Needs advice on matching surrounds with my polk monitors!!

[lucky777]

I currently have a set of Polk Monitor 60's and a Polk CS1 center channel for my fronts and an old set of kenwood surrounds.

I've been trying to order a set of Monitor 30's or 40's for my surrounds. The problem is I live in Canada and all the USA sites will not ship here; therefore I'm stuck ordering from Ebay, since Canadian prices are so high.

My question is, in your opinion does the matching of speakers need to be exact? Meaning should I stay with the idea that I need to stick with Polk Monitor series for surrounds since all my existing speakers are from that series, in order to get the best sound matching/quality from my system. Or could I get just as good of sound from another brand,when combining them with the speakers that I have?

If you say yes I can, could you please make some recommendations for moderately priced surrounds or bookshelf's (Around $200 US)?

Thanx in advance

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, lucky!

You don't need to get the same series of Polks for your surround speakers. Ideally, they would be...but it's not that critical for the rear speakers. Also, with modern receivers that have auto set-up routines and equalizer algorithms, matching of the rear speakers is even less important.

Does your receiver have an auto set-up system?

There are other Canadian members here that will probably give you much better input on what to get than I can. While you wait, try searching through the forum. There have been questions that have come up about where to buy gear in Canada, for example.

Adam

[lucky777]

Yes it does have auto setup function, currently using a Pioneer VSX-918V-K receiver (Not the best of the best, but it's what I could afford at the time).

I've been looking around the forum and I do see some links pertaining to Canadian sellers. My issue is though a pair of Monitors 30's is $299.99 in Canada and $129 in the US. Even a pair of Monitor 40's is still under $200 US and Canada I don't even want to say what they cost. Should be glad I don't live in the UK, ever see how speakers are there? WOW :(

If they don't have to be Polk they I'd like to find a better pair of surrounds in under the $200 range. I live in an apartment for now so the big system will come when I move into a house :)

[mazersteven]

What do you not like about your current surrounds?

http://www.axiomaudio.com/international.html

[Adam]

I like those Pioneer units. Good choice.

Question for you - do you find the Kenwoods lacking? If not, then maybe you could hold off until you get a house? Just a thought.

Another thought is to contact Polk (if you haven't already) and ask them what speakers they would recommend as rears to match your fronts, given your location. They might be willing to give you some suggestions of other brands. There's a guy on here who is a Polk rep. His screen name is dorokusai (real name is Mark), and he shows up here pretty regularly (last time was September 4). Once you get five posts under your belt (I think that's the requirement), then you could send a private message to him. You could also wait to see if he responds here.

Adam

[lucky777]

Honestly Nothing, the surrounds I have are a pair from an old Kenwood in a Box sort of deal I bought about 7 years ago. They really are garbage. Anything would be an improvement.

I was in NYC last week and couldn't decide what I wanted. I did like the sound from some Klipsch, Infinity and JBL's that I heard. But I was worried about sound matching and NYC's pretty far to drive and return speakers, since I'm live near Ottawa in Ontario. ;)

[lucky777]

Any recommendations welcome!!

[mazersteven]

Any recommendations welcome!!

I posted a link to Axiom Audio. Did you check out what they had to offer?

[lucky777]

They look like great speakers but out of my price range, was looking to spend around $200-$300 a pair

[mazersteven]

They look like great speakers but out of my price range, was looking to spend around $200-$300 a pair

SBS-01 Speakers
http://www.sonicboomaudio.com/speakers-systems-sbs01-speakers-c-13_15.html