How important is it for speakers to be voice-matched?
 

So I am in the market for my own set of 6.1 speakers, but have thus far found most of the home-theatre-in-a-box setups to be crap. Currently I am thinking of building a system piecemeal, starting with what I need the most, which is a center speaker, and then buying the rest of the speakers, and upgrading my reciever when I can afford it.

Basically, my question is when I am comparing speakers, should I go with the individual center speaker that sounds best, or the complete system that sounds best, knowing that I'll have to buy the rest of the components from whatever series of center speaker I originally pick?

Voice matching the center to the front left and right is very important. Voice matching the fronts to the rears is less so. I would buy the center and fronts together making sure that they're voice matched and get the rears later if money is tight.

Yeah, when auditioning speakers listen to the 3 front speakers as a group, and get the group that sound best. What sounds great individually may not sound good at all when matched with another front speaker from a different brand.

I always heard about matching the front 3, but never really understood how important it was. Finally, I read an example that made the light bulb go on - you don't want to hear an airplane fly across your screen, and hear in airplane in the left speaker, a lawnmower in the center speaker, then an airplane in the right speaker. By not having matched speakers in the front, it is more likely that sounds panning from side to side will not match seamlessly from side to side.

I too bought one piece at a time, as the budget allowed. You can certainly buy the center by itself, but do so knowing what you will buy for fronts when you have the money. Maybe that's not workded right - choose the speakers you want for fronts and center, regardless of whether or not you will buy them all at once or not. Don't choose and buy your center without choosing what you will be buying for fronts. You don't want to buy a Polk center, and then decide you want Paradigm fronts (for example).

Good luck!

Another way to go....

If it works in your room, you can also just get 2 fronts and go with a phantom center for now. Given good speakers with accurate imaging, you really won't miss the center speaker. I went from a matched 5.1 set to 2 (much) higher quality fronts, no center, and the same old rears, and I swear that the center's better integrated, and dialogue is even more clearly fixed on the screen than before.

If you go this way, you can always add the matching center in the future. Or live without it (which is what I will likely do). In the interim, you'll have great two-channel sound for music and movies which can be VERY satisfying.

A note.... The phantom channel route only applies if your seating area is relatively narrow (I have 2 seats directly between my 9' apart front speakers and it's perfect; if I buy more seats, I'll probably need a center).

No way does a phantom center come close to a real one. The center is critical. Anyone out there can A/B their receiver modes to prove it, if you doubt this at all. There was a debate on this some time back, and switching between the modes made a *huge* difference (with the phantom center sounding hollow and lame). And this was while sitting in the 'sweet spot.'

Match and buy the 3 fronts together.

I tried hooking it up on phantom for about 2 days. It was so bad it was unbearably. I had to turn it way up to hear dialogue, and then the score would kick in and deafen me. I am using the TV speaker until I buy that Center channel.

Most do agree that timbre matching the three fronts is very important but I am of the mind that it is best to not only timbre match but have the exact same speakers for the front (and back for that matter) and not simply a timbre matched center speaker. I have had various incarnations of speakers for my Home Theater setup and by far the best is what I have now with JBL 15" three-ways as my front three as well as my back three speakers. Panning from side to side and front to back is absolutely flawless!

In a Home Theater setup the center speaker is THE most important speaker to have since the vast majority of dialog is from this speaker. The option with receivers for a "Phantom" center is only there for those who don't have or can not make room for a actual center speaker but if you ask anyone schooled in home theater setups they will tell you it is not recommended to use this phantom center option.

This was definitely my opinion (that a center was crucial) until I posted over at AVSForum and got a number of responses from professional installers who said that, essentially, two great speakers CAN be better than three good-to-mediocre speakers. I still didn't believe it until I did it myself.

Again, it largely depends on whether or not your placement allows you to sit in the sweet spot. I can, so I do not miss the center speaker. If I had a wider seating area, having a center would make a GIGANTIC difference.

All of that being said, in your case, phantom center doesn't work. In my case it does. This is really a case of YMMV.

Either way, I strongly agree with the poster who said that if you are going to go with a center, go with an exact match for your fronts. If you can't go with the same exact speaker (usually due to size/space or shielding concerns), go with a speaker from the same manufacturer WITH THE SAME DRIVERS (especially the tweeter).

Either way, enjoy your new speaker(s). You're starting on a very enjoyable (or is it expensive?) path.

One final note in self-defense.... Trust me, guys, 2 B&W Matrix 802s are WAY better than the Carver 5.1 system with a center. All of the problems that RoQuEr had with phantom center mode, I had with my Carvers. (Nothing against Carver--I still love my AV-505 amp).