Upgrading fronts from Energy Take Classic to CF-50, worth or not?

[djodars]

Hey guys,

I currently own an Energy Take Classic 5.1 set and I was wondering if it was worth it to upgrade the front bookshelves to two CF-50's.

I could also use these bookshelves to upgrade to 7.1 which my receiver supports.

My room is rougly 14' x 14' and I have a Pioneer VSX-1123 powering the whole thing.

Thanks for your input, appreciated!

 

[Steve81]

IMHO, you'd be better off starting from scratch versus trying to integrate the CF-50's with the Take Classic set; the little Energy satellites just aren't going to keep up.

 

[djodars]

IMHO, you'd be better off starting from scratch versus trying to integrate the CF-50's with the Take Classic set; the little Energy satellites just aren't going to keep up.

Well I could also get the center speaker for a pretty good price and the 4 previous fronts/rears would be used for surrounds. Would that be enough? And what do you mean, aren't going to keep up? Isn't the volume going to be the same given a certain amount of decibels regardless of the speakers you use? Sorry if I sound stupid, I don't have a lot of experience in the field

 

[Steve81]

And what do you mean, aren't going to keep up?

Simply that a pair of CF-50s can play much louder without strain than the Take satellites. In a mixed system, if you're pushing things a bit you might well reach a point where the Take satellites start to distort badly, even though the CF-50s are nowhere near their limits.

Well I could also get the center speaker for a pretty good price and the 4 previous fronts/rears would be used for surrounds. Would that be enough?

Potentially, as surround speakers tend to have it easy relative to the fronts channels. Depends on the specific content and how hard you push though.

 

[sawzalot]

The CF50's alone will be an awesome addition , may not even need the center if you go in phantom mode. using the existing Take Classics as side and rear surrounds will definitely suffice for the on start of your new set up maybe even be all you will need. I do agree with Steve in that you may be wanting a little more out of the side and rear surrounds down the road but as you describe it everything should sound pretty good , especially for movies.

 

[djodars]

The CF50's alone will be an awesome addition , may not even need the center if you go in phantom mode. using the existing Take Classics as side and rear surrounds will definitely suffice for the on start of your new set up maybe even be all you will need. I do agree with Steve in that you may be wanting a little more out of the side and rear surrounds down the road but as you describe it everything should sound pretty good , especially for movies.

Very nice, thank you both for your feedback!

I will most likely get both the CF-50's AND the CC-10 now. We're almost exclusively watching movies with them so the surrounds aren't the biggest of my worries as we very rarely hear their details (I think). There is 2 movies in which I realized they were there; Gravity and Watchmen.

 

[Swerd]

Adding the CF-50 towers as front speakers will likely be a big improvement to your system's overall sound. They will probably blend much better with your sub woofer than those little satellite speakers could. And yes, using your existing small bookshelf speakers as rear channels can work, while keeping the cost down.

What you probably will notice is the difference between the CF-50 towers and the center channel speaker from your old system. That center speaker will probably not be able to keep up with the towers at higher volumes.

The CF-50s are rated by Energy as having 96 dB sensitivity, and the Take Classics are rated at 88 dB. Sensitivity is usually measured as loudness in dB while driving the speaker with 1 watt while the microphone is 1 meter away. A difference of 8 dB is very large, as most people can hear a 3 dB difference (roughly twice as loud). So with front left and right speakers more sensitive than the center speaker, by 8 dB, you will notice that.

As an aside, I find those claimed sensitivity numbers hard to believe. As a guess (I haven't heard them), I would expect those towers to be in the 87-88 dB range, and those little satellite speakers in the 80-83 dB range. But for the sake of this discussion, let's assume Energy exaggerated both sensitivity numbers by the same amount.

So, I agree with sawz, and partially agree with Steve .

 

[Swerd]

I will most likely get both the CF-50's AND the CC-10 now.

Good idea.

 

[djodars]

So, I agree with sawz, and partially agree with Steve .

On a side note, I see that the CF-50's are rated 20-250 W per channel. However, my poor little VSX-1123 is saying he can only output up to 90 Watts per channel (as seen here

Does that mean that the CF-50's won't be able to be powered or just that the volume won't be able to go past a certain point?

 

[Steve81]

Does that mean that the CF-50's won't be able to be powered or just that the volume won't be able to go past a certain point?

The speakers will make sound; they just won't be able to play as loudly as they would when connected to a more powerful amplifier. I wouldn't expect power to be an issue in a 14x14 room though.

 

[Swerd]

On a side note, I see that the CF-50's are rated 20-250 W per channel. However, my poor little VSX-1123 is saying he can only output up to 90 Watts per channel (as seen here

Does that mean that the CF-50's won't be able to be powered or just that the volume won't be able to go past a certain point?

When a company rates a speaker's suggested power requirements, the lower number, 20 watts, is the minimum for effective use, and the upper number, 250 watts, is usually the maximum power to use those speakers without damaging them.

It is likely that your receiver has enough power to drive them louder than you want to hear. Don't worry.