Thoughts on Montage as Rears with ESL's?

[Jungle Jack]

Hello,
My current configuration as it stands is Vantages (Front), Cinema i (Center), Aerius i's (Rear). Of late, I have been tempted to move the Aerius to the Office and purchase a pair of Montages for the rears. I am aware that the Montages are not ESL and will not be as preferable. I just figured I would rather have the Aerius i's in two channel than the Montages.
I suppose my question is has anyone used the Design series as rear's with with an ESL series front stage in a 5.1 system?
All thoughts would be greatly appreciated,
Cheers,
M.L

 

[Jungle Jack]

Hello,
Well I suppose if this question comes up via search, I will at least state my experience with using the ATF driver with an ESL front stage. As the Montage's break in, I have been quite impressed. I find them to be a cost effective solution for multi channel. This is especially true such that Sound Advice/ Tweeter are now selling them for 50% off. I will say that they are quite little at 38" tall.

 

[Kaboomnash]

Mark,

Sorry, I didn't reply since I have no experience with this setup. But, I personally will be giving it some thought since I also have my Vantages in a 5.1 setup. I have considered several options for rears, unfortunately I am using Bose AM-5's on stands for now. I know I can do better but had them leftover from a different setup.

Good luck on your setup, hope it is enjoyable.

Lee

 

[tsmooth]

I use Vignettes and feel the match is great. I really feel that they become lost during moving and multi-channel listening. Pink Floyd's DSOTM SACD has sound come from angles that I though where impossible with just a 5.1 setup. So to answer your question 1) I would strongly recommend ESL for the front and center, 2) ESL in the back if you can swing it, but ATF is not much of a compromise especially because the lower price and the amount of information that actually gets sent through the surround channels.

 

[Jungle Jack]

Hello,
Thank you for the responses. I am using an ESL front stage and until yesterday, was using ESL's (Aerius i's) as surrounds. With Tweeter/Sound Advice selling NIB Montage's for $750.00 a pair, I figured I would give them a try and return them if they were not to my liking. I had been using a pair of PSB Stratus Bronze's in my office. I just wanted to put the Aerius i's in the office to switch things up.
So far, I have not noticed too great of a difference with the Montage's in place of the Aerius i's as surrounds. They are tiny though. I have not played too much music yet. I will definitely play DSOTM after another day or four of break in. For $750.00, I will say again it makes for an cost effective Surround solution for folks who have remained primarily two channel or those who placed a monetary emphasis on the front stage. Such as stretching ones budget to get the Summit instead of the Vantage,etc...
Cheers,
ML