How much better do better speakers actually sound? Where's the breaking point of value/performance?

[shadyJ]

The central issue here is where does diminishing returns set in regarding loudspeaker sound quality? In headphones, diminishing returns sets in at shockingly low price points in terms of sound quality. For loudspeakers, it depends, because there are far more factors that affect sound quality than in headphones, which are relatively simple devices in comparison.

Something that will play a big role here is how loud do you like it? If you don't need high loudness levels, you can get a decent two-way bookshelf speaker that can be good and inexpensive. Low-frequency extension can also incur significant cost increases. This is all assuming you have the sort of frequency response and off-axis behavior that is desired.

I do think that there are serious gains that can be made on those Polk Speakers and those subwoofers.

Another factor to consider is setup issues. Make sure the speakers are properly setup with respect to the listening positions and make sure the acoustic environment isn't too lousy. You don't need heavy treatements everywhere for the system to sound good, but you can't have bare walls and hard floor with little else in the room and hope to have it sound good.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

1. I was using a tower as a center for a while, but I'm thinking its not very ideal.

2. Any particular reason you suggest the RBH?

1. I have always used a Vertical Center speaker from day#1. And I still do. But most cases don’t accommodate a vertical speaker. That’s why most center speakers are horizontal- to accommodate most cases. I think acoustically, vertical speakers make great center speakers. But horizontal speakers are also fine.

2. I am a “dealer” for KEF, Monitor Audio, Phase Technology, Definitive Technology, Polk, Boston Acoustic, and RBH. So I can get good deals on these brands. But I personally use RBH for all my speakers because I prefer them.

So if my mom, dad, brothers, sister or any family member and friends asked me to recommend a brand, I would recommend RBH. Because that’s what I personally prefer and use.

There are many good speakers. And you would be very happy with many of them. RBH is just one example.

 

[Swerd]

baronvonellis – You're new around here. Welcome to Audioholics!

As far as room treatment, think of an untreated room as looking at a painting through dirty blurry glasses. A great painting will still look good with blurry glasses, a bad painting will always look bad. With room treatment your glasses will be clearer and more in focus. So the bad painting you will see the flaws more easily, and the good painting you will see the good parts better.
Your speakers are- "tinny, a little metallic, there's a weird treble or upper mid frequency range that seems to sound too metallic and pronounced" so with room treatment you will just hear those flaws more easily. It wont improve the sound of the speaker.

Well said. I've read too many posts from people who attribute miracles to room treatments. I like how you put it. I may have to borrow those words sometime.

 

[Swerd]

@MalVeauX – I'll put in another shameless plug for Salk speakers.

I owned Salk SongTowers for 9 years. Read my impressions of them here. Two years ago, I replaced them by going higher up the Salk line to Veracity STs. I still regard SongTowers as the speaker with price and sound quality that reach that happy zone we look for in speakers. More than a few posters here at AH own them as well. Others have gone for one of the Song3 speakers, 3-way towers instead of MTM towers. I can't say enough good things about dealing with Jim Salk over the internet.

I also admit to being somewhat biased. The designer of most of Salk's speakers, Dennis Murphy, is a local friend I've known for more than 20 years. I believe his designs define what good sounding speakers are.

There are other good sounding speakers. Some of them that I've heard are Ascend and SVS Ultra (haven't heard the Primes). I haven't heard RBH, but they have a good reputation.

Someone earlier in this thread (ryanosaur?) mentioned calling or emailing Jim Salk to ask if there is an owner near you who would demo his speakers. When you're ready, you should definitely do that. I've had more than a few curious listeners come to my house to hear my old SongTowers and my new Veracity STs. I've never known a Salk owner who wasn't happy to show off his speakers .

 

[2channel lover]

I'd check out Salk Sound. The Song 3 towers are $3300 and for a couple hundred extra you can get any custom finish you can imagine. His less expensive towers are really good too from what other owners have said. I just ordered a pair myself , and am getting a 5 channel Salk system. You can return them if you aren't satisfied. I don't think you need a tower for your center. The Supercharged Song Center would match well with it. The Raal ribbon tweeter they use are amazing, it's the clearest tweeter I've ever heard. Cymbals are super bright and natural, and it's not harsh at all. I went audition them at another owners house, I listen to music for 3 hours and everything sounded amazing on them.

