I had stereo set up but I sold my stereo amp since I want to upgrade to av. For fronts I have Acoustic Research status 50 but as soon as I got to the point to create the rest of my system I had stacked since AR are no longer manufactured so I don't know what would be the best type of speakers to integrate to my front speakers. For receiver I thought to buy Denon-AVR 3805 but for the rear and centre I am thorn between a lot of types-missions m32+m3c2(this is the closest combination to my AR tweeters but m3c2 seems too smal : ( ; B&W DM602+lcr 600s3 ;JBL Northridge E 30(or E50)+EC35 or even, if it would make any difference with denon+AR speakers, to buy some of these bookshelf speakers+B&W HTM7(centre speaker of the new 700 line).Since there are, as I can see, a lot of people who are much longer in av-sound than I am I would appreciate any suggestions on what to buy(and what will good integrate with AR) since it is impossible to listen all of the combinations I listed so I have to narrow to few ideas. Thanx a lot. PS-My room is 15X12 feet.
if you're using a home theater system, it would be better to ditch the ARs for surround listening. if you really like their sound alot, you could use them as "b speakers" for stereo, but for surround sound use, you're better off with matched speakers.
if you try to mix and match, you'll get tonal changes when sounds pan around between your various speaker types.
i don't even like the tonal change to the one superzero that i opened (looking to modify capacitors) after i couldn't get the fiberfill back in exactly the same way as the factory installed it. it threw the balance off and ruined stereo imaging. it was part of my first pair of zeros, but now it's a surround speaker. the new matched pair images better.
instead of looking for a "matching pair" of maybe $500 (guessing) B&W speakers, you'd get alot more coherent sound with some carefully chosen $200 a pair minimonitors for front and surrounds. then when a screen sound moves to the background, it will maintain the same sound as the fronts.
center speakers are nice, but they aren't absolutely necessary. if your front speakers image well enough, that should be significant. right now i can't get my NHT supercenter to integrate with my superzeros because i have a tv stand that prevents me from moving my front pair back to time align with my center. i actually prefer listening to 2 front channels now until i get a new samaller stand that doesn't block my speaker stands.
4 (or 5) matched speakers is really your best bet for surround sound use. you could buy decent cheap minimonitors now and a subwoofer down the road.