Side Surround Speaker Advice Needed ASAP! (1 Viewer)

[Dougofthenorth]

I am reposting this over hear - I had it posted in Ron's 7.1 thread & did not get replies.

I read through the entire posts of different thoughts on the subject

As matching wood grain models are becoming very scare

I am replacing my Boston VRMC & VRMX Side Surrounds, Rear Centers & 4 Effect/presence speakers, with Focal speaker matches, as they are now clearing out the wood grained speaker options.
I also wanted to match the tweeters & woofers with my Main L&R & Center.
I have got 8 of them so far & have yet to get the Focal Side Surrounds

To be used in a Yam Rx-Z11 - 11.1 config.

The addition I hopefully will be adding on to the house this spring.
It will have the option of a dedicated HT room up to 22" long & ~19" up to a 10'+ ceiling.
(Done with proper HT odd dimensions & material specs)


QUESTIONS
Since the new room will allow walking room around the sides of the seating area
Q1Therefore I should use a Mono-pole as opposed to a Di-pole or Bi-pole, RIGHT?
Focal only makes Bi-polar side surround
(in models that match my current speakers' tweeters & woofers)

Q2 Given you have the choice between Model A &
Model B (model A slightly better speaker - bit lower base ~10Hz)
Would you put the Model A as Side Surrounds or Rear Centres? (given Q1 above is yes)

Comments, suggestions?

 

[John Garcia]

I just replied in Ron's thread

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/329812-dipole-or-bipole-for-my-71-setup/?p=4056560

Surrounds are less critical to match IMO, especially bi-pole and di-pole since they are diffuse and you hear as much "bounce" as you do direct radiated sound. Timbre matched is obviously the ideal, so if that's what you're after, then go with the matching ones. If the room supports the side surrounds, meaning you have side walls to mount them on and get some "bounce" from, I'd probaby go with bipoles for sides and monopoles for rears.

 

[Dougofthenorth]

Tx John,

I went ahead & bought 2 matching mono-poles

As...
I assumed the sides weren't as crucial, as the sound is rather transient, as compared to the center rears.
But thought it best to ask 1st before buying. BTW - The matching Focal Side surround pair are ~$3k

So...
I will use the better of the 2 monopoles as the center rears.
I will wait & try the other 2 monopoles as side surrounds
- then get a Focal Bi-pole surround set if I do not like the side mono-pole effect.

I am not in a hurry then as the Focal sides have no wood showing
- just Focal badge & grill cloth of the same color as all the others have

Tx again

 

[schan1269]

This "surround is ambient" is nonsense.I have 4 BIC V820 as my surround speakers. They would beg to differ with the "surround speakers aren't that critical".

 

[Dougofthenorth]

Tx, my friend,

- from all I read in Ron's post & around this forum here, I figured it would be best to treat them all as
the same type of speakers - direct,

In the other topic John mentioned about using mono-poles as sides, so I took it all in & decided.

I find the newer 6.1 & beyond encoding mixes are more area specific, (directional)
than the older 5.1 "spread it all around", which sound more like matrixed channels, than discrete channels do.

The only thing I listen to more than what my speakers tell me, is what my ears tell me...

 

[schan1269]

If Ron did drink enough wine and bought The Guillotines, he's in for a sonic treat.Yeah, the movie is not a great interpretation of the genre, but.There is a bombing sequence that starts "way off" and builds to you, then behind you.I added it to my short list of audio movie demo.Underworld: Awakening Immortal Beloved Being the other two "must use".Those three separate the men from the boys.

 

[John Garcia]

This "surround is ambient" is nonsense. I have 4 BIC V820 as my surround speakers. They would beg to differ with the "surround speakers aren't that critical".

You are misreading what I am saying. Surrounds are less critical to have a perfect timbre MATCH to the mains in many cases, not that they aren't important. I listen to a lot of multichannel music, so for me, I both prefer monopoles AND not just timbre matched, but identical speakers. Current setup I am trying out does not use identical speakers, but they were designed by the same guy and they cost me more than my mains because I rebuilt them myself I place as much weight on the surrounds as the mains for my application, but I wouldn't call it necessary in every system; there's ideal and then there's making things work in your room, especially when it isn't a dedicated sound room.

Surround in most cases with movies will have both ambient and directional sounds placed in them, but the primary function is still typiaclly for spatial cues and the directional cues are more for pans and movement across the stage either front to rear or side to side. There are some films and DVDs/BDs that use multiple channels with all channels discrete, but that's rare in my experience. Multichannel music is also mixed both ways, some "space" and more discrete placement of sounds, not always to the benefit of the music IMO.

Sonic treat even if not a great movie: Dredd. Excellent surround use as it was the first 11.2 mastered film. The DTS version of The Haunting was also excellent - the first commercial DTS-ES mix IIRC (DVD only, but full bitrate 1509K DTS). The uncompressed PCM track of Echo Game on House of Flying Daggers is impressive as well. I also liked the use of movement and directionality in the opening scene of Contact.