Monopole vs. Dipole surrounds? (1 Viewer)

[Edward J M]

Just bought a pair of Polk Fx500is. I have to run them on the side because the room is 30 ft. long and because of a cold air return duct my ceiling height is only 6'3" on one side. With these speakers should I hang them upsidedown?

Brad - I would rather see them hung upside down than on their side as the lesser of two evils. They are a matched pair, so hanging them upside down will probably require swapping left for right also.

 

[Brad Russell]

Edward,
Thanks for the reply and I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, when I said they need to be on the side I ment sidewalls as oposed to the rear wall. And with that cold air return making one wall only 6'3" tall I was concerned about having them high enough over the listener's heads without being to close to the ceiling (bad relections?).

I had never thought of the left right issue. Maybe the owners manual will clear this up when they arrive, but since the fx/500s only have one woofer, should the woofer face the listening area or away from it? My listening area is a 13x30 foot room with the theater at one end. My couch is about 7.5 feet back from the TV and currently my surrounds are on the side walls approx 2 feet behind the couch. The back end of the room is just a play area for my kids. I hope I have described my set up acurately.

Thanks!

Brad

 

[Edward J M]

Sorry about the confusion, Brad. The f/x500i is designed to perform at its best run on the sides, about 2 feet above the listener's head, in dipole mode. I think that height restriction will be fine with no troubles. You will still get good rear sound effects this way, and you really won't feel like the rear sound stage is missing. They are clearly marked Left and Right, so you won't have any troubles there.

Since I use banana plugs, I mounted my f/x1000's on custom shelves for extra wire clearance, but the integral Polk bracket works well too for straight wire runs. Try to anchor into a stud for the ultimate in peace of mind.

If you ever upgrade to 7.1, keep the 500's on the side and get some monopoles for the rear (like CS245i's or RT35i).

 

[Brad Russell]

Thanks!

Brad

 

[dan scorpio]

i have a 6.1 set up (but have 2 rears speakers.. i have the pioneer 912)
anyways my left and right surrounds are 2 feet above my head and 1 foot in front of me, my 2 rears are about the same....now i have just regular jbl northbridge serries for the side speakers.. should i get the dipoles instead and if i do will it sound better? and more enveloping?