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Which Cremona line speaker for surrounds?

Mains will be Cremona M's
Center is Center M

For those of you with experience with the Cremona line, which speaker would you recommend for the L/R surround speakers?

My room setup cannot handle (nor could I afford) Cremona M's for the surrounds, so that whittles me down to either Auditor M's or Elipsa Auditors for the L/R surrounds. My current L/R surrounds are mounted on B-Tech BT77 speaker brackets, which only move the back of the speakers about 2 inches from the walls. This has made me think that using Auditor Elipsas for the surrounds would be a great idea, as they are designed for mounting on a wall with their included bracket.

I listen to a lot of surround music (SACD and DVD-Audio), so I really want to get the best overall match with all five speakers. I also want the best bass I can get from the surrounds as well, which has me leaning towards the Auditor M's. However, I don't have any dealers near me with a pair of Auditor Elipsas, so I have no idea if they sound similar to the Auditor M's or not. I'm very concerned that putting the Auditor M's with their port 2 inches from a wall is simply going to destroy their sound.

Opinions?
influence
4musica44107
520 posts
 
I have not heard the Cremona M's as they would not work in our LR, and I never considered the Elipsas. So for our LR 2-channel system, I ended up getting a pair of Auditor M's and extended their considerable bass response with a REL B-2. I got the Auditor M's and the REL (and a bunch of other goodies, actually) from Don Better of Don Better Audio. He believes that the Auditor M's need considerable air behind them to perform well, and they are positioned accordingly in our LR. Having heard them at varying distances from the back wall, I absolutely agree with his approach. I believe that the 2-inch clearance from your rear wall would not even begin to allow the Auditor M's to sound as good as they can. And believe me, they can sound phenomenal!

I appreciate your concerns about matching speaker timbres in a home theater system. In our home theater, I ended up mixing Aerial 10T front LR's in with Paradigm Reference for the center and rears and surprisingly enough, it works - at least for me. Regardless, I would think that staying within the Cremona line gives you at least a reasonable chance at success with mixing speaker models.

I wish I had more specific advice to offer. I hope the limited information I have provided is of some value to you.

Good luck!

4Musica44107
slvrtravel
43 posts
 
Can't speak to the "m"'s but i have the cremona fronts and center and use the auditors as rear surround- they sit on stands approx 18" off the rear wall and the overall surround is outstanding- they are the perfect match--also, you might consider a rel or velodyne dd as a bass enhancer if needed-- i use the velodyne dd12. Have fun.
hulskof
70 posts
 
What does the rest of your setup consist of? Do you already use a sub with the M's?
influence OP
4 posts
 
I will be re-using my Hsu Research VTF-3MkII for now. I'll also be purchasing a new pre-pro and 7 channels of amplification as well.

Anyone used any of the ICE Power amps or NuForce multi-channel amps with their Cremona M's? I'm intrigued by this whole digital thing, as I love the efficiency and power that they deliver in a relatively small form factor.
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