surround speaker (1 Viewer)

[Matt Weldy]

What is a surround speaker? I read it in one of these forums that someone is using one. I originally bought a speaker package and then upgraded so I have a extra sub around that is not being used. If someone could let me know that would be great.

 

[Ash Williams]

Welcome to the forum Matt! To answer your question, a surround speaker is just what it says, it "surrounds" you with sound. They are used in pairs placed to the sides or behind the listener. It can provide a very enveloping experience, depending on the signal you send to it. It is mainly used for multi-channel movie soundtracks (ie; Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Pro-Logic). If you are intending on using that extra sub you have as a surround speaker I must say that it is not recommended in fact it probably won't even work. You'll want to use a speaker similar to your front speakers.
Here is a link that will help you learn more:
The Dolby Guide to Home Theater Sound

 

[Matt Weldy]

boy am I embarrased I ment to ask what is a surround sub.

 

[Duncan Barth]

I'm guessing that a surround sub is just a subwoofer thats placed in the back of the room, that reproduces the bass frequencies of the surround speakers.

That way, you could run your surround speakers as 'large' in your reciever/pre-pro, run the speaker outs into the surround sub. There, the crossover in the sub would redirect the highs to the surround speakers while letting the sub take care of the lows.

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm not sure if there is such a thing as a surround-sub? that's sort of a contradiction in terms isn't it?

sub's frequencies are so low that they're non-directional. in other words, you shouldn't be able to "detect" where the sub is placed...the bass should be coming from "all around".

the only thing i can think of is if the sub is part of a sub/sat package. then, the signal would typically go to the sub first, then wires from the sub would go to the sat.

 

[Jason Wolters]

I don't know if suround sub is an established term, but using a subwoofer for the surround speakers is done. I however, do not do this as bass below 80 hz is not supposed to be localized by the human ear. IOW, your ear won't know where the sub is. Many on this forum, atest to it's uselfullness but there are many other things I would invest in to upgrade a HT before doing this. Many, Many things.....

 

[Scott Page]

A sub can be hooked up to any channel including the center. However, most people that have experimented with multichannel subs, advise that it is not worth it and very very difficult to get to sound right. We are talking 10's of thousands here.

It is not recommended to run any HT speakers as large. Keep all your speakers as "small". If you have two subs of the same mfg and model, you can place them together in a corner for more bass. However, it is not recommended to use different model subs, or to place subs in different locations due to cancellation effects and other problems.