Vintage or New?

[Kaigler]

First post. I'm just getting into home theater. I still have a lot to learn and a lot to hear. But I have an opportunity and I wanted some advice from people in the know.

I have some vintage high-end loudspeakers that still sound amazing to my ears. They're simple 8 inch driver/1 tweeter setups from 1987. I currently have a 3.1 setup and want to upgrade to 5.1. I have the opportunity to get a second pair of same-brand high-end speakers that are from 1992. The edgings have just been replaced and they come guaranteed.

My question is, would you rather spend more to get newer speakers with modern tech. I don't really know how much speaker technology has changed. The speakers I'm looking at in my budget are the TSx440T - Floorstanding | Polk Audio®

I would use those as Front LR and the older speakers at Back LR.

Any thoughts on this? The older speakers are very budget friendly and the Polks cost twice as much.

 

[fmw]

I have no experience with those speakers but I would say that newer designs will outperform those of 20 years ago for the most part.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Reusing existing speakers as surrounds is not bad idea at all, but I personally would not choose anything polk.
You did say 3.1. The .1 is for subwoofer - do you have one and if so what's the make and model of it?
How big is your room and what is your total budget for the upgrade?

 

[markw]

As a rule, the front three speakers should match. That's to say from the same manufacture/line and era. The two surrounds are not that critical.

Now, do your current "3" speakers match that criteria? If so, then these new speakers would make great surrounds.

If not, well, then you need to decide which direction you want to go.

But, as far as component age goes, I'm currently enjoying a pair of 38 year-old JBL L-26 speakers being driven by a 40 year-old Marantz 2230 playing classic rock on FM.

 

[Stanton]

I see 2 questions:
1) Are "new" speakers necessarily better than "old" speakers?
-->No, depending on what you're looking at. I'm using 30 year old Polk Monitors in my home theater setup that still sound great.
2) What's a good way to expand a 3.1 setup to 5.1?
-->I did this very thing almost 20 years ago by buying MORE of what I liked; sounds like you can do something similar.

A couple of suggestions:
1) Match timbre (at least tweeters) as best you can across your front 3 speakers. Hint: with modern day flat screen TV's, you don't have to have a shielded center channel speaker (e.g. you can use anything that matches).
2) You don't have to have a sub-woofer (for the .1) if your "corner" speakers can handle the bass; I route the .1 to my mains.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

2) You don't have to have a sub-woofer (for the .1) if your "corner" speakers can handle the bass; I route the .1 to my mains.

Technically true, but very much depends on the speakers. Good luck finding towers which are truly Full range (flat FR - 20hz-20khz +/- 2db) - these will cost arm and leg
Properly crossed subs do help a lot. I had my TST2 running full range and later added sub, the difference even in mid-bass clarity was huge