Direct or Bi/Dipole for surrounds? (1 Viewer)

Hey guys, I'm in the process of upgrading my speakers, and am having trouble deciding on the kind of surrounds. I will be building a dedicated theater wired for 7.1, but this won't be finished for about a year. In the mean time, I want to purchase a 5.1 set to put in my family / great room. It's a 20' x 30' with cathedral ceilings, and the seating area will be in the middle of the room facing a corner, so there are no walls close enough to mount dipoles. I've all but decided on Paradigm Studio 60s, CC-690, an SVS PB13-U, and either Studio 20s or ADP-590s for surrounds. My big question is, since I am planning to go from 5.1 to 7.1 eventually, would it make sense to get 20s for the surrounds now, and then in the theater add ADPs for surrounds and move the 20s to the back channels? Or is it better to have all ADPs for 7.1? Any feedback is appreciated!

Mike-

Assuming you are going to put the speakers on stands until the theater is up and running I would get a pair of ADPs now and get a second pair when you are finishing the theater.

Yeah, I would mount them on stands behind the couch. Is it a good idea to put ADPs on stands? I always heard that they are better placed on walls because of the way they radiate.


So is it better to have 4 ADPs in a 7.1, or 4 direct speakers? Or does it depend on the room?

Personally I'm a big fan of the non-directional sound that you get from a bipole/dipole speaker in terms of surround effects. With less direct sound I feel like I'm really immersed in the action rather than being able to tell that the sound is coming from the speaker as is often the case with a traditional front firing speaker in the surround position.


But a bipole/dipole speaker will work best if you can get it higher than a normal speaker, around five to six feet off the ground and finding a stand that goes high enough to support a speaker of the ADP's size may be tricky. If you can work that out I'd say get the ADPs, otherwise if they are going to be the typical 3-4 feet off the ground then you might not hear a big difference between them and the Studio 20s. It's not that the ADPs will sound bad on a stand at a lower height, but you probably won't get the full benefit of a dipole speaker with that placement.