Hello,
Using the same brand speakers all the way around and above is absolutely ideal but with todays receivers and calibration tools you can get different brands to work together.
Now for the front 3 speakers I absolutely do not agree with using different brands. They are in your face and even with calibration software you can and most likely notice a difference in tonal balance and be distracted by the differences. Watching movies or TV programs you don't want this.
Surround and Atmos speakers you can get away with this as long as they are similar in tone. Def Tech and polk share some qualities in tonal balance. Def Tech speakers seem to always be a higher end version of what Polk produces. With that being said I think going with Polk in ceiling speakers to save some money is fine. I don't think you'll notice the differences as much especially if you run a Auto calibration software.
Just to justify my words I did almost the same exact thing for my room. Not to save money but I had to solve an issue that my ceiling has. One side of my room the ceiling slants down on a I'd say a 45 degree angle. The rest of it is flat. So how I solved that issue I use 1 point designed speaker and one regular in ceiling speaker. I also have Defiinitve Technology main channel and surround speakers but my Atmos speakers are made by Eposide which is a custom company for Intergrators. These speakers are fantastic on their own. Very smooth sounding and super surprising on how damn good they are. I have the Signature series 1700.
I also have a Sony STRZ5000es receiver with very good calibration tools so after a full calibration with my Atmos speakers they blend in very nicely and I can't tell they are of a different brand. I was actually shocked when I put them in and how well the Sony tone matched them to my main speakers It's an option in the calibration setup. I'm impressed as before I did the calibration you could hear slight differences in how they sounded vs the def Techs.
Good luck my friend.
Thanks - good info!
I just picked up a Marantz SR6012 and had a similar thought about Audyssey and that it would help even out the sound of the speakers. With the app I can adjust and dial in the EQ curve significantly.
I have older Definitive SM350’s as my mains, a CLR2300 for my center, a SuperCube II, and DT8LCR’s as my rears (I just added the DT8’s).
My original rears are a pair of Definitive DCS6’s in the ceiling, which are stereo 6.5” that look like bipolar speakers, but are 2 separate channels. I need to fill those holes with speakers and add a 2nd pair to get my .4 - the cutout size is my determining factor.
Since I know I will be leaving them when I sell, I would love to spend $150 for all 4 at Monoprice, but that seems too cheap to be viable to me (and costs less than my speaker wire
).
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