I have heard of timber matching. Not sure the extent of that term. I have a limited budget, so here was my idea: To buy the mains (bookshelf) and the center from the same company and spend some cash there. And to save cash, instead of buying the same bookshelf speakers to be used as the surrounds (which may be overkill anyway since those do such little lifting?), to insert smaller speakers of another less expensive brand. My thought is that I get great mains and great music and enable myself to get a 5.1 too. Does having surrounds that don't "match" mess me up? Should I just make the investment and get all matching or step down and get a matching less expensive set of speakers? Looking forward to responses.
I would suggest keeping all your speakers the same brand. Buy the best pair you can afford for your mains and then a less expensive pair of the same brand and series as surrounds. Whatever you do do not skimp on the center, as it's the most important speaker in a 5.1 system. My system consists of Monitor Audio Silver 2 for mains and the Silver 1 for surrounds. For example if you were to settle on Paradigm Monitor Series a good way to go would be the Monitor 5 for mains[bookshelf type] and the Mini- Monitor for surrounds. What receiever will you be using with your new speakers?
I, too am somewhat of a novice, but I'll pass along my understanding for what it's worth (I'm sure I'll be told if I'm wrong). The idea of timbre matching is to have a set of speakers with pretty much the same audio characteristics, so that the sound isn't "colored" differently from one speaker to the other. A good way to do this is to buy speakers from the same mfg., same series, etc. They'll probably employ the same drivers, cabinet materials and build design, so that they'll be similar sonically. That being said, if you can afford to, it's good to have a matching set of speakers for your whole set-up. If you cannot afford to (or are unable to for other reasons), at least keep the mains and center timbre-matched. But don't cut costs too much on the surrounds- there is a lot of information being sent to them nowadays, and they're an integral part of your theater experience! Hope this helps.....