Advice?

WittyNameHere · December 22, 2017

Hello, I am going to cut to the chase even though everyone is probably tired of getting these types of questions.

I have a 5.1 system consisting of:

2 RCA SP2700Ts ('Full range' tower speakers from the 90's)

2 Polk T50's (Rear satellites)

1 Polk CS10 (Center)

1 Bic Acoustech PL-200 (Sub)

The question is as follows. I have a $300 budget give or take some wiggle room. and I am debating about a nice pair of bookshelf speakers or retrofitting my RCA towers fully by using drivers from Parts Express. I do not know if towers are the way to go or if bookshelves. I guess I have never experienced 'True' audiophile speakers so I could not say myself what is the better purchase decision.

I mostly use my system to watch movies and the listening space is a large room but has a lot of dampening from the bookshelves and other things in the room.

d3sl91 · December 22, 2017

Either is fine. Towers can sometimes provide a fuller sound through the use of larger woofers than most bookshelf speakers have - but since you have a subwoofer in the mix, that's not as big of a concern, IMO. Otherwise you would go with tower speakers if you would be installing into a large room, you always have the volume maxed and still want it louder, or you just have the money to spend.

What I would consider to be more of a concern, is trying to match the sound signature of the center with the front left and right. In this case, that would be some Polk TSi 200s for bookshelves ($300 pair), or TSi 400 or 500 towers ($300+ each)

WittyNameHere · December 22, 2017

That's just the thing, I have never heard of this 'matching the center channel' I thought that the flavor of the sound was just similar to just the size of the speakers. I have only heard and used the speakers of the ones that I own. I live far away from any reputable seller so I have no way of even testing a speaker to see the difference. Should I match the center? How big of a deal is that? The set up I have is loud I just didn't know if any speaker just has a wow factor or if even there is a clarity difference. Mind you my main right and left are old speakers and didn't know if getting a bookshelf would just have a sharper image. I wish I had an option of know what speakers would sound like in person. Like the Klipsch RP 150's or the JBL 230's, I would have no reference of knowing if they would sound better than the ones that I have. I wish I was more experienced in this field.