I want to expand on this point on the Salks, I have a pair of the Song3a...they're great on dialog and everything movie related, but they are very good for music, paired with subs, for a 3000 cf space, they're all I could ever imagine wanting. You spoke of the RAAL tweeters and they're incredibly life-like, even at low levels...detailed, crisp, not splashy is my best description of them. That said, the accuton mid is equally as good, if not better.

All that said, I'm thinking the OP wants something maybe a little less than the Salks, but if that's within his budget, I'd be all in.

 

[MalVeauX]

LOL just a little search-fu. Lots of existing information on AH if you don't use the built-in search which generally sucks.

Hah, thanks. Still though, some search engines are very poor internally and Google or another indexing service does a better job of finding what you're looking for on a website sometimes. I used the internal Audioholics search engine to see if they reviewed the Polk Monitor 70's just to see what my impressions are compared to someone else's and came up with nothing. I found a review on the Monitor 30's compared to other bookshelves though.

The central issue here is where does diminishing returns set in regarding loudspeaker sound quality? In headphones, diminishing returns sets in at shockingly low price points in terms of sound quality. For loudspeakers, it depends, because there are far more factors that affect sound quality than in headphones, which are relatively simple devices in comparison.

Something that will play a big role here is how loud do you like it? If you don't need high loudness levels, you can get a decent two-way bookshelf speaker that can be good and inexpensive. Low-frequency extension can also incur significant cost increases. This is all assuming you have the sort of frequency response and off-axis behavior that is desired.

I do think that there are serious gains that can be made on those Polk Speakers and those subwoofers.

Another factor to consider is setup issues. Make sure the speakers are properly setup with respect to the listening positions and make sure the acoustic environment isn't too lousy. You don't need heavy treatements everywhere for the system to sound good, but you can't have bare walls and hard floor with little else in the room and hope to have it sound good.

I agree, I found with headphones, most everything was covered to the 95% mark by the $200~300 mark with quality headphones and not just hip-hop jewelry and other nonsense. The differences between the available stuff in that area is mainly just signature differences and builds, but ultimately the reproduction is a wash across the board with them and they all do 95% of the same job. Going past that requires a lot more. I didn't even find much in the $500~750 range that was a real step up at all. It took the $1k range to open doors that were tangible even at the mere subjective level let alone the measurable level and of course a great deal of effort goes into the synergistic matching of components too. But that's the 96~99% game. That last 1% still is out of grasp even. I stopped in that 96~99% camp, closer to the 96% side after going as far as I did with my setup and I have three primary headphones that I still rotate simply due to preference for different purposes.

So I expect with speakers, already costing a few hundred, it could easily be extrapolated that it will take several thousand dollars to see a similar performance at a much higher value.

We certainly like to get a little loud around here. But, it's also good to have it fairly soft too. We enjoy watching movies the first time fairly loud with all the trimmings. But after the 1,000th time you have to listen to Moana with your daughter, you like it a little lower on the volume... I think its likely I will need to stick with towers for the mains and potentially the center, if the new room (eventually) allows for a higher mounting of the TV (or projector by then).

I do need to spend more time tweaking everything. Just doing equalization has made a big difference. I need to take it a step further and measure it more. I'll be adding a microphone (UMIK-1) to play around in REW and see what can be done with what I have.

1. I have always used a Vertical Center speaker from day#1. And I still do. But most cases don’t accommodate a vertical speaker. That’s why most center speakers are horizontal- to accommodate most cases. I think acoustically, vertical speakers make great center speakers. But horizontal speakers are also fine.

2. I am a “dealer” for KEF, Monitor Audio, Phase Technology, Definitive Technology, Polk, Boston Acoustic, and RBH. So I can get good deals on these brands. But I personally use RBH for all my speakers because I prefer them.

So if my mom, dad, brothers, sister or any family member and friends asked me to recommend a brand, I would recommend RBH. Because that’s what I personally prefer and use.

There are many good speakers. And you would be very happy with many of them. RBH is just one example.

Interesting, I had went to a tower for the center simply because I found every center speaker out there to be nothing but a bookshelf on its side (for the most part) and so really, if a ton of the dialog and output in a movie is supposed to be happening in the center channel, it made sense to get a larger speaker capable of more output. So I went with the third tower and it was my center for a long time. I likely need to do some research about what's ideal and how the room responds to listening positions when the center is vertical. I have no idea.

