B&W 600 series

[al..]

Hi everyone

First post lol

Building a new home and im having a dedicated HT room 7mx4.3m. At the moment I have b&w 683 as fronts, Polk audio csi a6 as centre, and surround and rear are polk audio fx A6 & A4..

Should I go b&w all round? im looking as centre htm1 and rears and surrounds as 686 or 685 in total 7.2.
I do like the b&w sound that's why im planning to sell all my polk gear for b&w. Or will it be ok if I replace my centre with htm1 and leave my surrounds with polk audio??

And what would be the best 7 channel power amp to drive b&w?

thanks guys

[TomScrut]

HTM1 not HTM61? I aren't sure a HTM1 will match the sound of the 600 series.

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[madmac]

Having all your speakers by the same mfr and series is always preferred in a home theater system. It will simply sound better and that sound will be more seamless. From a compromise point of view, If you cannot do this then I guess it would be 'ok' to have different surrounds. However, the front and center speakers should be the same mfr and series. As well and I cannot stress this enough, buy the biggest and best center channel speaker you can afford. Bar none THE MOST important speaker in a HT setup.

As for an AVR to drive them, that would depend on your budget?

[TomScrut]

Buying the biggest and best centre contradicts you previous advice of being the same series though. The HTM1 is a lot better speaker than the 600 series. But will it tonally match? That's what I am worried about. Having said that I have used a HTM4S and CT7.3 with my 802 diamonds with good results. I prioritise stereo hence having better fronts than centre

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[windshear]

I have owned the HTM1 previously and was not too impressed with it, having "upgraded" from an LCR6. The HTM1 I found very constrained in its performance. I currently use the discontinued HTM1D and probably would not buy it again. Not that I don't enjoy it performance, but the size of a center channel is actually over rated. The reason for saying this, to much emphasis is mentioned on center channel content, but I have found a lot of multichannel audio does not mix enough audio into that channel to do it justice. More often than not a phantom image is created with left and right mixing. Also with bass management, you don't need a center channel that can do full range as it is contrary to getting smother more even bass response , trying to extract that from a loudspeaker that is not maybe in its ideal acoustic position.

In a perfect world its better to keep with loudspeakers of the same manufacturer and of the same series as their tonality is matched. Also from an ego perspective its nice to have all the same loudspeakers, it completes the circle if that floats your boat. In the real world less so, the only way to tell a difference in most cases is through test sounds and that's not how you listen to a movie.

[al..]

very good info... And yes I mean HTM61 sorry guys...

Madmac "centre speaker should be the same?? than you say get the biggest centre speaker you can afford? meaning I wouldn't buy HTM61..

I have not heard good reviews on HTM61 that's why im looking in the higher range b&w (just the centre)

and for surrounds I mite aswell get the ds3 as surrounds and 686 or 685 as rears..Or should I go 686 for for all my surrounds??

[function12]

I would agree with buying a good center that you will match the rest of your speaker with. I had an B&W LCR6 S3 center to go with my B&W 601 & 602. I then bought an LCR 60 S3 center and it has a lot more detail. As always B&W's are power hungry so make sure you can drive them. Mine are matched with a Rotel pre/pro and amp. Then an MK sub. I have had this setup for many many years. I and I still enjoy it.