THX Quality Speakers????  

THX certification is in significant part a marketing decision on the part of the manufacturer. The lack of THX certification doesn't make a speaker bad nor mean it wouldn't be capable of being certified if the manufacturer chose to spend the dollars to have it certified.

Bose speakers have many detractors for a variety of reasons. I personally haven't heard any Bose system that I would buy, but that's strictly a personal matter. If you're predisposed to buy Bose for whatever reason you should audition them with a quality movie (T2, The Matrix, Dinosaur are a few that come to mind). If like what you hear that's all that matters, although you might also want to compare them to some other speakers in the same price range using the same equipment to drive them and the same source material.

i'm not sure if you have to have thx certified speakers. is there even such a classification for speakers?

i feel it is very important that you give yourself the opportunity to try different brands. you need to do this to give yourself a fair chance and to see what else is out there. i cannot stress this enough...be sure you audition as many speakers as you can.

then you'll be able to sit back and proudly and confidently choose the speakers you like best!

oh yeah - trust your ears.

buying speakers is fun - have a good time!

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"A person who smiles in the face of adversity...probably has a scapegoat!"

I have Atlantic Technology's system 450. This is a THX Ultra setup. They have a number of speaker sets at different price points. I really love the sound of these on both music and movies but thats my ears talking. It sounds like you may be new to HT like me? If so you really owe it to yourself to get out and listen to different speakers and see what it is that you like.

I would not put much weight on speakers being THX certified.
Most of the better speakers are not certified as they are well known and stand on their own. A system which is THX Ultra though is always going to be a good HT system though.
If you feel your going to really get into HT/AV (with a projection screen it seems you are) I would forget about Bose unless you absolutely love them. There is much better out there for less.

I believe the point being, audition many speakers and see what you like. THX certified speakers are in general recognized as quality speakers whether they have the certification or not.
Only because the certification requires the speakers to have certain capabilities in terms of power handling, and dispersion qualities to optimize theater sound. It is that reason they are certified, it is not because they are 'better' than speakers that don't have the same characteristics.
In that regard, there are some relatively affordable speakers with THX certification, but at the other end of the spectrum there are speakers you and I could not afford if we combined our incomes, that are out of this world! and do not have THX certification.
I have an M&K system which is certified and does very well on movies, but I think it also does very well on music for their price range (like the Atlantic Techs.)
Again, go out and listen, that's the real joy before you have committed to spend the money!
The Bose are impressive the first time you hear them ("...how do they get the sound out of those little boxes?")
But the more the hear quality speakers then go back they suddenly lose their muster. Take a long a good CD recording you know well and start comparing speakers. Especially fine detail. Then go back to the Bose. You will see the difference I believe.

One other advantage of THX speakers is that they are totally matched. The surround dipoles are supposedly designed so that they match the front speakers tonally. This being despite the fact that they are usually mounted in a different environment(on or in a wall rather than out into the room) and at a different height. For example, I have PSB Stratus Goldi's yet the center that was intially avialable did not have the same tweeter as the main. This sort of thing doesn't happen with THX.

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What in the Wide Wide world of Sports is goin' on here

In case of bad room acoustics speakers with a concentrated bundled sound radiation pattern will sustain good imaging. Let's say you have a very clean living room with only few furniture, free walls and ceiling, as well as may be a wooden "free of carpet" floor. Regular hifi speakers will seldomly have a good radiation pattern and rather spread the sound in all directions. I was told this is true for instance with very slimm speakers and regular driver arangement.

Personally, I could imagine that the active M+Ks (haven't heard them), you also see them on alot of M+K adds, will sound quite nice. The active M+Ks are obviously also used in alot of studios. They have, due to their design, a controlled radiation pattern and should work quite good with music too. You can buy more "mains" for a full 5.1 system with equal 5 speakers and no sucking dipoles.


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Cheers,

Andreas
MERIDIAN forum www.softronix.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi

alabamasmith:

HBart pretty much summed up how I feel about Bose and THX in that post. I would add that speakers don't need to be THX certified to have a tonal match. Two good examples of this are the Dynaudio Countour T series and Aerial speakers.

I would also add that THX brings nothing to the table in regards to the music side and in fact are not what you should use if you are an audiophile. If you are wanting it for movies only, then that's totally different and is just fine. Also, I would ecco the comments about Bose speakers not being very good. Take a look at Dynaudio and you can get some real good entry models in perhaps the same price range you are looking at.

Jeff

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John,
as said, the controlled sound dispersion pattern of THX speakers can really help in bad (normal) room acoustic situations and produce better imaging results than conventional Hifi/High End speakers. So, don't wonder if you feel comfortable.

I just wished there were more THX "active" speaker choices, like the M+K 150Ps and more money would be spend in the driver technology or better, more rigid cabinets (like a B+W 802/801). Also, from time to time one runs into comments that the symetric driver arrangement is not the optimum for good music reproduction (some THX speakers, like the M+Ks have 2 or 3 tweeters). I will also try to read further into this topic as I find it very interesting. Personally , I have more a hair with the THX "dipole surrounds" by now then with the THX mains.

However, since there are good speaker alternatives available, non THX (unfortunately also often more expensive), but with excellent controlled radiation patterns as well and an almost perfect music reproduction, the chances are only slimm I will/would ever jump on the THX train.


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Cheers,

Andreas
MERIDIAN forum www.softronix.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi

[This message has been edited by Andreas (edited 05-14-2001).]