Thanks again all for your time and contribution, I appreciate it!

Very best,

 

[MalVeauX]

@MalVeauX – I'll put in another shameless plug for Salk speakers.

I owned Salk SongTowers for 9 years. Read my impressions of them here. Two years ago, I replaced them by going higher up the Salk line to Veracity STs. I still regard SongTowers as the speaker with price and sound quality that reach that happy zone we look for in speakers. More than a few posters here at AH own them as well. Others have gone for one of the Song3 speakers, 3-way towers instead of MTM towers. I can't say enough good things about dealing with Jim Salk over the internet.

I also admit to being somewhat biased. The designer of most of Salk's speakers, Dennis Murphy, is a local friend I've known for more than 20 years. I believe his designs define what good sounding speakers are.

There are other good sounding speakers. Some of them that I've heard are Ascend and SVS Ultra (haven't heard the Primes). I haven't heard RBH, but they have a good reputation.

Someone earlier in this thread (ryanosaur?) mentioned calling or emailing Jim Salk to ask if there is an owner near you who would demo his speakers. When you're ready, you should definitely do that. I've had more than a few curious listeners come to my house to hear my old SongTowers and my new Veracity STs. I've never known a Salk owner who wasn't happy to show off his speakers .

Thanks, that's a good point. I was reviewing them and really, they're not insanely priced and they are beautiful. The SongTowers are very reasonable actually. I couldn't do an entire 7.2 system around that. But, it would be possible to do a L/C/R setup with them, so it's at least worth looking into. And it's a very good point about reaching out, someone out there may allow auditions and that would be way better than just buying something and hoping for the best.

Very best,

 

[lovinthehd]

Hah, thanks. Still though, some search engines are very poor internally and Google or another indexing service does a better job of finding what you're looking for on a website sometimes. I used the internal Audioholics search engine to see if they reviewed the Polk Monitor 70's just to see what my impressions are compared to someone else's and came up with nothing. I found a review on the Monitor 30's compared to other bookshelves though.



I agree, I found with headphones, most everything was covered to the 95% mark by the $200~300 mark with quality headphones and not just hip-hop jewelry and other nonsense. The differences between the available stuff in that area is mainly just signature differences and builds, but ultimately the reproduction is a wash across the board with them and they all do 95% of the same job. Going past that requires a lot more. I didn't even find much in the $500~750 range that was a real step up at all. It took the $1k range to open doors that were tangible even at the mere subjective level let alone the measurable level and of course a great deal of effort goes into the synergistic matching of components too. But that's the 96~99% game. That last 1% still is out of grasp even. I stopped in that 96~99% camp, closer to the 96% side after going as far as I did with my setup and I have three primary headphones that I still rotate simply due to preference for different purposes.

So I expect with speakers, already costing a few hundred, it could easily be extrapolated that it will take several thousand dollars to see a similar performance at a much higher value.

We certainly like to get a little loud around here. But, it's also good to have it fairly soft too. We enjoy watching movies the first time fairly loud with all the trimmings. But after the 1,000th time you have to listen to Moana with your daughter, you like it a little lower on the volume... I think its likely I will need to stick with towers for the mains and potentially the center, if the new room (eventually) allows for a higher mounting of the TV (or projector by then).

I do need to spend more time tweaking everything. Just doing equalization has made a big difference. I need to take it a step further and measure it more. I'll be adding a microphone (UMIK-1) to play around in REW and see what can be done with what I have.



Interesting, I had went to a tower for the center simply because I found every center speaker out there to be nothing but a bookshelf on its side (for the most part) and so really, if a ton of the dialog and output in a movie is supposed to be happening in the center channel, it made sense to get a larger speaker capable of more output. So I went with the third tower and it was my center for a long time. I likely need to do some research about what's ideal and how the room responds to listening positions when the center is vertical. I have no idea.

Thanks again all for your time and contribution, I appreciate it!

Very best,

I didn't find a review but some discussions about your speaker and a "preview" https://duckduckgo.com/?q=polk+monitor+70+site:audioholics.com&t=ffnt&atb=v136-1&ia=web

I think your take on the center was correct as long as it doesn't interfere with your display, but with the limitations of placement around a tv thus the more traditional center. If you have an AT screen then it wouldn't matter. Would be my preference to have towers across the front but I have tvs....

