Matching centre for 685's?

[Robv73]

Hello,

I have just purchased a pair of 685's to use in a 5.1 setup, the rears will be Mordaunt Short 902i, and the centre is a MS 905i.

Will i notice any negative effects with the rear/centre speakers not matching the 685's?
I will be using an Arcam 280 with them.

I asked where i bought them and was told not to worry, but i have read a few things that have made me think otherwise.

Many thanks.

[htsteve]

Robv73,

First off, welcome to the forum! :T

Yes, you will definitely notice a difference between the 685's and the MS center. For a well integrated front stage, the matching B&W is definitely recommended. The matching center channel is the HTM62. The perfect center channel is another 685. But bookshelf center channels can be a logistical problem.

As to matching the rears, it is preferable to at least match the rears with the same brand of speaker as your fronts. The same range within that brand is even better. You will also notice differences with the MS rears, but most likely not the same as the center channel difference.


If funds are tight, then do this in steps. I would change out the center channel.



Hope this helps.

[emig5m]

If I where using 685's as mains (great speakers btw), I would go 685's all the way around.

And as far as using matching speakers vs non-matching my last system was a mis-match (all the same manufacture but different levels/years/model lineups) and you could pinpoint sounds more directly to the speakers location. Now that I have a much better matched surround setup (all current B&W 600 series), the speakers now seem to disappear and the sound is more of a actual true realistic "spacial presence" than just sound coming from speakers at a pin-point location.

683's all the way around.....mmmmmm. ;b> :-y

[Audio_ElF]

My experience is that it's almost essential to match the front three (mains and centre) but that rears are not noticiable if from other manufacturer. This holds for movies. With multi-channel music there is sometimes a noticable difference but generally I listen to music 2-channel.

I have CDM fronts and 4x Kef Eggs for rears and these work as well with the CDM fronts as 602 fronts with 601 for centre and rears worked previously.

So IMO yes swap the center for definate but worry less about the surrounds/rears.

As always YMMV so demo at home if possible.

Eloise

[Robv73]

Thanks for the replys, i took the 905i back and i'm happy i did, the sound coming from the 685's is far better than the MS, i'm glad i decided to go with them.

i do listen to a fair bit of music, but if listening to it through all 5 sounds off, ill switch it over to stereo.

I have been running the speakers through an old cd player and my PC as the Arcam i ordered is en route, but is it fair to say that i should notice a further improvement when running the speakers through the Arcam?

It will be a fun weekend!