Sierra 1's or Rockets

Keep in mind that speakers, including bookshelf speakers, are meant to have a little open space around them (minimizes surface reflections). If you are considering bookshelf speakers because you can tuck them away on a shelf or in an entertainment center, you could be running the risk of compromising the sound of a truly excellent speaker such as the Sierras. Ideally, you would mount them on stands and give them a little room.


5500 cu. ft. is pretty large room, which, were it me, would have me leaning toward the larger 850s. Also, with your majority of use being HT and gaming, the center channel speaker becomes fairly important. IMHO, The Bigfoot is a truly excellent center channel speaker.


Disclaimers:


1. I have heard the Sierras, and think they are a terrific bookshelf speaker.

2. I am a biased Rocket 850/Bigfoot/RSS300/RS250 owner.

3. I don't really care what speakers you end up purchasing. The goal is to help you end up with a system which gives you as much pleasure as mine gives me.



Quote:
Originally Posted by gtoboss /forum/post/12883089


My cabinet is 27inch height and they would sit on top, and my room is 15 x 20.5 with 12 ft ceilings buy it opens up to the dining room and a small hallway which is where the extra cubic feet come from. Sitting distance from the front speakers is approx. 11ft and rears are considerably closer. Whats your thoughts on the quality of sound from the sierra's.

Click to expand...

The Sierras would fill your room easily....my room is 14 x 18, and I sit 10 feet from mine, and can easily get too loud. Placing them on a cabinet is fine, but usually not the best solution for sound quality because of the reflections the cabinet can make....to help lesson these reflections, you should place the speaker to the front edge of the cabinet, but that is not always nice for aesthetics.


The 850 will definitely have more output capability, and give you the theater filling sound with a sense of a bigger soundstage over precise imaging, a trade-off between the two types of speakers, and neither is necessarily bad at the other...just examples of different strengths like mazersteve mentioned. It is something you would have to compare for yourself to better understand what your preferences are.


Rijax, do you think those are fair statements?