 

[MalVeauX]

Before the kids, I did play around with different configurations for the heck of it, just to see how well I could get a fleet of the matched speakers to perform at low listening volumes (I had neighbors in a condo back then). I mainly toyed with different center channel configurations too. I found the experience certainly different than just a pair of bookshelves, but I can't honestly say it was unobjectively better.

I'm attaching some examples, for everyone's amusement... This is not my current arrangement as I'm in a house in the country now and have significantly down sized what's in the living room and commonly just run a stereo setup with several subs.




Very best,

 

[KEW]

You've gotten some great responses!
I'll add a little more "food for thought":

On value and diminishing returns:
As stated this is very unique to your own experience.
Factors are:
1) What is a dollar worth (to you) - if you are pulling well into 6 digits salary, your solution is likely more than if you are in the mid 5 digits. Their is a lot more to it than that, but willingness to part with your earnings is certainly a big influence!
2) What is your reference for sound quality - Are you around live music much? I'll never forget my trip to get my Phil3's from Dennis Murphy. I brought a pair of Focal Solo6 speakers for him to listen to when I was there because I thought they were pretty special. We hooked them up and Dennis cued up a full-on orchestral chord and in about 45 seconds, he was done (wtf)! He told me they have a very similar sound character to the RAAL ribbon tweeter (generally considered a "world class" tweeter)! Aside from his time designing speakers, occasionally tweaking a speaker from a major manufacturer (to "fix" it) and measuring 100's of speakers, Dennis plays Viola (and violin) in his local orchestra! He knows what that full-on orchestral chord should sound like and his experience measuring/designing/tuning speakers means he has been critically evaluating speakers for decades! So I have to believe he is way better at this than the average dude!
3) How good is your hearing and mental process involved in sound perception? Obviously some people have better hearing (genetic, damage from exposure to loud noises, etc). At some level it is reasonable to believe some people simply have a higher level of resolution than others. A good analogy might be how for some people the "magic eye" 3D pictures immediately pop out at them and others struggle to make out the hidden image (and I have no idea which indicates better perception - on the one hand, being able to quickly see the image seems superior, but on the other, most dogs will not recognize their owner's voice on the phone speaker - even calling their name - presumably because their is so much missing from what they hear live)! As another visual analogy, I have "the curse of the level eye" - if I walk into a house and the top of a door is not level, or the corner where two "right angle" walls meet is not 90 degrees, it pops out at me. I have no control over it, and would not easily live in a home where the lines are not reasonably level/square. So I'd assume there are people who are extra sensitive to certain inadequacies of sound from speakers in an analogous way.
4) How picky are you? I started critically listening to speakers when I was roughly where you are - ready to upgrade to the great sound system I always wanted. I listened and compared many speakers in direct A-B comparison in my home with generally at least 2 days of listening. Going through that process, I ended up picking out some pretty good speakers. $3,000/pr is the most expensive I have bought. The interesting thing is that I am really not that picky - I find I can really enjoy music on pretty inexpensive (but not poor) speakers! An example is the Infinity R162 bookshelf speakers (along with a subwoofer, but we'll leave that for later) which run $180 to $200 when they are discounted (which happens a few times a year). Below is a thread where I discuss them. I intellectually know I have better sounding speakers, but good music is good music, and I am very happy to listen to it on these speakers. I wonder if, by making such a quest out of getting the best speakers I could I didn't "over-buy".
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/infinity-speakers-back-on-sale.114900/#post-1318896

Where to start:
If you have a Best Buy Magnolia room nearby, try to listen to some Martin Logan electrostatic speakers (doesn't matter that much which as they generally have the same character)!
See if you can find some Klipsch LaScala or, at least, Forte speakers (current model - they have been refined over the years).
I love both of these speakers, but they do not sound at all the same! The Klipsch have dynamics out the yen-yang and the electrostatics form an amazing soundfield if you are in the exactly right sweetspot!
And here you are starting to see the conundrum - I cannot recommend the best speaker for you! Hell, I can't recommend the best speaker for me! Now if you tell me what song I will listen to, then I will generally have a preference for which speaker sounds better! If I could only have one, something in the middle ground such as the Philharmonic BMR or Focal Solo6 is a good option!
The bottom line is getting perfect sound out of speakers is a very difficult task and invariably, the designer/engineer has to pick and choose which compromises he is going to make! Similarly, you have to pick which trade offs you want to listen to.

