Direct radiating or Bipolar surrounds? (Deftech speakers?) (1 Viewer)

[Saul_M]

Hello all,

Here is my dilemma. I would like to upgrade to the BP6 bipolar towers as my main speakers because of the extra wide sound stage they produce. My existing main speakers are direct radiating D.T. Monitor 350's(which have a 5 1/2 inch woofer with a pure aluminum tweeter). Anyway, the point of the story is if I buy the towers I will move the 350's to the back as direct radiating surrounds. What is better. should I buy Deftechs Bipolar surrounds or just use the 350's as previously mentioned? Please help. Thanks in advance.

Saul Medina

 

[SethH]

Where will your surround speakers be located relative to your seating position? Dipoles are most effective when placed directly to the sides of the listener. If you cannot place your speakers here, or if you have multiple rows of seating, the dipoles may not provide the desired effect.

If you can place the speakers directly to your sides, then it's really a matter of taste. Several members here prefer the dipole sound and several others prefer monopole.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

He seems to be talking about direct radiators vs bipoles for surrounds.

I have tried all 3: bipoles (omnipoles a la Mirage), direct radiators, and dipoles for surrounds (and rears). Direct radiators are killer ... for multichannel music. But I thought they were way too localizeable for movies. Dipoles were OK, but I just didn't have enough involvement in the soundtrack. I personally think that bipoles are the best compromise solution for a lot of setups.

But different people's preferences are well ... different.

But Saul- since you have the 350's now, why not try them and see what you think? For direct radiators though, I'd recommend getting the tweeters 24 - 36" above ear level. That can help with the localization problem.

By the way, I had this setup once: BP30's with a CLR2000 up front, and BP20's in the back for 5.1. I played around with Energy and Acoustic Energy direct radiators for the rears for 7.1 with the Def Techs. Then I swapped them all out for Vandersteen all around, and then ended up with Mirage all around. I really like the Mirage setup, but the Def Tech setup was pretty cool too. I had to try all direct radiators with Vandersteen before I figured out that I personally just prefer the bipolar/omnipolar soundfield.