should have their cut off ranges higher.
 
look at BK subs they start at around £200 and go up to £500. i
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I wouldn't waste my time with the 8" ported Gemini, you need to step up higher than that. As for ported versus sealed that depends on many factors, the sub, and the room. Ported doesn't mean it's boomy, nor that sealed is better for music.

But in my case I did choose sealed, as it works better than a ported subwoofer- in my room.
 
hornetstinger said:
I wouldn't waste my time with the 8" ported Gemini, you need to step up higher than that. As for ported versus sealed that depends on many factors, the sub, and the room. Ported doesn't mean it's boomy, nor that sealed is better for music.

But in my case I did choose sealed, as it works better than a ported subwoofer- in my room.
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Cambridge audio minx any good? Ideally if I did get a sub I'd hide it from plain view between the right speaker and TV unit.

Any recommendations for subs that aren't huge for circa £200 or less (2nd hand is fine)
 
hornetstinger said:
You have fairly decent, and decent sized speakers. Why are you interested in the minx (unless for a second room, or ambiant sound, or maybe Atmos ceiling speaker?)
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Would fit neat in the hole beside the between the speakers and TV cabinet (I don't want it to come forward of the cabinet/become a feature)
 
I wouldn't do that, get the matching Tannoy center, and leave rears as they are- or get the matching Tannoy rears.

If I had your system

1) Buy the matching Tannoy center, put it on the TV stand top shelf
2) Buy a decent subwoofer
3) Buy bipole rear speakers

With the sofa right next to the speaker, I would consider bipole rear speakers instead of regular speakers
 
Yeah I got the matching tannoy rears (for £30!). What so a centre would be better prior to the sub? I'm gonna get the centre too.

The subwoofer can only go at front as I need to hide the cables (the rest are hidden in scotia)
 
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Really upto you in what order. However you don't want to leave buying the center too long, it may become obselete by that time. But you can use without center for now. Adding a subwoofer will help if you're into movies, and free up power.

If you have a large room and for movies I'd go for SVS PB2000 or SVS PC2000. For smaller room and music go SB2000.

Can't see any Tannoy bipole speakers, if you can I'd consider this type considering your room layout

http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/surround-speaker-dipole-vs-bipole/sx66r_ng.JPG/image
 
It really depends what you want more. you definitely want the center to be tonally matched - it's more important than having the fronts and rears matched, IMO. You don't necessarily need to buy the centre though, one of the rears should do a decent job although obviously a proper centre is more suited.

I agree with hornet's comments re: the gemini (ish). It's a good quality sub but it isnt nearly powerful enough or deep enough to do HT duties. It's more suited as an addition to a pair of bookshelfs to give a bit of bass extention. However, do not discount the bigger subs in the BK range - you will be (very) hard pressed to find anything better for the money than an xls for example.
 
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