FXI 3's or RTI 4's?

sabotg

I've got a 6.1 setup (Swapping out old Onkyo S760 HTIB) and I need some advice on Rear surrounds. I've already swapped out the front L/R with
RTI 10's I plan on swapping the Center channel with CSI 5 but I'm not sure about the surrounds. I want to use the FXI 3 for my rear L/R surrounds but I also want to keep my rear surround speaker. My question is because the FXI 3 is Bi directional do you think it would sound strange if I swapped my rear surround to an RTi 4? Do you think I'm better off swapping out all three rear surrounds to RTI 4's instead of FXI 3's? Thanks for your input, I hope i've explained my situation clearly.

landry_p2000

Hey sabotg. I have a 6.1 set up as well, and I am running a set of FXi3s as surrounds, and a single RTi4 in the rear. It sounds great to me. I wouldn't put a FXi3 in the rear, because it would sound unbalanced in my opinion.

sabotg

Thanks Landry_p2000. Do you have the FXI 3's set to Dipole or Bipole? Which sounds better in your opinion? How do you like your CSI 3?

landry_p2000

The FXi3s are set to Bipole, which makes them fire in phase. I love the surround sound effects these speakers bring. I started out years ago with 3 RTi4s in the back, but the FXi3s blew them away. You can see my set-up in the system showcase.
The CSi3 has been good to me, but it is usually put down around here. I have no problem hearing on screen dialogue whatsoever, but the CSi5 is louder, but also takes more juice to power. My friend Gary has a CSi5, and its a beast. In my opinion the CSi3 does fine for me, and I have had no complaints about it from anyone. If I get the chance I may upgrade, but I am not in a hurry.

sabotg

Thanks for all the feedback.

Sherardp

run the fxi 3 on the sides, and the rti 4s in the rear.

Holydoc

I would recommend FXi3's for the side surrounds to open up the soundstage and prevent localization of sound. For the rear surround, it is a matter of choice.

For a 7.1 system, it would not matter whether you had FXi3's or RTi4's, you would not get any localization just because of the spread of the sound in the rear by the two speakers. It is very difficult to localize sound from behind you especially if it is being spread out over any distance.

For a 6.1 system you have to be sure that the back speaker is far enough away from your audience. If your speaker is relatively close to your audience, then you need a speaker like the FXi3 that will disperse the sound. Otherwise you will know the rear is always coming from behind your left or right shoulder. If the speaker is a fair distance from the listening position then either speaker will do fine.

Good luck and tell us how things work out. Sounds like you have a great HT system going.