Best small rear surround speakers?
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Can you be more specific on the size? What's your budget as well?
I have JBL stage A180 as LR, A130 side surrounds with infinity center. I am trying to find in less than $300 for pair. In terms of size, don't prefer to look too big since this is not a dedicated HT, so may be something like Polk S15 would work? Are there better options?
Thanks for the input.
Thanks for the input.
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What about a second pair of A130s?
JBL Stage A130 Bookshelf speakers at Crutchfield
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The ports only factor into the equation at around the 60Hz point. If you're crossing your surrounds in the 80-120Hz, the ports won't be a problem. You could also plug the port, too.
Or use something like this to wall mount:
Which should have the speakers far enough away from the wall (the distance really only needs to be the width of the port)
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They're surrounds, so they will not be doing hardly anything in the low frequency range, where that port comes into play. I'd would say get the A130's too, since they match your setup and are inexpensive (if on sale) and will do the job. I wouldn't mix some signature Polks into this at this point.
If you wanted to save cost, just get some basic 5.25"~6.5" woofer cabinets. Again, not a ton is coming out of surrounds and they don't need to drop lower than crossover, so the porting isn't a huge deal since these are not your mains and will not receive the same info as your mains.
Very best,
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I'm using Polk OWM3's for side and rear. Audyssey crosses them over at 100hz on the sides and 80hz on the rears, which are corner mounted, so seems about right. They do okay in a small room (11' x 18') with JBL 580s and an Infiniti RC263 up front and a dedicated sub. They are fine for surround duties, but nothing special. At $150/pr they are cheap enough to try out. I chose them mostly because I needed something shallow in depth and they are only about 4" deep.
I agree you should try another pair of A130s though.
I agree you should try another pair of A130s though.
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Those OWM3s start at 100Hz, so you really should be crossing them over at 120Hz.
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For the price, these are hard to beat:
Sony SSCS5 3-Way 3-Driver Bookshelf Speaker System (Pair) - Black
At the current price of 148.00/pair, that is a great value, but they go on sale a few times a year for 73.00/pair at various places, amazon, newegg, search this forum for some sale threads.
Are there better speakers? Yes! Are there cheaper speakers? Yes! But what a great price/performance value. Also nicely sized.
7 of my 11 speakers are custom made, Dennis Murphy speakers, but I have these as two of my upper rear speakers, I also use them for my Computer "near field" speakers, along with a Dayton Audio APA150 150W Power Amplifier - on sale now at parts express, also sold at Amazon.
Sony SSCS5 3-Way 3-Driver Bookshelf Speaker System (Pair) - Black
At the current price of 148.00/pair, that is a great value, but they go on sale a few times a year for 73.00/pair at various places, amazon, newegg, search this forum for some sale threads.
Are there better speakers? Yes! Are there cheaper speakers? Yes! But what a great price/performance value. Also nicely sized.
7 of my 11 speakers are custom made, Dennis Murphy speakers, but I have these as two of my upper rear speakers, I also use them for my Computer "near field" speakers, along with a Dayton Audio APA150 150W Power Amplifier - on sale now at parts express, also sold at Amazon.
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JBL Stage A120 is a little smaller than the Stage 130
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If you want to save some money, then the Neumi BS5
Just to clarify some misinformation : surround channels can and do carry full frequency signals and ideally should be identical to your front speakers.
Obviously this is not always physically or financially possible, but the closer you can get to being the same as the fronts the better it should sound.
So getting some JBL to match as close as possible to your existing JBL is going to be your best bet.
And as already noted - you can ignore or plug the ports since you will be crossing to the subs above the port frequency so the ports won't actually come in to effect anyway.
Obviously this is not always physically or financially possible, but the closer you can get to being the same as the fronts the better it should sound.
So getting some JBL to match as close as possible to your existing JBL is going to be your best bet.
And as already noted - you can ignore or plug the ports since you will be crossing to the subs above the port frequency so the ports won't actually come in to effect anyway.
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No, they are rated down to 80hz. It's +/-3db that starts at 100hz. But in any case, I measured them with Audyssey and used REW to confirm and they are fine at 100 hz in my room.
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You go by the -/+3dB spec. But anyway
Nice thing about the JBL A-120: they come with wall-mounting brackets.
They're critiqued favorably by Dr. Toole, to boot.
100 Hz bottom for the A-120s. 60 Hz. bottom for the A-130s (which I have and appreciate).
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