I’m putting together a nice 5.1 setup on the cheap with used components. I just bought a pair of B&W 602’s to use as my fronts, I have an old pair of 40w Pioneers for my rears, and a 200w Sony sub. The last piece I need is a center channel. I can get a great deal on a B&W CDM CSE but the B&W website admonishes me that that particular speaker is matched to work best with the CDM line. I figure my other speakers aren’t exactly peas in pod so why worry about it, but before I lay out the money I thought I’d ask. Is it a mistake to buy the CDM?
No. Admonishments like that from manufacturers are tainted by the fact that they want to sell you things. Buy the component you want and hook it up. Everything should work and sound fine.
Audiophiles don’t put together a “nice 5.1 setup on the cheap with used components.” A common criticism of audiophiles is that they are listening for noise, not the signal (music, movies). A properly set-up matched system would definitely sound better than you’re system, but how much better, and for how much more money? In that kind of value analysis, I’d go with your method every time. I’m too poor for anything else, YMMV.
Like too many other questions about sound systems, it depends on who you ask. The rule about using matched speakers for surround sound isn’t exactly based on rock-solid science, but it’s not entirely hooey, either.
The idea is that sounds that pan around the room from one speaker to another may sound distinctly odd if the speakers aren’t closely matched in frequency response and distortion characteristics.
That’s true, as far as it goes, but it’s also true that even identical speakers, in different placements, at different angles to your ear and in different locations relative to the furniture in the room will sound somewhat different. Besides, the surround effects aren’t that common or spectacular; tonal mismatches on the surround channels probably won’t spoil your fun.
Getting a good match between your left/right fronts and your center speaker is probably more critical than getting a match between the fronts and the sub, or between the fronts and the surrounds, since it will be fairly common for dialog, music, ambient effects and other sounds to be present on 2 or 3 of the front channels at once. If I were in your shoes, I’d try to get a matched set for the front three, and not worry too much about the others.
Best of all, of course, is to get together with an audio-inclined friend and cobble together a 5.1 channel setup out of whatever speakers the two of you have, so you can decide for yourself if the mismatched set sounds good enough to you, or if a matched set in front is worth the extra money.
You really need to be aware of the center speaker’s tonal characteristics compared to the main left and right. This is also known as “timbre” or “voicing”
Taken to an extreme, an actor may sound fine on the left side of the scene, develop a chest cold when they’re in the middle and have the cold clear up when they get to the other side if the speakers are mismatched.
If you can, arrange for a day or two to try the CDM at home to see how it blends with the 602s.
Thanks for the advice guys. I think I’m going to go ahead and get the CDM if I can. If anyone is interested there is a parallel thread going on at Audio Review. They generally concurred with the SD.