Do 2 rear speakers in 5.1 get below 100Hz?

I assume you have the same issue I have that your receiver doesn't allow different crossover points for different speakers.
I played around with this because I was worried about exactly the same thing, lowering the crossover point and missing out on content because the rear speakers couldn't reproduce it.
Maybe some content is lost, but in reality I don't believe its enough to detract from the movie watching experience, and that is the goal at the end of the day.

I personally felt that having a lower crossover and improving the sound up front to be the lesser of the two evils.
YMMV.
On a side note, I ponied up for better rear speakers, partly to more timbre match and partly to have speakers handle the lower frequencys. Maybe it was worth the extra money? dunno, but at least I'm not wondering if it would make a difference, because now I know how much of a difference it makes.

Its a fullrange signal. But no you usually wont really miss out much if you cross over at 100hz as long as the speakers are decent. Very small bookshelf speakers wont fill out the back soundfield like more normal or larger bookshelves. That said, good speakers as surrounds do add to the experience but diminishing returns on money spent is much much steeper then for front speakers.

I like my larger bookshelves surrounds (jamo concert 8) but got them used for cheap so for a long time they were actually better quality speakers then my main speakers lol, smaller though so sometimes i would drag them out to use as mains for music if i felt like less bass but better elsewhere.

Forgot to mention. Its usually better to use a better quality different brand speaker if its fairly neutral compared to a cheap same brand speaker. Timbre matching is a popular term and while it is a good thing a small cheap same brand speaker wont sound the same anyway and you will gett less clear and full sound so the loss will be much more severe then a slight different sound which we arent very sensitive to from the rear anyway. Ofc same brand good quality will be the best but might be expensive or difficult to find at a decent price.

I can’t quote the spec, but I would be surprised if an audio mix actually had content

I assumed bass management would be used so didnt mention it but maybe i should have. Practically everyone use that on surround channels, even many if not most of the very few who use large towers all around. Its perfectly fine to use smaller bookshelves (like 5+inch woofer)for surrounds and cross at 100 or even 120hz but unless you use tiny Home Theater In a Box type speakers in front its good to avoid those as surrounds also. The very cheapest 5” can be good to avoid also because you will hear a lot of box sound from some of them which can be distracting.
The surrounds is the place to skimp though if needed.

I use some old klipsch towers for my rear surrounds (5.1) and I like it better than when I used to use klipsch bookshelves as rear. ofc some bookshelves are way better than others. if I had space and money I would go towers.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject. Let me make it more concrete so you all know what my dilemma is.

I have my LCR as 3 KEF Q300s which are very capable and decent speakers with 6.5 inch drivers. Their smaller siblings, the Q100s, do not go as low, although some say they are the better speaker. Be that as it may, I am on the market to buy a par of used speakers for my 2 surround channels. I am debating whether to get the Q100s or Q300s. The whole thing about timbre matching, not sure if it exists between a KEF Q300 and Q100 as their measurements are totally different.

Will I be missing any information if I have Q100s as rears? Or would I be better off if I get some Polks with a 6.5 inch drivers for a decent price. Even an older generation of KEF iQ30 maybe..

First choice would be another pair of Q300 speakers. 2nd choice would be Q100 (will sound just like your Q300 except for the bass: spec'd down to 49Hz instead of 42Hz). Both can be crossed over at 100Hz or even 80Hz without a problem. Polks would be a distant 3rd choice.

I dont trust measurements so Im oddball here in science forum. but I do believe in owning speakers if possible that can be -6db 1 octave below crossover. really adds to the feeling/sensations of bass.

torii said:

I dont trust measurements so Im oddball here in science forum. but I do believe in owning speakers if possible that can be -6db 1 octave below crossover. really adds to the feeling/sensations of bass.

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Can you translate that for me please ? If I want to crossover at 80Hz, what does it mean... that my speakers must be at most -6 db at how many Hz?

KurtCocain said:

Can you translate that for me please ? If I want to crossover at 80Hz, what does it mean... that my speakers must be at most -6 db at how many Hz?

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One octave is half the frequency so for 80hz cross it will be 40hz.
But i thought it was reccommended at the -3dB point and not -6dB(?)


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I would purchase the Q300s to obtain the advantages of a larger bass driver, timbre matching with the front Q300s, and having two spare units should some kind of damage occur to any of the front speakers.