Question about mixing speaker brands

[riker1384]

I have a bunch of pairs of speakers I'm bought cheaply on Craigslist. There are some great deals, but the problem is they usually only come in pairs. I'm comfortable putting rear speakers in that don't match, but I'm not sure about the center.

I was hoping I could just buy one good, neutral-sounding center and use that with whatever L&R speakers I settle on. Some of the speakers I have aren't made anymore and it would be tough to find a matching center speaker.

I think I can manage the timbre-matching issues, but I was wondering about something else. People talk about matching the phase, but they are usually talking about the phase in the bass range. Speakers sometimes have drivers hooked up out of phase, right? So, could the center and L&R match in phase with the woofers, but have the midrange out of phase from each other if there's a 3-way involved?

Does anybody know if this is an issue? I think I read something saying this was a problem, but I couldn't find it to read again. How often are mids or tweeters out of phase from a woofer?

 

[lsiberian]

I have a bunch of pairs of speakers I'm bought cheaply on Craigslist. There are some great deals, but the problem is they usually only come in pairs. I'm comfortable putting rear speakers in that don't match, but I'm not sure about the center.

I was hoping I could just buy one good, neutral-sounding center and use that with whatever L&R speakers I settle on. Some of the speakers I have aren't made anymore and it would be tough to find a matching center speaker.

I think I can manage the timbre-matching issues, but I was wondering about something else. People talk about matching the phase, but they are usually talking about the phase in the bass range. Speakers sometimes have drivers hooked up out of phase, right? So, could the center and L&R match in phase with the woofers, but have the midrange out of phase from each other if there's a 3-way involved?

Does anybody know if this is an issue? I think I read something saying this was a problem, but I couldn't find it to read again. How often are mids or tweeters out of phase from a woofer?

This is an issue with from the 80s normally. They use 2-way crossovers and the phase reversal is used to compensate for the loss in SPL. That is no longer necessary with Auto EQ. Make sure you get reputable brand speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think as long as the speaker is accurate, it will do exactly what it is suppose to do regardless of brand and label.

You might want to keep the speaker type the same - all monopole speakers or all dipole speakers, etc.

The most important thing is to level-match all the speakers. Most important.

One time I used a bipole speaker as the center speaker, which is usually not recommended. It still sounded great.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a bunch of pairs of speakers I'm bought cheaply on Craigslist. There are some great deals, but the problem is they usually only come in pairs. I'm comfortable putting rear speakers in that don't match, but I'm not sure about the center.

I was hoping I could just buy one good, neutral-sounding center and use that with whatever L&R speakers I settle on. Some of the speakers I have aren't made anymore and it would be tough to find a matching center speaker.

I think I can manage the timbre-matching issues, but I was wondering about something else. People talk about matching the phase, but they are usually talking about the phase in the bass range. Speakers sometimes have drivers hooked up out of phase, right? So, could the center and L&R match in phase with the woofers, but have the midrange out of phase from each other if there's a 3-way involved?

Does anybody know if this is an issue? I think I read something saying this was a problem, but I couldn't find it to read again. How often are mids or tweeters out of phase from a woofer?

You have it on a big issue, that most people do not realize exists.

 

[riker1384]

You have it on a big issue, that most people do not realize exists.

Is there any solution other than finding matching speakers?

Are 2-ways better in this regard? They don't have any issues between the woofer and midrange, and high frequencies in the tweeter range are likely to be out of phase for the listener just because the wavelengths are so short, right?

 

[Pyrrho]

I think as long as the speaker is accurate, it will do exactly what it is suppose to do regardless of brand and label.

There is no such thing as a perfectly accurate speaker, which is why it is a good idea to get the same speakers in the various positions, so that the distortions are consistent.

Theoretically, though, if there were two perfect speakers, it would not matter if they were the same brand or the same configuration (e.g., two-way, three-way, etc.).

Given the fact that most people are fine using a center that isn't the same as the front right and left speakers, a speaker that sounds similar to the front right and left will be okay for use as the center channel speaker.

You might want to keep the speaker type the same - all monopole speakers or all dipole speakers, etc.

I don't think that is terribly important. I owned a set of speakers (Carver Cinema 5.1) in which the front right and left speakers directed sound both forward and backward (dipole), with the center only directing sound forward. The center had the exact same drivers as the forward firing drivers on the front right and left speakers, so the voice matching was good. Rear firing drivers tend to add a sense of "space" to the sound, which need not be from the center as well as the front right and left. Of course, for a perfect match, the center should be identical to the front right and left speakers, but most people don't do that.

The most important thing is to level-match all the speakers. Most important.

One time I used a bipole speaker as the center speaker, which is usually not recommended. It still sounded great.

I am not surprised. I think either a bipole or dipole would be fine for the center, but most people don't have the furniture and such made for that, so for most people, a monopole center is what they are going to want.

 

[TLS Guy]

Is there any solution other than finding matching speakers?

Are 2-ways better in this regard? They don't have any issues between the woofer and midrange, and high frequencies in the tweeter range are likely to be out of phase for the listener just because the wavelengths are so short, right?

It still will matter if the tweeters are out of phase.

Your solution is to look at the wiring to the crossovers and drivers. The issue is with second order crossovers and reverse phasing of drivers to prevent a null at crossover.

There is no good solution. You would have to eliminate the reverse polarity condition and hope programs like Audyssey would correct the null.

However Audyssey has bands that are over broad.

Funnily enough I took a much harder look at Audyssey yesterday and concluded the frequency response correction was more a quality spoiler than help, at least my version. It does level and distance fine, but frequency correction has a way to go.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think 100% of us would recommend using identical speakers as the First choice, follow by using the same brand + same size drivers.

But I guess when it comes down to it, as long as the dialogue sounds extremely natural, and the center speaker does not draw any attention to itself and blends in nicely, that is what counts.