surround speakers

kevinfc

i am replacing my surrounds and i have r50's as my fronts right now. And i am wondering should i replace my back surround with another pair of r50 or a set of r30 or would on wall surrounds be better? The surround are my last step in this phase of ht upgrade. I have upgraded my center and added a rear center. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

TheReaper

Personally, I figured 7 R50s in my 13'x15' foot room would be a bit too much. So I use R30s on 29" stands for my surrounds (with R50s up front).

If you watch/like action movies, the larger (fuller range) the surrounds, the better a few sound effects will sound. Such as fly-overs, thunder or when all speakers are brought up in volume (for impact).

kevinfc

Thanks Reaper,

I have a pair of csi3's for my front and rear center channel. And right now i am using r15 for the rears and depending on what fry's has on sale in the coming weeks will determine if i will get the r50's or r30's. Like i said this is my last upgrade. I just want it to be right and sound good. And right now Im pleased with my progress.

I had 6 r15's and a jbl sub. Once im done im lookin at a pair of r50's fr, a pair of csi3's cf/cr, a pair of r50's or r30's rs and a earthquake mkiv-10 sub.

PryorJohn

Personally, I'd wait for the R30s to go on sale at Fry's again and go for that. I did have R50's in the front and as raised surrounds. Ended up settling on R30's in the back and have no regrets at all.

halo

Just FYI: Fry's/outpost.com has the R30 in cherry for $59.99 & the R50 in cherry for $89.99 right now.

Don't know if you wanted cherry or black.

kevinfc

I did go ahead and go with the r30's. Since here in vegas frys had them on sale for 99.98 for the pair. And after setting them up and watching return of the kings ex i was very impressed and much happier with them versus the r15 i had previous.

kevinfc

Does anyone have an opinion on earthquake subs? Like i said I have a MKIV-10 sub. Any opinions...and i will not start a new thread saying how wrong you are...lol

Early B.

I have a pair of csi3's for my front and rear center channel.

If so, consider getting a pair of RTi4's or Fxi30's. Get speakers at the same level of quality or higher.

Early B.

Does anyone have an opinion on earthquake subs?

Hadn't heard one, but based on the specs and the reviews, they seem to be pretty decent subs. I considered purchasing one a few weeks ago for my 2-channel system. Certainly can't beat the price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14994&item=5745804174&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

kevinfc

the problem in that is that polks r series center is no longer available...and that was my best option next for a polk center channel.

halo

You could always look for the CSi20 used if you want to match the R15 & R30's. I picked one up off of ebay for pretty cheap.

Fulmer

the problem in that is that polks r series center is no longer available...and that was my best option next for a polk center channel

Don't worry about it. I have R50 mains and a CS245i center(I think that's the model) and honestly can tell no difference in tone. It matches as good with my R50s as it did with my Rt25i's. I think it's way overstated in this forum that the RTi's are leaps and bounds sonically superior to the R series. When playing music from my R50s and my Rt25i's at the same time, sitting at the same distance, I can tell no difference- sounds like four well matched speakers. Now, if I wanted to get crazy and listen insanely loud, I'm sure the R50's tweeters would start to distort before the RT25i's, but I'm not that guy. I value my hearing too much, and I'm not the type to demand that my downstairs setup provides loud music to rest of my entire house. Anyway, don't let psycho acoustics get the best of you, just keep the CSi3 (Unless YOU are unhappy with it and can actually tell a difference) and don't look back. As for the surrounds, keep in mind that you'll want the tweeters higher than you're listening position which is easier to achieve with bookshelves or wall mountable surrounds.

halo

Originally posted by Fulmer
I think it's way overstated in this forum that the RTi's are leaps and bounds sonically superior to the R series. Anyway, don't let psycho acoustics get the best of you, just keep the CSi3 (Unless YOU are unhappy with it and can actually tell a difference) and don't look back.

I agree with you on both counts. IMO the R series is underrated and I sometimes feel like a 2nd class citizen around here 'cause I don't own something higher up the line.

Kevin's personal satisfaction is the most important thing here - I wasn't trying to tell him to buy something else - my apologies if it came out that way.

kevinfc

I thank you for your insight. And i have been a avid ht buff, i do not claim to know all but it would have been nice to know that the tweeter on my surrounds should be higher. So like i always say..you learn something new all the time. I will be moving in 2 months anyway and this setup will be in a sunkin living room so that should work well. Then it will be time to do a new setup later this summer for the basement . And for that setup im leaning toward swan speakers.

But still no comments on the earthquake sub? I would like some kind of feed back to hear what people think on them.