So if you can find the ML electrostats and one of these Klipsch speakers and report back your observations, it would be useful for us to be able to help you narrow down the sound you are looking for. Their are plenty of others, but these two represent what I consider extremes and are useful for sorting out your specific preferences.

Some quick comments on how to listen:
1) Bring music you are very familiar with and try to have a wide range of sounds/styles. The dynamics of the Klipsch are going to favor them for music that has lots of energy, and the Martin Logan can make it sound like a singer singing a delicate/soft passage is singing in your ear with incredible intimacy!
2) Try to start each song with a fresh, open mind - if, initially, you notice one speaker does a particular thing (good or bad),you have to be careful not to repeatedly home in on that one aspect to define the speaker while missing others.
3) Be sure to check with the sales guy that you are listening without subs and in "direct" or "pure direct" mode - no room equalization (or loudness/tone controls) in effect!
4) If you are switching back and forth between two different speakers the louder one will have an unfair advantage. Hopefully there is a way to level-match them.

We can guide you to good speakers, but you have to choose the ones that are right to your ear! If you provide feedback on the ones you try out, where we are familiar with that speaker, we can help you on what else to try.

In the up to $1000/pr category, I think Harman Audio rules the roost whenever their Infinity Reference or JBL Studio Series 5 are on sale. As you get into a higher level, ID companies start to make a strong showing (but still keep an eye out for traditional brands being closed out).

One thing to consider is going back to item 2 above- "What is your reference for sound quality". Lets take an extreme example. If all you know is TV speakers, anything will sound good and it is easy to get enamored to a pair of speakers that you might later realize have significant deficiencies which did not stand out since TV speakers present such a low bar! I know you are familiar with sound from headphones so this is probably not a concern, but I never consider it a bad idea to get a pair of well recommended bookshelf speakers (because of lower price than towers) that pass your initial audition to use as a stepping stone to refine your ears (and see how happy you would be to live with them). I am struggling a little with how good of a reference headphones are because it is a much different presentation when the sound is at your ear and the sound images in the middle of your head (and I don't listen on phones that often).

Generally, a competent speaker manufacturer will have the same sound across their different offering in the same model series. Consequently, it is easier to audition at home (assuming you have local dealers that will allow you a grace period for returns) using the bookshelf models, but do pay attention to how similar they sound in the showroom.
For example, if you are interested in the SVS Ultra series, it is much easier to order/recieve/setup the bookshelf speakers than towers. If you like them, then you can order the towers with the intent of using the BS speakers for surrounds or just return them.
Also I am a fan of the value of bookshelf speakers (depending on your budget). For example, you can get (I am assuming prices have not changed) the SVS Ultra BS speakers for $1000/pr or the SVS Prime Towers for the same $1000/pr. For me, this is a no-brainer - you want the extra refinement of the Ultra series. You would want a subwoofer with either of these speakers, so the added bass of the Prime towers is not really a benefit. I have always liked a good pair of bookshelf speakers with a good subwoofer and you can see that RSL is committed to this model (no towers).

Also, here is a very good write-up TheWarrior did on listening to various speakers at differing levels of performance that you might find useful:
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/bookshelf-speaker-shootout.95335/#post-1089348

Good luck and enjoy the process!

 

[Swerd]

Thanks, that's a good point. I was reviewing them and really, they're not insanely priced and they are beautiful.

I forgot to add that Audioholics has reviewed two Salk speakers:

Salk SongTower​

​

Salk Veracity HT2-TL​

The SongTowers are very reasonable actually. I couldn't do an entire 7.2 system around that. But, it would be possible to do a L/C/R setup with them, so it's at least worth looking into.

My own 5-channel system uses 3 Salks up front (Veracity ST for left & right) and a Salk SongCenter. My rear channel speakers are relatively cheap and small NHT SuperZeros that I've had for years. I see no reason to spend big for rear channel speakers.

 

[MalVeauX]

1) What is a dollar worth (to you)
2) What is your reference for sound quality
3) How good is your hearing and mental process involved in sound perception?
4) How picky are you?
Where to start:
If you have a Best Buy Magnolia room nearby, try to listen to some Martin Logan electrostatic speakers
So if you can find the ML electrostats and one of these Klipsch speakers and report back your observations, it would be useful for us to be able to help you narrow down the sound you are looking for. Their are plenty of others, but these two represent what I consider extremes and are useful for sorting out your specific preferences.
Some quick comments on how to listen:
Also, here is a very good write-up TheWarrior did on listening to various speakers at differing levels of performance that you might find useful:
https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/bookshelf-speaker-shootout.95335/#post-1089348

Good luck and enjoy the process!

