How important are rear speakers for movies and tv?

tibasnatch

when I watch tv and dvd's I dont really hear the speakers very often...is it that important to spend big bucks on some rear speakers....is there a reason why not much comes out of them?

janmike

Big bucks, No. The surround sound is what helps make HT IMO. True, not much does come out of the rears, but when it does and is done right - WOW.

Willow

as mentioned above, rears are not needed, they just complete the experience,makes it more life-like. Say Rambo is shooting from the top right hand of your screen at some badguys on the bottom left you could hear the bullet fly past your head as though you are there in the middle of the action, without having to worry about being killed or spit on by Stallone.

engtaz

janmike wrote: »

Big bucks, No. The surround sound is what helps make HT IMO. True, not much does come out of the rears, but when it does and is done right - WOW.

+1 true statement

engtaz

Ferres

I think more and more recent releases are using the rear channels these day. Even TV series with 5.1 for dvd.

Stargate Atlantis season2, the daedalus' ship hum is produced by the rear speakers.

tibasnatch

yea, I know what they are for and how they sound when the actions does hit but if i got matching polk rears for like $250 i dont think that sounds worth it..or am i wrong?

Face

You're wrong.

Willow

tibasnatch wrote: »

yea, I know what they are for and how they sound when the actions does hit but if i got matching polk rears for like $250 i dont think that sounds worth it..or am i wrong?

You'll never know unless you try. How are we to tell you if it's worth it. After all it's not our $$. Let's just say, No matter what price, if it's timbre matched then YES it's worth it.....I think so. but who am I..........?

Face

Willow is correct. Timbre matching is important, even for the rear.

tibasnatch

ok thanks...so if I have the rti8 and csi3 which rears should I get? whats the cheapest polks that will match and sound good? thanks

The Judge

I don't know if I'd be happy with the Cheapest Speakers I could use for the rears. As your experience grows, you'll find that rear speakers can play a large part in the overall sound of your system and that they can be called upon to reproduce a very large part of the sound field, especially if you start using DD and SACD as these programs have Full Frequency Response on Every channel.

Face

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Performance-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0000E2XEB/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1202226456&sr=8-2

tibasnatch

for $50 more would these be better, i heard amazon has had these priced wrong all month

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-AM4425-Surround-Speakers/dp/B000V2SEZA/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2

or are the others above good enough?

uvaskeme

if you really don't want to spend a lot of money, you could get two pairs of fxi a4's and get the $200 credit toward a polk sub (i think the promotion is still going on). i was able to snag two pairs of a4's and a psw125 for $523 shipped. i sold the psw125 on ebay for about $225, so i basically got two pairs of fxi a4's for $300. if i wanted 5.1, i could probably sell one pair of the a4's for around $200, which would leave me with one pair of surrounds for only $100. i know its a lot of work, but it would be well worth it to get some fxi's for that cheap.

mantis

tibasnatch wrote: »

when I watch tv and dvd's I dont really hear the speakers very often...is it that important to spend big bucks on some rear speakers....is there a reason why not much comes out of them?

Bottom line is this.

If you want surround sound you need rears. You need your rears to match perfectly with your fronts to have the best experience. So if you get Rti type speakers, you need rti type rears. get it???

If you don't want surround sound then you need no rears, you need no center channel. Just 2 speakers and maybe a sub for deep bass. Now you have 2 channel which is better suited for music listening not movie sound tracks. Movie soundtracks for the most part are recorded in surround sound of some kind. If you want to replay this, you need the right equipment to do so.

Sherardp

Check your local Frys for a pair of FXi3s. I'm willing to bet you that they make a huge improvement in your overall movie experience. If you decide to go for 7.1 I'd then add the Rti4s.

bbeacham

tibasnatch wrote: »

when I watch tv and dvd's I dont really hear the speakers very often...is it that important to spend big bucks on some rear speakers....is there a reason why not much comes out of them?

Are you refering to 5.1 "rears" or 7.1 "rears". I only have a 5.1 setup and went from LSi7 to LSi15s, and it made a big differance. Depending upon the movie, the "rears" can be very active, or hardly used.

For TV, and general music listening, I put my pre-amp into Multi-Stereo mode where it creates a rear channel signal, and uses all 4 speakers. Personally, I think this sounds quite good, and sometimes it almost seems as if the CD was actually recorded in this mode.

So, yes, the rears are very important.

tibasnatch

wow, thats a great deal, did u use amazon? i am gonna look into doing this, it makes great sense..let me know thanks

uvaskeme wrote: »

if you really don't want to spend a lot of money, you could get two pairs of fxi a4's and get the $200 credit toward a polk sub (i think the promotion is still going on). i was able to snag two pairs of a4's and a psw125 for $523 shipped. i sold the psw125 on ebay for about $225, so i basically got two pairs of fxi a4's for $300. if i wanted 5.1, i could probably sell one pair of the a4's for around $200, which would leave me with one pair of surrounds for only $100. i know its a lot of work, but it would be well worth it to get some fxi's for that cheap.

tibasnatch

yes it was amazon, thats a great deal....isnt the rtia4 speakers supposed to be alot more then $250...i think they are around 399 in other stores!!

[Deleted User]

Have you heard of dolby digital or dts? you get the full spectrum of 20 hz to 20khz.. There is a huge difference if you want the home theater experience!!!