Matching center/rear speakers for Cain & Cain Abby


I have a combo-2-channel/HT system because I don't have the space to dedicate an area for either separately. My current system is as described below. I am planning to replace my B&W front speakers with the Cain & Cain Abbys. I have no idea what center or rear speakers might match/have synergy with the Abbys. I have a feeling, which might well be wrong, that the Cain & Cain speakers aren't often used in an HT system.....

I have tried to do a search of the Home Theatre forum, but for some reason all of the results come from the Amp/Pre-amp forum - ??

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. My budget is about $2500-3000.

Holly
oakiris
Thanks, Gmood1 - must be why I couldn't find the Axe series!

I emailed Terry yesterday about my dilemma. He said he was going to be making a center speaker soon; I will make do with what I have until he has them available. That speaker will be a perfect match, both in craftsmanship and sonic signature. :-D

Holly
Wow, Terry moving toward the hometheater camp :-D . Okiris, you might
want to try the Abby's first without the center. In my setup, the center is really
not needed. That way you have lot's more money to invest in an amp. For use
in hometheater you might want to consider an alternative amp. You can find
some of Terry's suggestions in the following most amusing thread:

Long
Power struggles, "maddening"........


Also, feel free to drop me an email on the side. I can keep you up on what
turns up on the amplification side...

Enjoy the Abby's!

Rene
Some real out of the box thinking here.

You may want to have the Abby's for 2 channel and consider the Yamaha YSP-1 speaker array for your HT needs. It costs $1500 and does DD and DTS, PL2 etc. Reviews so far have been favourable.

Consider what someone has already said here, the Abby's may not be the best speakers for HT. You would spend a lot more money getting another speaker, amp and DD5.1 preamp just to add a centre that may not in the end perform as well as the Yamaha does out of the box for HT.

And you get to keep your precious 2 channel system and have some more cash to spend on it! Food for thought.
Rene - I don't think Terry is really switching to the dark side! j/k I am just very happy he is going to be making smaller Abbys that I can use for my rear speakers. I may indeed hold off on getting the center; Terry also suggested that I might not need it and should use the Abbys "phantom center" abilities instead. I would love to get a tube amp for my 2-channel use - are you going to use a tube amp for your HT application, too? Thank you for the thread link; I will read it after posting this.

Texaspledge - Thank you for the idea, but I really would like to experience a matched Cain & Cain speaker set up. I think they will do fine for my HT use. I don't watch very many "shoot-em-up" movies with lots of explosions, etc., so I think the Cains will be fine. Guess I'll find out!

Holly

Holly
I don't really care about HT speaker systems, but I do own ... and totally love ... my SuperAbbys and Bailey sub. I've had lots of speakers over the past 40 years, often spending far more than I could afford, but I have NEVER enjoyed music more than I do now with the Cains. I have the regular Fostex drivers, which allow the music to fill the room, thus freeing me from a fixed point for optimum enjoyment. Quite frankly, I just can't get over how free and spacious the music is ... simply unharnessed. Kind of ignored your thread, but the Cains are so great ... and my amp puts out 4.8 watts max ... just a great speaker