I have a bit of a problem I think and was hoping someone might be able to assist. I just got a Pioneer Elite VSX-21 and I want to move to a 7.1 speaker setup. About a year and a half ago, I bought a pair of Athena WS-100 (left/right channels) and a pair of Athena WS-15 (rear channels). I got these when CompUSA was going out of business for about $250 for all 4. The problem is that they didn't have any of the Athena WS-60 center channels. I have been looking for the past week or so to try and find a WS-60 to complete the set and can't seem to find anyone still selling them. I am currently running a crappy Jensen Center Channel and really want to replace it. Also, currently connected to my system is a nice but not great sony sub, but I am not sure of the model number.
I understand how important having matching speaker is to overall sound quality, so hear are my question:
1. If I can't find a WS-60, would a newer model of Athena Center Channels (such as the LS-C50B or LS-C100) be a good match because it is from the same manufactuer, or because of differences in model, could it not be an acoustic match? If they would be a good match, has anyone listened to the LS-C50B or LS-C100 and would recommend either?
2. If neither of those center channels from Athena would be a good match, can anyone suggest a different manufactuer's center channel that would match my system well?
3. If no center channels would be a good match to my current speakers, would I be best servered to get a whole new set and if so, can anyone recommend one that will give me the most bang for my buck. I don't really have a set budget but I am a bargin shopper and want to get awesome value for my money.
Looks like I can still find WS-15's for the side surround speakers to complete the set.
Thank you to anyone taking the time to read and possibly respond to this. If any further info is needed, please let me know and I will be happy to provide it.
Do you have room to mount another WS-100 above or under the TV? If so, try find another pair on ebay or craigslist and use one the speakers as your center. That would be your best bet, and the speakers would all be timbre matched.
Buying a different Athena speaker won't guarantee they'll sound the same. Then again, it all depends on how fussy you are.
IMO "timbre matching" is largely a bogus argument for the vast majority of HT's being used in domestic settings. If you placed one of your existing front speakers in a different location, say, above your TV on a shelf in a cabinet or just in the center of the room for experimentation, the timbre of the instruments would be altered. Not so much as using a vastly different speaker to begin with - a bright Klipsch center with a warm KEF front for example - but none the less speakers react to their environment. If your system can accomodate all of the speakers being positioned properly in each location for the least room effects and most natural frequency response, then you might have a reasonable argument for buying all speakers as a matched set. Most of us do not have that luxury and speakers tend to get placed first where they fit and second where they do not sound atrocious.
If you have a typical HT set up in a room that doubles as a living space, then you are very unlikely to notice any changes in timbre should a center speaker be of a next generation variety or even from a similar sounding manufacturer's model line. Stay with the same manufacturer if you feel they have a strong "house sound" that implies a similar tone to all of their products. If the manufacturer you initially purchased has speakers that are all over the place in tone and timbre, then what the he!! are you trying to match anyway?
Finally, consider just what you are buying into when you buy timbre matched speakers. Timbre is a significant issues for many "audiophile" listeners, particularly those whose library is filled with classical music or acoustic jazz and blues and they are intimately familiar with the sound of unamplified instruments as they exist in a performance hall. Therefore, if this is a multi-channel music system and your repetoire is primarily of the classical/jazz/blues type, you might be concerned about timbre matching - if, that is, timbre happens to be one of your primary priorities in evaluating a system. If it is not, then timbre matching is less relevant to you even in this limited situation. Is a violinist going to stand up and march across the stage where you would be concerned about panning effects? That's rather an unlikely event. Would a operatic performance have that situation? Possibly, so now we've narrowed the conditions for timbre matching to an even smaler audience. And, above all else, this still hinges upon your sentivity to changes in timbre. To which I must ask, do you really understand and appreciate "timbre" or are you just reading something in a piece of manufacturer's literature that pretends to make your budget priced HT something it is not? Can you identify the differences of timbre that exist between a Yamaha and a Steinway piano? If you've never even thought about that question until now, you need not worry about timbre matched speakers now.
More than likely, in the typical HT you might hear a missile or a gunshot streak across the front of the stage and that would be the extent of any panning effects that would rely on timbre matching across the front stage. But are you that familiar with the "timbre" of a gunshot that you can afford to be hyper critical of any deviations in timbre that exist for the 0.001 second the sound crosses the stage? I doubt it. Maybe you're unusually adept at noticing the variance in the sound of gravel as a car's tires roll from screen left to screen right. OK, for that two second shot you should consider how important timbre matching is to your system.
Timbre matching is a great idea for the purist who would be deeply disturbed by any inaccuracies that might occur in very limited situations. For the rest of the HT world where the main fare is action flicks and films filled with man made foley effects, where speakers are placed in non-similar locations within a domestic living space and it is not the sound or "timbre" of the instruments that entices us but the action on the screen that holds our attention timbre matching is not much of a real world concern.
Buy what you can find that you feel is similar in "timbre" to your present speakers. A new version of the same line would be the most likely candidate. And then, if you have chosen well, forget about timbre matching and enjoy your movies.
Get one that looks like a match as well. The older Athena F series was quite good for towers and price, is there a matching center from that series to be had?