Need advice on rear center channel to complete 6.1 setup (1 Viewer)

[Shawn_Mandel]

Hi,

I have the following budget HT setup:

Main L/R: Mission M74's
Center: M7C1
Rear surround L/R: M7DS's
Sub: SVS 20-39i
Receiver: Denon AVR-2802
DVD player: Denon DVD-1600

I need some good advice as to which rear center channel speaker to purchase to complete my 6.1 speaker setup. I know I could go with Mission, but there are many more choices.

Which rear center speaker sounds great with my budget Mission setup?


Thanks,
Shawn

 

[ChrisWiggles]

You should get two for the rear center, whatever you end up getting. Try to get something that matches your other two surrounds.

 

[Ed O'Neill]

Chris wrote:

You should get two for the rear center, whatever you end up getting. Try to get something that matches your other two surrounds.

Chris is right you should use 2 "REAR" speakers,however if your reciever is only 6.1 then you will need a seprate two channel amp. I did this by using an old unsed pro-logic reciever, which happens to be the same brand as my new 6.1 receiver.

Where Chris is wrong on this part...
Your rear speakers should be direct reflecting and NOT bi-pole/dipole.Which is what you should be running for "SURROUNDS". So in actuality your rears should match you front left/right.

If you do decide to do just one "REAR" speaker you might opt to use the same as your "FRONT CENTER"

Hope this helps.
Ed O'Neill

 

[ChrisWiggles]

What?

Most people would probably just use direct-radiating rear surrounds. Side surrounds can be bipole/dipole, or direct radiating, most often. I just meant that they should timbre match the other speakers if possible, and if the surrounds are not timbre-matched to the fronts, then just get something that matches the regular surrounds. And direct-reflecting speakers...you mean like bose? I think not.

If your receiver has one amp for the reat center(mine has just one, but many do have two separate amps, and some have processing such that those two channels are NOT mono, such as logic 7, and proprietary systems, meridian, etc etc.), then as long as the surrounds you get are not low impedance or hard to drive, and your amp is good enough, you should be able to wire two together in parallel to the rear amp, and there you go. Some lesser amps can't handle the low ohm load that this poses, so it depends on your receiver, as it may shut itself off into protect mode.

 

[Shawn_Mandel]

Hi Ed,

You mentioned that for the surround speakers, I should get direct reflecting rather that dipole/bipole. What is the advantage of direct reflecting vs dipole/bipole surround speakers setup?

Since my receiver cannot handle a 7.1 setup, I'll have to probably purchase a pair (no choice since most aren't sold as singles) of rear direct reflecting speakers, such as the Mission M72's to complete my 6.1 setup.

Would it be worth it to upgrade my 6.1 receiver to the 7.1 Denon AVR2803 for the benefit of having the 2 rear center surrounds?


Thanks very much.
Shawn

 

[Shawn_Mandel]

Chris,

What is your take on dipole/bipole vs direct reflecting surrounds?

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I don't know what he means by "direct-reflecting." The only "direct-reflecting" speakers I know of are Bose speakers, which point drivers off at funny directions like the back walls.

There are speakers out there that use drivers pointed front and rear, such as dipole/bipole speakers, which can create a very ambient soundstage.

The standard is direct-radiating speakers, these just have drivers pointed in one direction (regular speakers). Bipolar/Dipolar speakers are often used for surrounds as they create a null in the sweetspot, and thus sound very ambient, and are good for the surrounds, whih are trying to achieve this envelopment. IMO, either can work fine for the rear surrounds, I'd just go with direct-radiating speakers, though as they are cheaper.

The m72s look like standard, direct-radiating speakers, and a pair would work fine.

As I posted before, you can wire both of them together off the 6th channel on your 2802, and run 7.1 just fine. You don't need to upgrade your receiver.