Which way to face surround fxi speakers if behind?

freebird
freebird Posts: 4
edited May 2009 in Speakers
Are the woofers facing away or toward the center of the room?
Post edited by freebird on

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  • superjunior
    superjunior Posts: 1,632
    edited April 2009
    freebird wrote: »
    Are the woofers facing away or toward the center of the room?

    Aren't they labelled left/right ?
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  • Michael_Js
    Michael_Js Posts: 34
    edited April 2009
    Also don't they have 2 sides and a bi-polar switch? That's explained on the Polk site. Here it is for my speakers (which are for sale :)

    http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/fx1000/
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,484
    edited April 2009
    Michael_Js wrote: »
    Also don't they have 2 sides and a bi-polar switch? That's explained on the Polk site. Here it is for my speakers (which are for sale :)

    http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/fx1000/
    25post= sell... less than 25=go away. please stop trolling threads looking to dump your crap untill you have met the minimum rules.
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  • freebird
    freebird Posts: 4
    edited April 2009
    Aren't they labelled left/right ?

    I think they were labelled for when they're on the sides.
  • kevhed72
    kevhed72 Posts: 5,075
    edited April 2009
    I believe woofer facing away from center of room, if mounted on back wall.
    Thats how I have my set-up, so if I am incorrect, someone tell me...
  • Bernal
    Bernal Posts: 991
    edited April 2009
    freebird wrote: »
    Are the woofers facing away or toward the center of the room?
    These links can help you.
    http://www.polkaudio.com/education/showanswer.php?question_num=45
    Dipole and Bipole refer to speakers that have drivers on opposite baffles. To put it crudely, they squirt sound out of both ends. Our feeling is that this type of sound radiation isn't desirable for front channel speakers. You get a spacious soundstage but at the sacrifice of image specificity. Soloists sound as big as the room. Pavorotti may be a large guy but he's not 10' wide. Orchestras may be large but you should be able to precisely locate individual instruments within the group. If not done properly, dipolar or bipolar speakers may also exhibit frequency response problems due to phase cancellations (particularly true with narrow baffle designs). Polk front channel speakers use wide dispersion drivers to provide open, spacious sound-staging while maintaining pinpoint localization.
    But the lack of image specificity of dipolar or bipolar speakers is just the ticket for rear channel use, especially in Dolby Pro Logic systems in which the surround channel is mono.
    In a Dipolar speaker, the two sets of speakers are out-of-phase with each other, while the drivers are one side are pushing, the opposite side is pulling. The result is that there is a "null" or a dead zone of sound in the area along the 90 degree axis of the speaker (see illustration below). Why is that good? When properly set up, a pair of dipole speakers used as surround speakers will provide a very open, enveloping rear effects soundstage without allowing you to pinpoint the location of the speakers themselves. That's a good thing. But for all this to work properly, the speakers need to be positioned "in-line" with the listening position as shown on the illustration below. If you are sitting out of the null area, the effect is ruined. What if you can't or don't want to place your surround speakers and listening position as required? That's where bipoles come in handy.
    In a Bipolar speaker, the two sets of drivers are in-phase with one another - both sides push air at the same time. The result is greater sound output where the dipolar speaker's null would be. Theoretically, a bipolar speaker approaches a 360° soundfield - it squirts sound all around the room. That's a good thing if you need to position your surround speakers behind your listening position or anywhere outside of the null area. Some people prefer the greater localization of bipolar speakers when used in digital discrete (Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS) systems.
    Polk f/x speakers give you the choice of either polar pattern so you can choose the one that's sounds best to you in your set-up.

    The user manual found here.
    http://www.polkaudio.com/downloads/manuals/home/LSiC_FXManual.pdf


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  • freebird
    freebird Posts: 4
    edited May 2009
    Anyone have a more definitive answer, I tried having the woofers face toward the center of the room and also have them face toward each other, I think they sound a bit better on dipole with the woofers facing each other but I haven't really watched many 5.1 movies, just surfed cable.
  • leroyjr1
    leroyjr1 Posts: 8,785
    edited May 2009
    I'm running my rear surrounds reversed ( woofers facing each other) and like that sound better. I also have my sides facing the rear of the room.