[carltonb]

I'm in the planning phase on my home theater and currently want to have two rows of seating...second row on 12" platform. The room is too narrow (12') to get the number of seats I'd like yet still put the surronds at ear level. The centerline of the outside seats would be only about 3'6" from the wall.


I was leaning toward dipoles, but would have to mount them high enough to walk under. Does it make any sense to angle dipoles down in such a situation? I sort of had the impression that dipoles don't radiate much from the sides, so I wasn't sure that angling them down made any sense.


I guess another alternative would be to mount the dipoles on the ceiling and move them away from the wall a bit. Would that make more sense in this case?


Or, would I be better off using monopoles angled slightly down? I'm thinking that I'd actually need two monopoles on each side because of the extreme angle from the speaker to the outside seats on each row.


In case you can't tell, I'm rather confused about this issue right now http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif Any help would be appreciated!




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Carlton Barnes

 

[Ben Henry]

Hi Carltonb,

I think you have to narrow things down a bit to make an informed choice on this one. Firstly, what are you running in the front? Second, your preamp/amp? Are you running 5.1 or 6.1 for THX ex? Do you listen to music or movies more? What's your budget? I ask because there are many schools of thought on this subject and answering these ? will help you make a more informed decision.


Advantages of monopole: 1. Easy way to upgrade, as often cheaper for same quality. 2. Some prefer monopoles for music as sound processors that employ surround decoding for music are expecting it played back through monopoles. 3. Based on tastes, many people like the greater sense of directivity with monopoles, i.e. they WANT to know from where the surround information is emanating.


Advantages of dipole: 1. In a large theater, the rears and sides are high up on the wall generally and quite a distance away. Theaters don't just use two, or even four rears, but many to support surround information. By nature, their distance from the listener and the sheer number of speakers employed create a spacious, diffuse sound. This is what dipoles can do for you in your home. The sound coming from diples is not directed at the listener. Instead it is ratiated to the opposing walls of the theater and the objects in between so that you hear the sound after it has bounced around the room. This is what gives sound from dipoles spaciousness and breadth. 2. It is thought by many, including THX, that this added presence and spaciousness gives smoother, less jumpy travel to sounds which are passing from surround to surround speaker. This is especially true, in the minds of dipole supporters, when employing a rear center channel.


THX calls their rear center channel "THX EX" and it is one more feature being bandyed about as an absolute must. IMHO it remains to be seen if it is worth the effort. Another issue to consider if employing a 6.1 channel system it whether you want 1 or 2 rear center speakers. Again, that's largly a matter of taste and budget.


In answer to your question about ceiling or rear wall placement, I think you would be fine with wither type of speaker placed on the rear wall. Personally, I would use dipoles if I were to rear mount the speakers because at that distance directivity is definitley and issue, and my preference is to not hear point of origin of surround sound. Again, matter of taste. Another consideration, which you might give some thought to would be a hybrid tripole like the Klipsch reference series RS3, which has a direct radiating speaker and "dipole" horns. Supposedly, it's a good compromise. All of this, or course, depends as many others on this Forum have said, on what YOU like. Your ears will be your best judge.

Hope some of this will help.

Cheers,

Ben