Mixing Speaker Brands

[rrahmanucla]

Being a long time follower on this thread, I wanted to get some insights from the ASR community on mixing speaker brands. Most traditional advice suggests mixing speaker brands in a home theater is not preferred, because differences in timbre or other characteristics of the speaker would interfere with sounds panning across the screen, overhead, laterally, or behind. That being said, the trend it seems on ASR (and my personally opinion) is that the majority of what needs to be known about a how speaker sounds can be ascertained by objective CEA 2034 measurements and that speakers w/ good measurements e.g. KEF, Neumann, Genelec, Revel etc sound more alike than different. So my next thought is that the traditional dogma of mixing home theater speakers for the specific subset of well measured speakers should not apply.

So what do people think? Are these speakers good/similar enough that picking a different brand for surround vs fronts or ceiling vs the rest is inaudible? Is there anything I should look at in the CEA 2034 measurements to suggest two manufacturers would pair better or worse, e.g. slope of the sound power curve?

 

[DVDdoug]

Ideally, they should have similar characteristics. Just being the same brand doesn't guarantee that... They should be from the same series, if not identical. It's probably most-important that the front 3 match. The sound in the surround channels is usually different anyway. And your AVR can match the loudness if they have different sensitivity.

...Personally, I've got mixed & matched speakers that I've "collected". I've got a 5.1 setup. I basically have a pair of DIY front "stereo" speakers. Another pair of donated speakers are in the rear. My center (inherited) is different from (and smaller than) everything else. I have a pair of DIY subs that were built more recently than the fronts and they were built with drivers from a different manufacturer.

I'm happy with my setup. My main (left & right) DYI "speaker stack" with subs on the bottom is HUGE. My rear speakers are supposed to be floor-standers (15-inch woofers) and they are hanging from the wall behind my couch. If I had to start over and I had unlimited money I'd do it differently, but I'm satisfied.

 

[kemmler3D]

Are these speakers good/similar enough that picking a different brand for surround vs fronts or ceiling vs the rest is inaudible?

Inaudible? No. Acceptable? Quite possibly.

Is there anything I should look at in the CEA 2034 measurements to suggest two manufacturers would pair better or worse, e.g. slope of the sound power curve?

Make sure you have the ability to adjust volume per speaker... and I think you are on the right track trying to get equivalent sound power curves. Maybe easier said than done, but a good target.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Optimum is same exact speaker at every position in terms of speaker matching. Even mixing two models is not optimum, but works well enough. I've known people with mismatches and at times mixed them myself. You can get a very good result that way. Center speaker is most important closely followed by the front left and right. Compromises in the surrounds aren't a big deal unless those speakers are pure junk.

 

[JAJDACT]

Something else that seems to get overlooked is that if your using the same exact speaker in every posistion,it's important that they all have the same axis to your listening posistion. If your surround speakers are elevated above your head or your center is way below the L/R,then response matching goes out the window and they will all sound different either way.

Edited to add that if you you had to place speakers at various heights in room then coaxial designs like KEF's would definitely have an advantage.

 

[ernestcarl]

I didn't plan going to multi-channel from stereo only listening for years. But, after getting a cheapo 'used' +$100 MCH DAC paired with JRiver, I cobbled together different speakers I already have for a 5.1/7.1 surround system. Proper gain staging, adjusting volume levels by measurements and thereafter by ear, highly configurable DSP presets, and bass management helps offset some of the biggest differences in sound even when some of the speakers are at different distances and angles, but not entirely, of course. MCH is still better than stereo only in my rather 'dry' basement dedicated listening room. In the main living room where there's no acoustic treatment, what is mostly used is a single driver Fostex 6301 playing summed stereo LR to mono connected to the smart TV -- both are always on standby -- vocals are very clear on it and that's what the TV is mostly used for anyway i.e. youtube videoes and vlogs; asking Alexa for the weather, traffic condition, news etc. Alternatively, one can switch to a pair of JBL LSRs (stereo LR) when one wants to be more deeply engaged listening to music or watching movies.

Moving microphone measurements, no bass management:


Here's the spinorama comparison between my front left and right mains ~vs~ center speaker:

*While they are both flat on-axis, the RX has a narrower beam width and has a much more directive horn wave guide design, so the 'sound power' drops off quite a bit in comparison between 2-9kHz.

Subjectively, my center speaker (Fulcrum RX699 -- off-spec and manually EQ'd) sounds "darker" and more "mid-range heavy" than the Neumanns -- both with EQ to match closer to each other -- although, the difference in not huge, IMO. Both are neutral speakers with relatively well-controlled directivities.

 

[Chromatischism]

Being a long time follower on this thread, I wanted to get some insights from the ASR community on mixing speaker brands. Most traditional advice suggests mixing speaker brands in a home theater is not preferred, because differences in timbre or other characteristics of the speaker would interfere with sounds panning across the screen, overhead, laterally, or behind. That being said, the trend it seems on ASR (and my personally opinion) is that the majority of what needs to be known about a how speaker sounds can be ascertained by objective CEA 2034 measurements and that speakers w/ good measurements e.g. KEF, Neumann, Genelec, Revel etc sound more alike than different. So my next thought is that the traditional dogma of mixing home theater speakers for the specific subset of well measured speakers should not apply.

So what do people think? Are these speakers good/similar enough that picking a different brand for surround vs fronts or ceiling vs the rest is inaudible? Is there anything I should look at in the CEA 2034 measurements to suggest two manufacturers would pair better or worse, e.g. slope of the sound power curve?

Definitely. I spent several years on the hunt to fill out my 11.1ch system, trying different speakers, guided by my ears and by measurements. After I would say 3 years, I ended up with Buchardts up front, Revels as surrounds, and Focals on the ceiling, supported by Rythmik subs. I finally have complete immersion in all surround formats.

It all works because the speakers share some similar traits and good measurements. All tweeters are using controlled directivity with waveguides, and none of the speakers have elevated treble. Therefore there are no speakers using EQ over 500 Hz and it isn't needed to match them. All speakers have a neutral midrange and a fairly stout bottom end.

So it can be done!