rear speakers for 7.1 and dvd audio?
plem
Posts: 30
I've got rt800i's for fronts and fx500i's for surround.
Two new technolgies have emerged and I'm wondering what back surround speakers would be the better bet. I've read direct speakers( 800i,35i,etc.) would be the best choice for dvd audio(5.1)
On the other hand for 7.1, I've read a report that dipoles(fx series) would work better in that application.
I would pick direct speakers because most movies are released in 5.1 rather than 7.1. I can use the the direct for dvd audio or sacd. For movies, I'll fall back on the fx 500i's in DD5.1.
Also I believe dvd audio,sacd, has more going for it than dts-es or dolby digital ex.
Opinions? Thanks!
Two new technolgies have emerged and I'm wondering what back surround speakers would be the better bet. I've read direct speakers( 800i,35i,etc.) would be the best choice for dvd audio(5.1)
On the other hand for 7.1, I've read a report that dipoles(fx series) would work better in that application.
I would pick direct speakers because most movies are released in 5.1 rather than 7.1. I can use the the direct for dvd audio or sacd. For movies, I'll fall back on the fx 500i's in DD5.1.
Also I believe dvd audio,sacd, has more going for it than dts-es or dolby digital ex.
Opinions? Thanks!
Post edited by plem on
Comments
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What are you using for front center?
Do you have a sub?
-luc
:cool: -
I have the cs400i and psw350(may upgrade to a velodyne).
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Those technologies are in no way related to each other. DD and DTS are for DVD movies and SACD and DVD-A are for audio (not to mention the desperate difference in sound quality between the two groups).Also I believe dvd audio,sacd, has more going for it than dts-es or dolby digital ex. Opinions? Thanks!
Aaron -
I would recommend the RT25i's for rear surrounds (channels 6 & 7). Position them 6' off the floor and 4 feet apart. The RT25i's are a great little speaker. You don't need more than this for rear surrounds.
Regarding DVD-A and SACD... this is 5.1 format.
In short, you won't be getting a rear surround signal. Now, you will use the rear surrounds for DTS-ES movies such as Gladiator. -
Aaron, I know they are not related and I know both are not 7.1.
I'm trying to decide what kind of speaker to get for the back surrounds and one of these two new technologies will determine
what kind of speaker it should be.
If dvd-audio,sacd takes off, then I'd rather another pair of direct speakers for the rears and not use the dipoles at all in 5.1 AUDIO. I'll use the directs and the fx dipoles for 7.1. I'll place the directs as the back surrounds and fx as side surrounds.
If 7.1 becomes more popular then I'll get another pair of dipoles
and I'll have to use one of those pairs for the dvd-audio,sacd.
Question is, what option? -
Originally posted by plem
Aaron, I know they are not related and I know both are not 7.1.
I'm trying to decide what kind of speaker to get for the back surrounds and one of these two new technologies will determine
what kind of speaker it should be.
If dvd-audio,sacd takes off, then I'd rather another pair of direct speakers for the rears and not use the dipoles at all in 5.1 AUDIO. I'll use the directs and the fx dipoles for 7.1. I'll place the directs as the back surrounds and fx as side surrounds.
If 7.1 becomes more popular then I'll get another pair of dipoles
and I'll have to use one of those pairs for the dvd-audio,sacd.
Question is, what option?
plem:
Depending on your budget, and the size of your room, you might not have to deal with an either or situation. I know the higher-end Denon receivers permit two pair of rear surrounds, in addition to the side surrounds. In their set-up instructions they show mounting two speakers on the back wall (A speakers for movies) and direct-firing speakers in the corners (B speakers for music).
If anyone here cares what Lucasfilms thinks, now they seem to be going for direct firing surround back speakers. Previously, for their THX standard I believe they recommended dipoles for side surrounds, but did not indicate a preference between mono poles and dipoles in the rear. Now with their new specification THX Ultra2 they seem to be recommending direct-radiating speakers in the rear.
In the interest of recycling, I chose a pragmatic approach.
When I upgraded my center speaker from a CS100 to a CS400, I mounted the CS100 in the center of the rear wall. When I upgraded my side surrounds from M3IIs to f/x500s, I mounted the M3IIs in the rear corners. I spend most of my time watching movies, and this set-up works great for me, but I'll bet it would work for multi-channel music too.
Larry -
Larry, I checked out your HT -- VERY COOL! What a rig! Great HT link! Thanks.
MC -
Micah:
Thanks very much for your kind words. As you can see all of my speakers, except the subwoofers, are Polk Audio.
I've even have those old "gimicky" SDAs that you commented on in the Opinions forum. Needless to say, I don't share your opinion.:D
Larry -
Gimmicky SDA's - NO SUCH THING !
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Im also looking for suggestions on 7.1, just got new Onkyo 898 7.1 and my speakers are: RT800, CS400i, fx500, and PSW-650. I wish Matt Polk will include some suggestions on speakers setup and type in 7.1 mode in next newsletter
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I have a Denon 3801 7-channel receiver.
I run my Polk 3.1TL's from a Krell KAV250A & KAV250P.
The Denon is underpowered for this task.
Center: CS400i
Surrounds: FX500i
Sub: PSW650
Rear Surround RT25i's.
The RT25i's do a fine job for a rear effect channel.
No complaints.
You could spend more for the RT35i's; but, why? -
I have an Onkyo 787 receiver with 7.1 input and output and have a JVC dvd audio player. I use AB800 in-wall Polks for both the surround and back surround speakers (2 each). Rather than leave the back pair silent when playing dvd-audio I put a interconnect splitter on the multichannel output on the dvd player and fed the surround signal to both inputs on receiver. DVD audio uses the multichannel input on the receiver for DVD and feeds this signal to all four surrounds. Directionality is a little more diffuse but you can adjust using level controls. I have a big room and it really amplifies the surround effect of dvd audio. For movies the input is set to optical digital input and the signal is decoded by the receiver, and if the 7.1 signal is present it will feed a separate signal to each set of surrounds to preserve the desired effect.
Give it a try, I like it. -
Thanks for the replies everyone. After all the Christmas shopping
and seeing what I have left and what's on sale at my local a/v store.
I've narrowed it down to another pair of rt800i's with emphasis on dvd-audio and sacd. What do you think of that combo? -
wow! that will be a nice set-up. wish i had the room to have another pair of rt800i's behind me. i am using the rt25i's as rear surrounds now... enjoy!
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vmax,
Your 898 outputs 110 watts to the rears. I would recommend the 35i because of this and because the mid, at 6 1/2" matches the mids of all of your other speakers. Unlike the 25i at 5 1/4" and recommended 100 watt max. Don't worry about not enough bass to the rear. THX EX has a spec. for bass mangement for the rear speakers in 7.1. So you wouldn't necessasarily need to get big speakers like the 800i s. You also don't want to drown out the f/x 500 s. The 35i should match perfectly.
Retail for the 35i has dropped at CC to 139 ea. Might want to check them out.
By the way, AWESOME reciever. :cool:
DK -
i hav 4 fx 500i and it is great they are all 6 feet off the floor on my rear 2 500 i have them switched like the polk people suguest with a 7.1 with the rear greater than 6 feet apart and my front surounds are in the normal posion
