Rear Surrounds? (1 Viewer)

[Eddie Ras]

i'm a newbie in this home audio ( i don't even want to tell you what i own now!)

i'm buying the Klipsch SF2, SC1, KSW10 and SS1-- but now i'm not sure about the SS1-- very large, and we don't do a lot of movies and don't have a digitat satelitte receiver (don't even have a dvd player). now, in addition to the speakers i've purchased the Denon 2802. my original intent was to only replace my old stereo system, but i'm trying to get into the home theater a bit.

my question is--- is there a smaller set of rear speakers i can use that would do the job??? i've read that rear speakers are not as important-- is this true???

thanks so much for helping!!

ed

 

[Andy Anderson]

Eddie-

Have you looked into the SS.5 rears? I had a pair of SB-3's, an SC-1 center, and SS.5 rears a while ago, and they worked very well together. The SS.5's are a bit smaller, and cheaper too!!

 

[Seth Paxton]

Well Eddie, one of the main rules of thumb on stuff like this is to get what you can with the knowledge that you will want to upgrade.
So if you don't see yourself paying for nice surrounds right now, your best bet is to go cheap enough that you won't mind upgrading them in 2 years. For any discrete surround formats (Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and DVD-Audio) you are going to want full range speakers that can match your fronts. Pro-Logic they aren't as important, that's true, but you are likely to find yourself with more and more 5.1 playback in the future.
But if you can't afford that right away, make do with your current fronts in the rear or go as cheap as you can without getting a speaker that will be damaged by your volume levels.
It may not sound as good on DD 5.1 films, but it's a way to get going a little bit. Most of us around here leap frog on different parts, upgrading a different aspect and then slowly upgrading the rest till the original upgrade is the worst part of our system.
My center speaker is still crap, but it's my next upgrade. And yes, I can tell. Bugs the hell out of me. Surrounds will be a little more forgiving, but not so much on 5.1 mixes when the soundtrack is pushed to the side using the surrounds.

 

[Eddie Ras]

seth,

thanks for the info= i'm going to keep the order on the SS 1's - just a bit of cold feet!

what speaker wires and optical cable would you guys recommend? also, where's a good (read: CHEAP) place to buy them? i've also ordered a Denon 2802

 

[Jesse Leonard]

You can get a 100 foot roll of 12 gauge speaker wire at Parts Express for about $36. Alot of people around here run this wire (including me) and are very happy with it. Here is the link: Speaker Wire

 

[Eddie Ras]

thanks for the link--

a guy at Klipsch recommended 16 or 18 gauge== what's the difference??? (besides thickness!)

 

[Cees Alons]

The difference is the thickness. And the price, of course, and the sound (especially if you need some more feet).

Speakers are driven by current, and copper presents a resistance to current. The resistance is proportional to the square of the wire, so thicker is better (approx. until as low as 12 ga).

You may hear the difference if you perform an A/B comparison, and using 12 ga or thicker also saves you a "necessity" to bi-wire.

Cees

 

[Eddie Ras]

thanks == what's 'bi-wire'?

so should i go with the 12 or 16 as the klipsch rep said?

also, what type of optical cable should i get?

 

[Cees Alons]

Bi-wire is leading two (in stead of 1) double wires to the speaker. You won't need to do this.

Cees

 

[Bill Kane]

(message deleted -- too offtopic-- bill)

 

[Dave Schofield]

A somewhat unrelated question: What size wires will the old binding slots accept?

(I've looked for a picture but haven't found one yet, I'm talking about those that you had to push a tab off to the side, slide the wires into resulting hole then push the tab back in, much like a cigar clip)

My reciever (Yamaha 495, I believe) has only two sets of binding posts, the rest are those old slots, so I don't know how thick of a wire I can get. Unfortunately, I know that I can't use bananas, which I'd really like to use (since I move my equipment far too frequently).

Thanks!

 

[Ted Lee]

Unfortunately, I know that I can't use bananas, which I'd really like to use (since I move my equipment far too frequently).

that's odd. if the receiver has binding posts, then it should be able to take banana-plugs. what makes you certain the yamaha doesn't accept plugs?

imo, since you move your gear a lot, that's just another bonus reason to get the plugs!

 

[Richard Travale]

I think that he meant the banana plugs won't fit into the spring clips for the other channels.

 

[Chad Isaacs]

Seth,you still have that bose center(shiver)

I have sf-2,sc-1 and I am using a pair of sb-1's for my surrounds.I plan to put them as the rear channel and get a pair of ss-1's when I upgrade recievers to 6 or 7.1.You should really like the klipsch speakers.They might take some getting used to,but when you do you will never like anything else.

Go get yourself a dvd player,you owe it to yourself!

 

[Dave Schofield]

Richard, you are right, I meant that bananas won't fit in spring clips. My mains DO have binding posts though, so I use bananas for those speakers.

 

[Richard Travale]

Dave, they have connectors for those types of clips. I beleive they are called pin connectors. They don't sit very well in the clip but it may be worth a try if you find that you can't fit the bare wire into the hole.

 

[Ted Lee]

oh...sorry for misunderstanding.
richard is right...you can still use pin connectors.
you'll still attach the wire the same way you attach the banana plugs. the only difference is that the tip will be a thin pin instead.
i use them on my center - which doesn't accept banana plugs either.