How important for surrounds to match fronts?

I am a low budget home theater guy and simy run a 4.1 setup with my Focal mains and some "junk" rear channel speakers. I have obviously heard much better systems, but I don't feel like I am missing anything. I would have a matched center channel, but simply didn't have the room in the cabinet and have been happy with the ghost center effect.

With stereo audio the music is all you have, but with movies there is a significant visual distraction making the audio a smaller part of the overall experience. Great movies can suck you in no matter the speakers or TV just like great music can suck you in on any system, but I think movies can suck you in easier.

I can get a pair of aerial model 5s but i have no room behind the listening area

I concur with the other comments about the surrounds not necessarily needing to match, but have you considered finding brackets or shelves to mount the Ariel 5s on the wall? Just a thought....not sure you can do so however.....

I'd mount the Aerial 5s on the wall to the side of your listening position. In my experience it is important for the mid and HF to be similar to the LR mains, especially for music recorded in DTS.

After some experimenting, I use a pair of KEF Reference 102s mounted on the wall as surrounds for my Reference 107/2 mains. It adds a nice depth to the sound stage with DTS and many SACDs. The newer KEFs with Uni-Q just didn't sound right. I no longer use a center channel, and rarely turn on the amp for the rear channels, so I mostly use 4.1, or is it 4.2 with 2 subs.

db

I have done it both ways, and having all the same brand and family of models designed to work together a big difference in sound. I find on both 5.1 Audio (SACD/DVD-A) and movies especially noticable on DTS soundtracks. As mentioned is it a must have? No! But is it an avenue to maximizing the sound track reproduction, in my opinion and experience, Yes! Especially on movies where the sound shifts from front to rear or visa-versa, matching speaker voice creates a seamless transition. My advice is, if you can afford it, do it. If budget doesn't permit then try to voice match as closely as possible.

Take a look at this article, especially the last comment. All identical speakers is the absolute best for a multi-channel system, theater or audio, but difficult to use without a dedicated room. The best alternative is a timbre matched system using center and surrounds designed for the mains.

The rears and rear surrounds are a purely "manufactured" "fill-in" signal path sourced from the pre/processor. It's not the same as creating a seamless soundstage across the LF and RF as in two channel critical listening.

This was true many years ago with Dolby Pro-Logic, however, today all channels are discrete, uncompressed, and full bandwidth. A sound may move through the room in anyway imaginable, or be fixed at any place in the room, therefore any two or more speakers may be used to create the sound. Looking at the picture in Matching Front and Surround Speakers, it is obvious that the jet would sound exactly the same, front or rear in the room, with all identical speakers. Using timbre matched rears should be extremely close, but still not exactly the same, however, mismatched rears will have a definite difference in the sound. This is easily heard by running the test tone around the room. For all identical speakers, the tone sounds exactly the same in every channel, and with timbre matched, it should be very close, but likely a slight difference. For mismatched surrounds, the difference will be much more. Matching the rears with the fronts will give you a better balance to the sound throughout the room.