Thank you, that is a lot of food for thought and some good points to think on and potentially act on.

While I make a good salary, it supports my family uniquely and I have several hobbies that are all too expensive of course, so I'm constantly shuffling between them. I've let speakers stay on the budget side of things for a long time simply due to life circumstances and the kids. But the more we are using them together, the more I'm happy to dump into them because we use them daily together. So while I have the ability to buy nearly any of these speakers, I am still value oriented and generally set limits, being fairly conservative with my funds because I'm responsible for my family. I can say that $3k~$4k is a safe budget to shoot for, to keep things reasonable right now.

My current reference is several top shelf headphones. I've yet to truly listen to high end speakers of any sort. I have done lots of live performances and I too use that as a reference point when evaluating audio for honesty and reproduction. It also made me of course look for better recordings, not just better equipment.

I cannot judge my hearing other than it's at least experienced and trained for quality at least to a level that I'm picking apart speakers listening to them and finding what I like and do not like about them with reproduction on audio that I'm very familiar with. For example, I like to playback the entire album of Dark Side of the Moon as a great test of all frequencies and musicality of an arrangement. It sort of covers all bases.

I'm picky, but also able to step back and look at it in a different way. It was different when I was younger and single. But with a family, I'm value oriented and I set my total pickiness aside for the bigger picture.

I'll check out that write up, thanks for the link!

Lots to think on! Thank you for taking the time.

Very best,

 

[MalVeauX]

I forgot to add that Audioholics has reviewed two Salk speakers:

Salk SongTower​

​

Salk Veracity HT2-TL​

My own 5-channel system uses 3 Salks up front (Veracity ST for left & right) and a Salk SongCenter. My rear channel speakers are relatively cheap and small NHT SuperZeros that I've had for years. I see no reason to spend big for rear channel speakers.

Thank you, I'll check those out.

Do you feel like matching the speakers matters much when it comes to surrounds and rears in home theater application?

Very best,

 

[ryanosaur]

If 5-channel audio is something you are in to, maybe matching Surround L/R with you mains (standmount version, for example) is nice... but not entirely necessary. Some people use different brands entirely.

My goal was to match mine for 5-channel audio, and it sounds great. I just listened to Dark Side SACD for the first time since my 3's came in. The difference between before and after was stunning. When it was my BMRs up front with Mini-Phils on Surround, it was beautiful, a little delicate... But now with my current set up, the whole thing bloomed into an amazing soundscape. I was surprised at how changing two speakers affected everything.
YMMV

That said, don't skimp on your surrounds and or rears... and or Atmos speakers either. You can definitely shop wisely for good price to sound ratio, though, and come out fine.

 

[snakeeyes]

Before the kids, I did play around with different configurations for the heck of it, just to see how well I could get a fleet of the matched speakers to perform at low listening volumes (I had neighbors in a condo back then). I mainly toyed with different center channel configurations too. I found the experience certainly different than just a pair of bookshelves, but I can't honestly say it was unobjectively better.

I'm attaching some examples, for everyone's amusement... This is not my current arrangement as I'm in a house in the country now and have significantly down sized what's in the living room and commonly just run a stereo setup with several subs.

View attachment 29896
View attachment 29897

Very best,

Looks like how @Danzilla31 had his living room setup. Except he eventually replaced his small tv with a big projector screen.

 

[MalVeauX]

If 5-channel audio is something you are in to, maybe matching Surround L/R with you mains (standmount version, for example) is nice... but not entirely necessary. Some people use different brands entirely.

My goal was to match mine for 5-channel audio, and it sounds great. I just listened to Dark Side SACD for the first time since my 3's came in. The difference between before and after was stunning. When it was my BMRs up front with Mini-Phils on Surround, it was beautiful, a little delicate... But now with my current set up, the whole thing bloomed into an amazing soundscape. I was surprised at how changing two speakers affected everything.
YMMV

That said, don't skimp on your surrounds and or rears... and or Atmos speakers either. You can definitely shop wisely for good price to sound ratio, though, and come out fine.

