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Inferior Surrounds

563 views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  andrewtodd 
#1 ·
My theater is almost complete and the front 3 speakers are in place.

I now need to choose my surround and atmos speakers and am not sure what i need to spend. I have 3 Meridian speakers (DSP5000C, 2 x DSP5500) that I find similar in sound to B&W 803/802 D2s. I don't want to spend much on the surrounds because I don't know how long I'll be living in this house and I'll probably need the money to replace the fronts in the future.

Has anyone used speakers as surrounds that were far more inexpensive than to the front 3 speakers? If so, how obvious was it?

If possible i'd like to be within $300-$500 a pair. I'd consider diy or used, but I'm running now on time so new would be better.
 
#2 ·
Yes, and it was not obvious at all. You just want something with enough sensitivity and detail that you don't have to max out your surround levels in your AVR in order to hear properly.

Unless you plan on listening to a lot of native-surround music like SACD/DVD-A, I wouldn't put much money into the surrounds...it would be dead last in my budget priorities. Think about what kind of audio output surrounds actually do during HT: mainly ambient sounds like raindrops, approaching footsteps, etc.---mainly very occasional, and very fleeting, simple sounds...in other words, you're not likely to be listening to a symphony out of them. :D

For maximum ease of placement I'd recommend something front-ported or sealed.

Front ported:
http://www.wavecrestaudio.com/products/hvl-1-two-way-loudspeaker-pair

Sealed:
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/htm200/htm200.html
 
#3 ·
Yes, and it was not obvious at all. You just want something with enough sensitivity and detail that you don't have to max out your surround levels in your AVR in order to hear properly.......... For maximum ease of placement I'd recommend something front-ported or sealed.

Front ported:
http://www.wavecrestaudio.com/products/hvl-1-two-way-loudspeaker-pair

Sealed:
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/htm200/htm200.html
This is great to hear. I don't even use the center when listening to music.

Those speakers look really good. The ascend speakers may work although ideally I'll be able to find a speaker with a depth of 6 inches or under.
 
#4 ·
My main speakers were about $1200/pair and my rear 35 year old rear surrounds would likely be no more than $350/pair today.

Different makes entirely but similar design for the dome tweeters and identical sensitivity.

They sound great.

I had some far more expensive bookshelves as rear but I gave them to my daughter as mains and went with the cheaper bookshelves.

Honestly never noticed the difference.
 
#5 ·
Agree,

In the real world, the center channel is god and all the other speakers support it. The surrounds have the least ability to effect the sound field so no worries about them as long as they are loud enough.

I built a pair of bi-pole surrounds with four 3" full ranges and two 10mm tweeters each. Although I was expecting crap, those Tangbands really have a stellar sound quality to them! Sure, they don't have any bass and...well, with four 3" full ranges coupled with two 10mm tweeters--they should sound bad.

This was a shining example of how poorly my golden ears work in the real world. I went with bi-poles because my couch is too far back and needed some bounce-fill to widen the sound stage. Since most of my brain is processing what is on the screen first, audio comes in second with surrounds at the point of "is it there?"

My system will be upgraded including the surrounds in the coming years. The surrounds are dead last in the upgrade cycle and will be Volt 8's mainly to get the SPL to get close to the front stage and subs.

Surrounds are different with a completely odd-ball way they work. The L/C/R should be focused to get the imaging correct while the surround should be difused to not be able to figure out where the sound comes from. Sure, it blows a hole in most audiophile theory but what does not?

Put the money/size/weight where it counts...surrounds are around 10 percent so concentrate on the center/subs to get what you want/need/think you need.

Enjoy! :)
 
#8 ·
#14 ·
I certainly do hope you find speakers you like. You may want to post a request in the DIY forum for an audition. Someone close to you may have a pair (or more). I think you've got the right idea in listening to speakers before you buy. Good luck in your quest.:)
Joseph
 
#17 · (Edited)
Hi andrew, I'll give you a different opinion on surrounds but first;

Do you play games?

If you do, read on. If not, disregard this post.


Like many has explained on this board, surrounds should be the LAST thing you consider for HT-movie usage. Pretty much the job for surrounds are ambient and subtle effects. But if you do play games, many games in the last few years has made such a viable improvement to their audio production that good surrounds will actually enhance the experience.

Because games now a days has their audio rendered in real-time, sound can shoot out from pretty much ANY speaker in the setup. A symphony of explosions isn't just tied to the LCR in a game, it can move from the surrounds to the front and back and forth in relation to where you look in the game unless it is a cutscene.

Another example; Dialog don't just come from the center channel anymore. You can walk into a town in Witcher 3 and there will be countless actual chatter (not mumbling like in movies) around you, where you can hear people literally talk behind you. Having speakers that can't play the midrange clearly can certainly hamper the experience. In games like Uncharted 4 or The Last of Us, where a lot of the story and character building is explained through gameplay, it is pretty much critical that every speaker can render good dialogue clarity as you make your way through a level. It is simply not natural to just stay in one place and listen to another NPC talk endlessly.

So yes, good surrounds do have a place not just for multi-channel music, but also for games. If you just watch movies and nothing else, where the audio track has already been recorded and pre-determined never to change, then like many has said - place the bulk of your budget somewhere else.
 
#18 ·
I do play games but probably only once a month. I certainly don't play them enough to warrant spending extra money on speakers.

It's funny you should say what you said because I plan to use a an xbox game to test my rear speakers after connecting them to a new receiver in my family room.
 
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