OK, So I bought a set of Energy speakers for the home theater.

C-9s up front, CC1 in center, and C3s for surrounds (yeah, they were designed for fronts, but whatever).

Anyway, I'm replacing my 'ol Athena Micras. My old setup had the rears put on the rear wall. My question is:

Which configuration is better:

(A) C-3s mounted as surrounds placed in the center of the room with the two micras in the rear to make 7.1.

(B) Sell _ALL_ of the micras on ebay because it will sound funny having two micras with five Connoisseurs.

As a side note, I'm sticking with the athena sub for now since I don't crave more bass. The C-9s probably do better than the sub anyway, but it doesn't hurt

 

why dont u try both setups since u have all the speakers right now. then decide which sounds better for your room?

 

The main reason I didn't want to try both out was that the mounting brackets for 20 lb speakers require some big holes in my walls. Also, I'm cutting the cable to the right lengths for final speaker placement. If I go 5.1, I'll mount on the rear wall to keep the speakers tidy.

 

What I would do is the following.

Simply place them on the floor or on chairs to get elevation. Test them..

Usually an audio file will tell you to stick with the same type of speaker.
This is because most systems are aucusticly matched to work together as a system. The frequency responce and resonance is matched to a specific level.

If you adjust the levels and it sounds good then use them. If not switch them out.

I am running JBL's with a yamaha reciever.
My friend runs Paridiem speakers with an Anthem controller head and amplifier..

 

I'm a big fan of matched speakers, you know they will always sound alike. It takes away the guesswork of speaker matching. If you keep the micras, there is a chance you could notice the sound change a bit as it travels left to right or vice versa in your rear surrounds.

Also, the most important question is how big is your room? If it is small to medium, a 7.1 set-up would be overkill.

 

7.1 is awesome, mine's a tiny Creative set up, but damn does it sound good.

 

Lol, my room is small to medium!

As long as I can play Donkey Konga at airline noise levels, all is well.

 

+1 for matched speakers. i hate playing with the receiver levels because of unmatched speakers.

i would stick with 5.1 if you have that size room. it wont sound any 'worse' per se. if your receiver is good enough, the rear surrounds will sound seamless and you wont regret not having 7.1 with the micra's.

yeah and stick with the athena sub. but if you are going to sell the sub with the other micra's, you could pick up another cheapo sub and not worry about matching, since youre main concern isnt bass anyway. any 'ol polk audio or energy sub will be inexpensive and more than good enough.

 

did you ever have them "tuned" for the room, freq response, etc?

i have a couple test dvds with test tones and a cheapy RS spl meter to get all speakers at the same level...

lemme know...

 

My receiver has a mic that you plug in and it does all the tuning. It adjusts speaker distances and levels. It does not do individual EQ adjustments, but I can't fix that with my receiver anyway.

Thanks for the offer ldivinag.

 

well if you have an EQ, with test tones and an spl meter can do wonders.

that's how i tuned the subwoofer in my truck...

 

The speakers should be matched only in power output...

using your stereo set at the same level, if you plug in speaker "A" and it is this loud, then without adjusting volume, speaker "B" should be very close to the same level. Some speakers are more or less efficient and will then be louder or not. I think to get the best effect of a surround sound system, the speakers should all be in the same efficiency range.

Rear speakers only have a dynamic range of 0-7.5 Khz stereo. Using better speakers is fine, but again, I point out that you want the power output to be nearly the same - it makes adjusting them much easier.

Good Luck.

 

I agree with dsilver668: Just run some tests, see how you like each setup. Combine this with ldivinag's offer/idea, and you'll be able to personally experience and experiment with each setup. It takes the guesswork outta things