I like the idea of matching them, but I also know that I can fall down a rabbit hole simply from the idea and look of it, rather than the sound of it. And while I do care what something looks like, I'm not overly sensitive to it unless it looks like a lavish ornament or the front of a classic Cadillac. I tend to favor retro designs and simple designs and do not care for gloss finish (lest we see finger prints or dust too easily!).

Very best,

 

[MalVeauX]

Looks like how @Danzilla31 had his living room setup. Except he eventually replaced his small tv with a big projector screen.

That poor old small 37" LCD! I've since moved on to a larger 4K television, but it's nothing special.

I do plan to replace it in the future with the new room to something larger. I am considering of course a projector, but at the same time, larger and larger TVs are finally becoming available and affordable compared to quality projectors minus all the fuss and mounting, so I am potentially leaning towards the 65~85" TV's ranging from $1500~$3k eventually. Then again for the same price, I can get a much larger projector screen going. It will come down to viewing distance entirely I think. I absolutely would rather have the fuss free approach of a high mounted larger TV. But who knows what 2 years more tech will allow for.

Very best,

 

[Swerd]

Do you feel like matching the speakers matters much when it comes to surrounds and rears in home theater application?

I don't think matching matters much for the rear channel speakers. I only use all 5 channels with video. Most of the time for music I use the front two or three speakers.

My rear speakers cost $275/pair when they were new in 2000. My front three cost quite a bit more. To match them with Salk SongSurround Is, would cost $1000, nearly 4× as much. The NHTs have an overall neutral sound balance, they're small, and they came with wall hanging hardware that works nicely. That was more important to me than music in 5 channels.

If you have to skimp somewhere, skimp on the rear channel speakers. Perhaps your Polk Monitor 30s might do well in that role.

As you've seen here, others have different preferences.

One Last Edit: Once I got SongTowers, my headphones have been neglected.

 

[lovinthehd]

My preference for surrounds is that they be part of the same speaker line, or at least intended to work together. I've also got mismatched ones (two systems of each). Not horrible but for multich music particularly I prefer them more matched than not, for only tv/movies doesn't matter as much.

 

[MalVeauX]

I don't think matching matters for the rear channel speakers. I only use all 5 channels with video. Most of the time for music I use the front two or three speakers.

My rear speakers cost $275/pair when they were new in 2000. My front three cost quite a bit more. To match them with Salk SongSurround Is, would cost $1000, nearly 4× as much. The NHTs have an overall neutral sound balance, they're small, and they came with wall hanging hardware that works nicely. That was more important to me than music in 5 channels.

As you've seen here, others have different preferences.

One Last Edit: Once I got SongTowers, my headphones have been neglected.

Thanks,

I am not much for spending extra where it's not needed. I don't sit and stare at my surrounds. As long as they're not obviously different to the point of being a nuisance, I don't care about mixing and matching, beyond simply matching the fronts and center overall as they do all the heavy lifting.

I mostly listen in stereo for everything other than movies. Movies get the surround. Games, I could care less if they're stereo or multi-channel as they're mostly coop games with the kids and are not some kind of experience or anything, and we don't crank it too loud so we can hear each other when playing.

I prefer listening to speakers for sure, even over my headphones. Even though I really appreciate the critical resolution of excellent headphones on very good recordings, such as hearing the inhalation before continuing vocals, the little details of pics on strings, the slightly noticeable foot tap during live piano or jazz, etc, the flicking of a tongue off teeth in jazz, etc. I am completely poisoned with appreciating excellent reproduction with excellent source material. Even though hearing imperfections is a flaw in many ways, I enjoy those flaws that are typically masked with loud but low resolution systems, because it's the humanity behind the vibrations and it's not just synthwave and literally mathematically produced with no flaws. My first step into critical listening was in the 90's, I got a pair of Sennheiser HD580's that opened my ears on some CD's. I've been bad into quality headphones ever since then...

I like listening to music in general with my M30's. But for critical listening, I put on the HE-500's. I would imagine really excellent speakers in a conducive environment would easily take headphones out of my line up for critical listening, as it's just more realistic with sound stage and the image in general, plus the freedom of not wearing the device. I definitely have anxiety with the idea of what level of speakers it would take to get the HE-500 performance I'm used to in headphones.

Very best,