Took the plunge ... now worried about surrounds

[ilbarbaro]

I went with entry level NHT in wall/ceiling speakers for my L/R and Rear (7.1) surrounds to keep my total cost down. Should I be concerned about "lesser" and different speakers or am I relatively correct in my perception that surrounds don't have to be as great as the fronts since they are largely delivering sound effects for movies?

I ended up getting a pretty good deal on the following:

Fronts: PSB T45s
Center: PSB C40
L/R Surround: NHT iW1
Rear Surround: NHT iC1
Back Wall (music only): PSB B1
Subwoofer: Infinity BU-1 (for now, since I already own it)

I would have liked to have stuck with all PSBs, but once we totaled everything up, even with a good deal, the price was just too much. City tax didn't help. Heck, even with the cost savings of the NHTs, it's still a bit out of my original budget limit (and way out of my wife's budget.)

I'm admittedly pretty new to buying this quality of speakers. I have a nice set of Infinity Composition Overtures-1s, CC-1 and the BU-1 Sub that I got a few years ago for a steal from a buddy who had just gotten a steal on some DTs he would have married if the law allowed. I currently plan to keep the Infinities on our family room since the new speakers are going into the basement HT once it's finished.

I tried to do tons of research before this buy, originally leaning towards the Paradigm 7 set up; however, the available deals on both the PSBs and the Monitor Audio Bronze series sucked me into this store in Chicago. Then some comparative listening (I wasn't able to compare to the Paradigms) and amazingly helpful salesperson and store owner led to me whipping out the credit card.

Now I'm staring at the receipt, hoping I made the right call vs the Paradigms, wondering if I should have saved the money and stuck with my Infinities, or if I should simply not look back. These doubts get worse when I think about the appliances, couch, etc. we'll also have to buy. I am going to do a side by side with my Infinities in the morning.

Any suggestions beyond my original question on the surrounds is encouraged.

 

[MDS]

The surrounds are less important than the front three speakers except maybe in the case of All Channel Stereo where all speakers play at the same time. Your fronts are matched and that is the most important.

 

[whitestone]

Trust your ears. If your happy with what you hear then go with it. But do your homework first.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Unless you listen to a lot of SACD or the like; you will be fine. I use "different brand" in-ceilings in my set-up and love how they work for movies.