new model for the rt55 is a

jdog1

has anybody heard of a replacement so far



not having a replacment for the rt55 is just plain stupid!!!!


i have used 35 and rt55 for my rears and ill tell you the 55 blow them away, so what gives, im just wondering if anyone else is bothered by this,

and no i don't want fx50's i like direct radial.........

so i guess i want be buying a whole new system, and giving my parents my old setup, at least until they wake up and make a
rt55 replacement........"a real rear speaker"


current setup
rt800's
rt55's rear
cs400

onkyo txds898

lax01

They might be keeping them because they haven't made a model to replace them. The RT35i's got replaced by RTi38s, but nothing above that.

dean/klipschead

Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this -- but the defacto standard for the rear channel is the dipole or direct/reflecting loudspeaker.

mantis

tHX...yes for dd and DtS no!!!!

dean/klipschead

Hmmm. Well, you are partly right. You are making the proper differentiation, but I don't think you are applying it correctly.

DD and DTS are film soundtrack formats.

Dolby Labs does not recommend speaker types for HT use. They only recommend that all the speakers be timbre matched -- that is, from the same manufacturer. They go on to say:

Bipolar, dipolar, and tripolar surround speakers use speaker drivers aimed towards the front and back of the room to achieve a diffuse soundfield like that created by the multiple surround speakers used in movie theaters. Your room’s acoustics will effect these designs more than conventional direct-radiating speakers, which, when placed properly, can also make effective surround speakers.

So Dolby labs doesn't really care one way or the other -- but does concede that mult-directional designs create the diffuse soundfield similiar to that created in theaters.

Now as far as THX goes: THX is not a film sound format, but a trademark that certifies compliance to standards set forth by Lucasfilm for movie sound systems. THX defines the standards for playback systems.

Now, the THX standards also include their own playback process. This process is put to the signal after the DD or DTS decoding. The THX process is specifically designed to recreate the listening experience found in theaters.

Products that are THX certified (speakers, processors, receivers, amps, etc) -- meet the standards and parameters set forth by Lucasfilms for realistic theater type playback.

THX says the surrounds should be mult-directional and be able to play down to 80Hz.

I would think the only time not to go with a bi-pole or di-pole -- would be if your budget doesn't allow for it. Then you would be looking at a direct radiator that at least plays down to 80Hz.

However, I would consider this a compromise -- and not the ideal setup for realistic playback. IMHO.

mantis

Good point Dean,
The room is the desiding factor what speaker's to use for rears.You can debate this untill your blue in the face Dts want direct, ThX spec's want biploar for side's.And so on and so on.
I'm not going to quote there spec's.
Real world room's is where this does in fact make a total
differecnce.
If your room is Ideal.Like 14x24 and you have perfect seating,depending on screen size, for theory let's say you sit about 12 feet from the screen.OK?You with me?
Your 2nd row of seat's are 17 feet from the screen, and the third is 22 feet from the screen. you use a 10 inch step up for each row.You ceiling is 9 feet.Now what side's would you use here and where would you put them????Good question.Just for theory let's say you only have one pair.So now you need to find the best place to sadisfy everybody in the room.I have found that putting them on the side's of the second row is the best placement to get everybody involved.And I use Dipolar speaker's for this placement.About 80 inches to the tweeter, this will change slighty due to performance.Between 72 and 86 inches.
In this placement still the best seat in the house is the 2nd row, but the 1st row sound's great and the 3rd row isn't to far out of the field.
Now for surround back.I alway's like 2 better than one but sometime 1 work's well in smaller rooms.I never use di/bipolar speaker's for surround back, it's to open and seem's to misplace the rear channel.But in some install's it did indeed sound ok.
For height, I like to match the tweeter on the sides and make harmony all the way around.As far as distance from each other, about 4 feet work's nice in this size room.You can however play with closer or further apart, That is prefence, but to far apart and it sound weird.
I use mono poles for surround back.
Now if you only use a 5.1 sytem and your room isn't ideal and your sitting against the back wall,Bipolar speaker's do wonder's on the back wall.Now in a normal height room about 8 feet, and normal sitting height, I use 72 inches to the tweeter as a standard, but again you can play with hieght as it makes a diierence in your experience and perception.Mono poles don't work verywell here.You can use wall shelves and turn them slighty out to help miising sound going over your head.You can aim them at each other slighty higher, and a really good trick which I don't give out to anyone but what the hell, you guy's are all cool, Place you direct mono ploes on the floor firing up tward's the ceiling, this is some great placement is difficult room's.I doesn't however work all the time. some time's it's awefull. But most of the time it's work's extremely well.
Inwalls...............everthing changes here.
Now you can place direct mono poles on sides and rears.Providing a piviting tweeter.Even if you can't pivit the tweeter, you can fix with tricky placement.Back to the tweeter when you side place the speaker in the wall at the same heigt 72 inch to the tweeter, fire the tweeter towards the back or the front of the room, play with this idea as it create's diiferent sound.I perfer the rear but some people perfer the front.It's your call, try both.Very fun
Every room is different, rules are cool to learn, spec's are nice 2, learn them all you can.I strongly recommend it.But at the end of the day, there are no rules really to follow other than Place the front's in the front, place the center in the center of the screen above or below(thats another story),rears in the rear/side and the sub where it perform's the best(again another story).After this you deside what's best for your room.Follow the RULES at first, then go from there.Experience is more golden then these RULES you guy's love to talk about and quote.I'm very cool with that, don't take that the wrong way , I'm not kicking ANYONE ON THIS(THIS MEAN'S YOU 2 DEAN AND YOUR KLIPSCH'S).
Have fun with this post try it out, and if you find you can alabrate on my experience, please post back I love to learn more!!!!
As all good teacher's.......THE BEST TEACHER'S LEARN FROM THE STUDENT'S, THE TEACHER ALSO BECOMES THE STUDENT,THE STUDENT BECOMES THE TEACHER.

dean/klipschead

well, since i am strictly a two channel guy -- i can't say much more or i'd be talking out of my butt

i will certainly agree that rules should be used as starting points

tweaking is the name of game -- no doubt about that

tommyrod74

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned that for discrete multicahnnel music (sacd, dvd-a) direct-radiating rears are far superior to dipole/bipole setups- who wants to hear "diffuse" music?

mantis

we were talking about dolby digital, DTS and THX spec's.
but thats a good point.
You know what ???I have both sacd and dvd audio and I switch between the rt35's and the fx/500's for rears.The rt35i's are indeed better but the fx/500's do a better than average job.

dean/klipschead

Yea, he's right. I forgot about that. Bi-poles/di-poles would definitely not get it for multi-channel music.

No doubt, I stand corrected big time.

mantis

Dean we must be slipping.

dean/klipschead

lol - can't see the forest for the trees

mantis

I see dead people, they tell me to upgrade:eek:

Steve@3dai

But I think the biggest advantage to the new formats (SACD DVDA) is the two channel performance.

That's my two cents

- Steve

mantis

so far I haven't seen 2 channel on dvd audio, just sacd.which yes is awesome in 2 channel.

Aaron

I thought all of the DVD-A discs had a 2-channel track....

Aaron