Speaker question

[duckpin76]

Hi everyone.

I am in the process of building a Pioneer quad setup in our music room, which has a cathedral ceiling. We live in the house my wife's grandparents built in the 1940s, and this room is an addition from the early 60s.

In this room, there are still four speakers about eight feet off the ground in each corner that my wife's grandfather placed. The two in the front are Panasonic RE-7800s that measure 11 inches high by 9.5 inches (ignore the old water stain on the ceiling) and are suspended by a hook into the corner (see first photo). In the back are these unnamed speakers that measure 24 inches high by 11 inches that sit on top of a half-bath and a closet, respectively. I bet it's been 40 years at least since these four were last played, at least.

Posters have said that for optimal performance, you would need to have four speakers that are the same. If that is the case, do they have to be the same model and same size? There are two CS-A500s for sale near me for $450. Let's say I used something like that in the back. Could I use something of the same size as the Panasonics (like a KLH model three) in the front to hang where the Panasonics are? Or do I need a total of four CS-99As (or something of that ilk)?

Where I have an issue (at least, I think I do) is that I already have one setup with Ohm Walsh 2s on the floor connected to a McIntosh setup. So I feel like I can't have these four speakers be on the floor and they need to be in the locations where they already are. The way this room is designed, with the closet and half-bath in the back, doesn't lend itself well for putting the rear speakers on the floor. Having two in the front on the ground and two in the back eight feet off the ground seems like it won't work well.

So, my question is, can I use bookshelf speakers in the front and larger speakers in the back and have them be of different makes/models?

Thanks - I can take more pictures of the layout if need be.

Brian

 

[LB-V]

So, my question is, can I use bookshelf speakers in the front and larger speakers in the back and have them be of different makes/models?

Hello!

You may get many flavors of a response on speakers from the QQ members! I'll give you mine....

Yes, the speakers should be matched in the front and back. I like the analogy often used...in a stereo setup, would you consider having a different left and right speaker? Definitely not and generally speaking, the same idea applies to quad.

At the same time, we are all subject to the practical limitations of the space we have for our audio, our budgets, etc etc. So we make do with the circumstances we have.

If you need to have different speakers, I've heard said having them from the same manufacturer and with the same tonal quality is the next best thing. And sometimes we just need to use the speakers we have at our disposal. Simple enough. Our passion first and foremost is for quad / surround audio, and having what each of us feels is the ideal equipment, is just part of the journey.

Anyway....if you need to have smaller speakers in the front, and larger in the rears, without researching what those speakers have for a crossover, size of woofer, tweeter etc. I am not sure my input makes sense...but the smaller speakers may cause the rears to be a bit too bright compared to the fronts. I would not like that personally. You could probably manage that with some treble and / or front-back balance control. Similarly, the rears generally do not get a lot of the low frequency stuff / bass, so you may be a bit anemic there. A small subwoofer would likely resolve that issue.

Without fully understanding the layout, I think I'd start with the largest same small / bookshelf speakers for the fronts and backs that fit. I have used different speakers in the rears (same manufacturer, same series, just different sizes than the fronts), and I could clearly hear the impact it had on my surround field, for lack of a better description. I'd rather have matched smaller speakers for front and rear than trying to leverage the available space I had for the rears and using a larger, different speaker than the front. If that made sense.

There are some very good bookshelf speakers our there.

I hope my response helped in some way!

 

[par4ken]

Usually the larger speakers are used for the front. Matching them all is the best practice. Speakers from the same manufacturer and vintage for the back is second best. No harm in trying with what you have though!

If you are listening to "synthesized" quad, where the extreme left and right channels are pulled to the rear (QS Surround) then using the larger speakers for the back might make some sense!

First rule of Quad speaker placement is there are no rules! That being said some configurations are better than others. A lot depends on your preference.

 

[duckpin76]

Thanks for both responses. I feel like I'm going to have to experiment. I'd love to have four of the same speakers but I'm having a tough time figuring out how to align them. Because the rear speakers would be 8 feet off the ground, I feel like the front ones have to be raised up - and having something that large hanging off the wall seems counterintuitive.

 

[Electric Moo]

I'd check the drivers to make sure the speaker surrounds are still good, before pumping any music through them? 40 years you say?

But otherwise may as well try them out, I have different rear speakers in one of my listening setups & they work fine.

 

[omnipotent1]

I know its not vintage but I'd suggest some form of wall mountable dipole or quadpole speaker for the rear.Say like Axiom QS series,Polk,Klipsch,Miller kreisel,SVS,Def Tech etc there's quite a few on the market and I've found they work great as they tend to diffuse the sound more than a regular speaker and can be had in small form factor.In my experience matching speakers isn't really that important once you factor in reflections and all that acoustic sciency kinda stuff its really imperceptible/not worth getting hung up about.Good luck!

 

[jaybird100]

Usually the larger speakers are used for the front. Matching them all is the best practice. Speakers from the same manufacturer and vintage for the back is second best. No harm in trying with what you have though!

If you are listening to "synthesized" quad, where the extreme left and right channels are pulled to the rear (QS Surround) then using the larger speakers for the back might make some sense!

First rule of Quad speaker placement is there are no rules! That being said some configurations are better than others. A lot depends on your preference.

If you absolutely must use smaller speakers in the back, they should be the same brand, and preferably, the same series as your front ones. In my case, the front speakers are Polk ASI-200; rears are ASI-100. The only difference, besides the size, is the fronts are dual-woofer, rears are single-woofer. The drivers used are identical. I also have their matching center, but I never use it for music.

 

[barfle]

I’ve NEVER bothered making my fronts and backs match. In fact, my first “surround” setup was entirely due to the radical difference between my fronts (entry-level Pioneer bookshelves) and backs (truly crappy dipoles from a compact stereo) wired in parallel.

Sure, purists say matching is the way to go, and they’re probably right, but an enjoyable experience can be had without all that fuss and bother.

 

[TuliaNonTroppo]

It is worth experimenting with what you have and the placements that can work in your room. You can tweak by ear once you have them set up. But I agree with most everyone that your most full range speakers be used as fronts when possible.

As for having everything match… this is likely ideal, but it is probably unrealistic for most rooms or budgets. I cant afford to have my center and rears match my stereo speakers, so I have made do with what I could pull off.