Question about speakers

[spiralmind]

Hello, all-

I recently purchased a used Marantz SR7000 with five-channel stereo (which is run with the center channel disabled). My current rear speakers are Klipsch R-15ms. However, a hifi shop near me has a pair of Paradigm Titan V5s for sale for $149 USD. Would these be an upgrade sound-wise, or would sticking with the Klipsch be a better choice?

Thanks,
synth

 

[BobHol]

So if I understand this correctly. You're running 4 channels and you're wondering if different rears will be better or worse. Conventional wisdom is that all 4 speakers should match. If the rears differ much from the fronts you could end up with some imbalances. hard to explain. But some of it has to do with how the sound is processed by your Marantz. It may send sounds to all 4 speakers that may only show up from one set of speakers. In reality most of us who are using vintage equipment seldom have 4 matching speakers. For a lot of people here (and myself) we experiment with multi-channel using what we have and eventually revert back to good old 2-channel stereo.
So what are your front speakers and why not a center speaker? What is the source? records , SACD, internet....

 

[spiralmind]

My front speakers are Deftech BP10s. My source is a laptop which is then run through a Peachtree DACitx.

My thought was that if the center channel was taken out of the mix, there would be a truer stereo reproduction, since the signal would be only right and left channels and no mixed signal coming from the center.

If you are suggesting that all the speakers match, then I am open to suggestions on Deftech bookshelf speakers (preferably designed for music listening) up to $500. The previous rears were Polk atrium 4s, they were purchased on impulse when my eBay Deftech speakers (BP 1.2X) arrived damaged. When connecting them however, the volume was not any higher than the Polk speakers, they were probably more designed for surround than music. The Klipsch definitely seem more musical.

 

[swechsler]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? In other words, are you interested in only music reproduction or are you thinking surround-sound as well? I'm assuming the former since you're not using a center.

Either way, it shouldn't be difficult to find some matches for your BP10s. Are they BP10s or BP10Bs (the latter have the aluminum tweeter)? If the latter, it should be no problem to find a pair of their bookshelf-sized speakers to use as rears, at way less than your budget. The earlier models (the silk dome version) may be more difficult to match.

If you're using the DAC ITX exclusively, then you're using the receiver's surround modes only for ambiance effects, and in all honestly I doubt upgrading the rear speakers would make much of a difference. However, if you're playing back music that's mixed for a 5.0 or 5.1 setup (you'd need a USB to S/PDIF interface for that), I'd highly recommend adding a center, which you can always disable when you're listening to two-channel signals.

 

[spiralmind]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? In other words, are you interested in only music reproduction or are you thinking surround-sound as well? I'm assuming the former since you're not using a center.

Either way, it shouldn't be difficult to find some matches for your BP10s. Are they BP10s or BP10Bs (the latter have the aluminum tweeter)? If the latter, it should be no problem to find a pair of their bookshelf-sized speakers to use as rears, at way less than your budget. The earlier models (the silk dome version) may be more difficult to match.

If you're using the DAC ITX exclusively, then you're using the receiver's surround modes only for ambiance effects, and in all honestly I doubt upgrading the rear speakers would make much of a difference. However, if you're playing back music that's mixed for a 5.0 or 5.1 setup (you'd need a USB to S/PDIF interface for that), I'd highly recommend adding a center, which you can always disable when you're listening to two-channel signals.

Well, the center is just disabled for 5-channel stereo (making it 'four-channel stereo', hyuk hyuk) but is still active on the other settings (hall, movie, matrix, etc.).

They are BP10s (the original model, with the oak caps. There are no pictures of them to post online, they must be more difficult to find than the speakers with the gloss black caps).

I am just running two-channel stereo out of the DAC as finding a digital adapter to connect to my laptop's USB port is a whole different post. Just want to avoid buying rear speakers only for surround, they should really be for music listening. There must be some Deftech bookshelves that would be good for that.