Bought E800, Now which surrounds to match Credos?

I have the E800 too and bought some bipolars from Richer sounds. They really help to chuck the effects around the room. I think they are Mordaunt short - pretty cheap and also quite small. I keep mine on the floor behind my 2 sofas but I don't have kids. They definately add a bundle to films for a small outlay.

ps I haven't bothered with either a centre speaker or a subwoofer as I too am a music fan who just like to watch the odd film.

Jon.

Don't underestimate the difference that a decent set of rears can make.

A few weeks ago I happened to be in the lucky position to try out several pairs of speakers as rears in my system:

Marantz SR770 av amp (grey import) - powers just the front centre and rear speakers
Pioneer 535 DVD
Nait 5 - powering the front speakers from the Marantz pre-outs
Linn Kabers - fronts
Jamo centre 200
Musical Fidelity MC4s on rears

I compared a pair of Kef Coda 3s, Mordant Short MS25is against my old MC4s.
I was expecting little difference as "hey, it's only for surround sound duties". I was amazed at the difference. My old MC4s completely murdered the other two pairs of speakers (of which the MS were by far the worse).
The kind of differences were:
- increased all round soundstaging
- better front to rear effects
- more information

So, don't skimp!

By complete coincidence my E-800 (you can get them for £240 at Superfi) arrived today. For rear speakers I just used my old Rega Kytes which seem a good match for my SBLs and, I dare say, other Naim speakers.

However, I was unaware that I was meant to get di-poles or even, I have to admit, what di-poles are exactly. Should I be worried about this? is it worth changing? I can't imagine anything from Richer Sounds being a patch on Kytes (at least musically) and I'd be amazed if much in the AV world were voiced at all like SBLs.

I have no centre or subwoofer yet. I probably won't bother with the sub as its my impression that a cheap one is worse than none and I have no intention of spending a lot on one. I'll probably by some basic, respected brand centre speaker at some point once I've got the rest sorted out (I get my DVD -- also an SD220E -- tomorrow and my new uber-TV arives at the weekend).

BTW When configuring the E800 you can tell it whether you have small or large rear speakers, a "small" speaker being one that wont play below 90Hz. IIRC Kytes play down to 57Hz so I am wondering what exactly a "Small" speaker is by Yamaha's standards. Are there speakers that just have tweeters or something?

This all started becuase my video stopped working and I've managed to spend quite a lot of money and still don't have a new video.


Matthew

The Yamaha E800 is a real steal
Forget the dipole conundrum I reckon your Kytes will do you just fine. I think dipoles were fashionable in the days of Dolby Prologic and THX
Ordinary speakers are now more fashionable for rears as they are better suited to Dolby Digital and DVDA etc.
I would suggest you look for a Kef 100 Reference centre to fill in the front middle.

Eddie

It looks like several of us have taken this route via the E800. Mine actually arrives today along with the DVD player so I can experiment a little.

I do have a pair of Mission 701's and a pair of Yamaha NS-10's which are on other systems in the house so I will try those out to see the effect as the rear pair. I'll also try pointing them in the corners of the room, however if this works I will have to go with di-poles as the room I'm moving to is long and the rears can't go so far back into the corners.

Regarding the centre, yes, I think I need one as apparently about 70% of the info is there, and if you can't hear dialogue in a film then what's the point? I know there is a simulated centre centing that some on the forum have been quite happy with so I will try to compare that with a centre speaker. Perhaps I can just connect up one of the speakers I'm not using out of the above mentioned pair as a centre and see what happens.

Regarding the sub, I am also of the opinion that a cheap one is worse than none, and I don't want to spend a fortune. I would rather spend the money on new software, or live music, or upgrading the "Music" system. Mind you I have not done much auditioning and there may be some good cheap subs around now...

Regarding the KEF 100 Reference as suggested earlier, do you think that would integrate well with the Credo's?

Baz.

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll stick with the Kytes for the time being.

Matthew

I had a look at the Tannoy MXC after your post and as it's discontinued it's available for around 70 pounds,... so not bad.

The only problem is I need to audition it and that would be difficult. My main concern here is getting something to work well with the Credos without costing a fortune.

I suppose I could by a centre and rears on spec/recommendation, and if it doesn't work too well, sell them on etc, but if anyone is using Credo's and has done some auditioning with centres and surrounds that would be a great reference.

I am going to hook up the Mission 701's and the Yamaha NS 10's (without a centre) and see how they get on a rears, and I'll report back.

Baz.

I found matching of a centre speaker to be the most difficult thing I tried with home cinema.

I guess I must have tried 12 different centres before I found something that sonically integrated well with the Musical Fidelity MC4s I was using at the time.
So, don't skimp and assume it won't be that easy.

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm certainly not looking to build a super dooper home cinema system, as stereo music is the priority. As we bought a DVD player, I thought that for a relatively low budget I could greatly improve the TV, DVD experience, hence the E800 route.

Perhaps I'm looking for something that doesn't exist wrt a centre speaker at a budget proce level (100 - 200 pounds) that would match the Credo's....

I have not had the time yet to try out the E800 at all yet. As per previous posts I am going to try the Mission 701's and Yamaha NS-10's as I have those in other systems in the house. That at least will give me an idea of the differences those speakers make as rears, and will give me a couple of reference points at least. The next thing is to get hold of a few centres to try out. I will certainly try to get the Tannoy and mission mentioned as well as a Kef 100 reference. None of these would blow the budget and if there is an appreciable enhancement of watching the telly, then great,.... job done as a first step at least. I only watch telly for the news and now DVD's I suppose. Although the collection boasts just one at the moment!!

Baz.

John>

The key thing I found was that most centres were just totally outclassed by the MC4s I was using at the time.
My experience was that most centres under say £150 just sounded "small" and simply didn't voice well with the MCs.
In the end I found a Jamo Centre 200, which is a fairly large centre and short of a Kef 100, was one of the few centres that integrated well.

Large detached house in small French Village, (don't get carried away with thoughts of idylic living,... there's always something to do on a 200 year old house which keeps me away from Misic and drains the cash to buy anything!)

.... however moving to small appartment in Singapore next week. Will be without the system until it arrives in January! Aaaarrrggghhhh.

Baz.