LS50 Metas vs Sierras as fronts

[tonyb]

Hi guys and gals. Does anyone here have first hand knowledge comparing LS50 Metas to any of the Sierra speakers? I currently have the metas as my front speakers in a home theater setup, but have been a little underwhelmed by them in the size of the room they're in (10 foot ceilings and a giant "great room"). They just feel too "small", and I end up having to crank up my receiver (Yamaha RX-A2050) way up to get adequate sound. I already own a Sierra horizon center and some older Sierra 2s...the Horizon is awesome as a center but I don't think the Sierra 2's will fare much better as the fronts than the Metas do, given their size. So I'm toying with the idea of selling the Metas and putting that money toward a pair of Sierra towers, and using the sierra 2s as the rears in an atmos setup. The towers aint cheap though, so I'm trying to figure out if the assumed improvement would really be worth the price. Has anyone here done a direct comparison in a similar situation?

Thanks!

[racrawford65]

If you have the Sierra 2's (not EX), why not try them in the front to see if you are still underwhelmed? If they work for you, you could always upgrade them to the EX or LX. If not, then you could save for the Towers and use the S2's as surround, like you noted.

[natetg57]

Hi guys and gals. Does anyone here have first hand knowledge comparing LS50 Metas to any of the Sierra speakers? I currently have the metas as my front speakers in a home theater setup, but have been a little underwhelmed by them in the size of the room they're in (10 foot ceilings and a giant "great room"). They just feel too "small", and I end up having to crank up my receiver (Yamaha RX-A2050) way up to get adequate sound. I already own a Sierra horizon center and some older Sierra 2s...the Horizon is awesome as a center but I don't think the Sierra 2's will fare much better as the fronts than the Metas do, given their size. So I'm toying with the idea of selling the Metas and putting that money toward a pair of Sierra towers, and using the sierra 2s as the rears in an atmos setup. The towers aint cheap though, so I'm trying to figure out if the assumed improvement would really be worth the price. Has anyone here done a direct comparison in a similar situation?

Thanks!

If you want a 'bigger' sounding speaker, than probably the Sierra-LX would be the way to go.

[SunByrne]

If you want a 'bigger' sounding speaker, than probably the Sierra-2LX would be the way to go.

Exactly this. Upgrading S2s to Sierra-LXs is much cheaper than dumping them and buying Towers.

I have a conjecture on why the LS50s sound small. The F3 on the LS50s is 79Hz (which makes their claim of in-room F6 of 26Hz awfully suspicious)—if you're crossing them over at 80Hz they barely go that low, so there's probably a notch in your FR around there. If you're crossing them over higher, well, just being crossed over higher rarely sounds good to me. The LXs definitely do not have this problem.

Just be aware that the LXs aren't much more efficient than the LS50s, so you may still have to crank the volume a little. But even at the same volume the LXs will almost surely sound "bigger."

[davef]

Hi guys and gals. Does anyone here have first hand knowledge comparing LS50 Metas to any of the Sierra speakers? I currently have the metas as my front speakers in a home theater setup, but have been a little underwhelmed by them in the size of the room they're in (10 foot ceilings and a giant "great room"). They just feel too "small", and I end up having to crank up my receiver (Yamaha RX-A2050) way up to get adequate sound. I already own a Sierra horizon center and some older Sierra 2s...the Horizon is awesome as a center but I don't think the Sierra 2's will fare much better as the fronts than the Metas do, given their size. So I'm toying with the idea of selling the Metas and putting that money toward a pair of Sierra towers, and using the sierra 2s as the rears in an atmos setup. The towers aint cheap though, so I'm trying to figure out if the assumed improvement would really be worth the price. Has anyone here done a direct comparison in a similar situation?

Thanks!

Hi Tonyb,

a few quick questions for you:

1. How far back are you sitting from the speakers?

2. What are the overall dimensions of the room?

3. Are you using a subwoofer? It yes, which subwoofer?

Thanks in advance!