| Originally Posted by NHT4LIFE Some of the top reviewers say they prefer not to have a center for more spacial nuances. |
| Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson Sure. Mixing the center signal into the L/R channels makes for a less determinate and accurate presentation. Appeals to some. Kal |
| Originally Posted by NHT4LIFE Just telling what I read from a few of your competitor's over at TAS a few years back. |
| I think as long as you get exact speakers in the front instead of the so-called centers they sell for more cash then its better,sure. |
| Any chance of you reviewing the NHT Three's? I would like tyo know your professional opinion of them. |
| Originally Posted by Gertjan Why do you think 5.1 would be overkill? |
| Originally Posted by Gertjan The ".1" sub If you get relatively small speakers (likely, given your living room scenario), as in, not big floor standing towers that can produce some bass, you'd more than likely really be robbing yourself from good sound if you don't do a sub. It'd be kinda like not having a tweeter. A sub is not just to produce "boom" and explosions. It is supposed to produce the lower end of the range of the sound, just like a tweeter is supposed to produce the upper range of the sound. You either need main speakers (left & right front at least) that can produce good bass on their own (i would recommend down into at least the 40Hz, preferably into the 30hz region) or you need a sub. Speakers that can produce good bass are usually on the larger size, up to big floorstanding speakers. A sub is beneficial for those situations where you cannot or don't want to place big main speakers in your decor. A sub allows you to have small main speakers, while the sub can be hidden in a corner somewhere. So decor-wise, a sub may actually be better sometimes, since it allows you to have smaller main speakers while still enjoying good sound. This is true even for a 2 speaker setup. |
| Originally Posted by Gertjan Center channel (3.x, 5.x and above) If you don't use a center channel, your 2 front speakers are supposed to create a good enough stereo image that the stuff that's supposed to be in the middle truly sounds as if it's coming from the middle. For movies this is fairly important. If you sit in a limited number of seating positions that are all more or less around the cetner line axis, you will probably be OK without a center channel. If you have seating locations off to the side, closer to the front left & right speakers than to the center line, the stuff that's supposed to come from the middle will likely sound as if it comes from the speaker you're closest to. This may or may not be unacceptable to you. In that case, you'd probably benefit from using a center channel. |
| Originally Posted by Gertjan Surround (4.x and above) If you enjoy movies, i would recommend you attempt to set up for surround sound. It'll add to the enjoyment of movies if done right. Surround is often used for ambience sounds (traffic in cities, animals in jungles, weather etc). In more movies nowadays it's also used to add a little extra action going on around you. With sci-fi movies for example, ships will fly by behind you or fly into view from behind / beside you to the screen. It'll make you feel like you're more "experiencing" the movie vs just merely "watching" the movie. More surround speakers will help in creating a more enveloping and more accurate sound placement of surround sounds. This is not necessary, but it is enjoyable if you have the room for it. In general it'll simply help wrap you in sound more completely than less speakers are capable of doing. The placement of surround speakers is somewhat critical. Therefore sometimes it's actually easier to place more surround speakers (6.x or 7.x). This depends on the layout of the room. If you do 4.x or 5.x, the surround speakers should ideally be placed around an "ideal" location relatively to the listening positions and other speakers. If your room doesn't allow for that placement, you may end up not being able to get the most out of your surround experience if you stick to "just" 2 surround speakers. In that case, it may be that your room's layout simply is more suited for a 6.x or 7.x setup in regards to placement of the surround speakers. Hope that helped some |
| Originally Posted by ChrisWiggles I would do 3.1 before I did 4-channel which seems pretty pointless. |
