Studio 20's are rear speakers? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Kosinski]

I am considering purchasing Paradigm Studio 60's as fronts and Studio 20's as rears. From reading this forum, I am aware that some of you are currently using that (or a similar setup with Studio 40's) setup.

In my case, the rear speakers must be wall mounted. I was planning to get Omnimount brackets, so the back of the speaker would not be parallel with the side wall and would be separated by several inches.

The local dealer who has the Paradigm line also has Boston Acoustics. He is strongly recommending that I do not use the Studio 20's for rears and recommends Boston Micro 100's.

FYI, he also recommends Boston VR950's over the Studio 60's. With a subwoofer (which will be purchased whether I go Paradigm or Boston....or B&W), he thinks the extra $ for the Studio 60's is not justified. Without subs, I definitely prefer the Paradigms. With the sub on, it is much closer but I think i still prefer the Paradigms by a slight margin.

He says that using the Boston Micro speakers and not being consistent with the fronts will have negligible effect on the overal sound quality, given the amount of material that is sent to the rear speakers. Also, he says that the rear port of the Studio 20's makes them unsuitable for wall mounting (bracket or not bracket).

The Studio 20's definitely sound better than the Micro 100's, and cost just a wee bit more. Plus, they would be matched to the front speakers.

I'm considering not taking the dealers advice and going with the Studio 20's. But, if the Studio 20's are not applicable for wall mounting with brackets i'm probably going to look closer at B&W 604 with 601's as rears. What do you guys think?

 

[Evan S]

Jim, I use the 20's as rears and do not feel they are very well suited to wall mounting. They are big for a bookshelf and weigh a lot. Plus, the dealer may have a point with the rear port thing. However, I think you will have buyers regret if you go with the Boston's..not because they aren't fine speakers, but to get the Paradigm Reference level of performance from Boston, you will have to get into the VR-M line of speakers IMO and those cost more than the Dimes.

My suggestion? Get the ADP's for surround applications if you go with the Paradigms. I think they sell brackets for these speakers and would probably suit you best if you get the Studio 60's.

BTW, definately consider down the road adding a quality sub to the 60's as well. Even though they are a floorstander, just about any speaker that doesn't hit deep into the 20htz range would be better suited augmenting it with a good sub. That's my own opinion however.

 

[Jim Kosinski]

I considered the ADP's, but because of my room layout I am under the impression that a direct radiating speaker would be best.

The rear wall of my room (20 x 20 room) opens into an adjacent room. Because of this, half of the 20 foot dimension along the rear of the room does not have a wall. This is to one side. On the side with the wall, the ADP would be approx 4' from the rear wall. On the other side, the rear firing speaker would be firing into an adjacent room and I am afraid the reflection would not occur properly.

Plus, a number of people have indicated that the dolby digital soundtracks have very directional rear info which would be somewhat lost with a rear effects speaker such as the ADP.

 

[Craig Woodhall]

I have my studio 20's wall mounted on the sides and the rears powered by a Cinepro amp and I love them.. As for the rear porting, I thought it would be an issue but they sound great.. Im sure they would sound better with a little more breathing room, but IMO, my system sounds wonderful...

 

[Evan S]

If Craig has no problems with wall mounting, then by all means get the 20's for the rears Jim. I have mine back there as surrounds and I agree with Craig that they sound great. I have about 6 inches of clearance, less than the 8-12" that Paradigm recommends, but my rule of thumb is this. Play your material at the level you usually play it at. Put your hand behind the speaker directly in front of the port. At the moment you no longer feel air moving out of the speaker, that is the minimum distance you should put the speaker from the wall. Seeing as I watch movies far from reference levels, I can put my 20's slightly closer to the wall than maybe some others, but this is something you can test for yourself.

 

[Duane_T]

If I were you I'd go with the 20's - they are obviously the ones that will make you happy.
I use B-Tech BT77 brackets for my Mini Monitors and they work fine (about the same size as the 20's). The ports are about 6-8" from the wall, but they are cut off at 80hz and being that close to the wall doesn't seem to matter. If you really needed to, you could probably fix something between the bracket and the wall to give you more space if you needed it.
The brackets clamp to the sides of the speakers, so no screwing into the speaker is needed (although I have seen a few posts from people who have had their speakers fall - but not mine). You can screw into the speakers as well for added security. Searches for B-Tech or BT77 should pull up some more information on them.
I don't know where you are, but in Canada I bought mine at Future Shop. In the US I don't know who carries them, but you could purchase from their site:
Link Removed
Whew! That's it for my B-Tech ad... just thought I'd let you know about them, because they have worked great for me.

 

[GaryCo]

Jim

Is there any way you can use stands? Where is the couch/seating inrelation to the rear wall. I have my 20's on the premier stands, i was sent the j-50, waiting for the J-60's to come in. This puts them at ear height , about 110 degrees from the prime listening position and i am very happy with the sound.

 

[Evan S]

Gary, is there an online dealer for the Premier Stands? I use wood technology stands right now and they are fine for my hardwood floors, but in the future I am going to be moving to a house with carpeted floors and I want the security of the more stable Premier stand.

 

[Duane_T]

Evan, I don't know if there are any online dealers in Premier stands, but most stores that sell Paradigm sell Premier stands (owned by the same company). If you have one close, you could check them out there. Paradigm dealer locator: Link Removed

 

[Greg_R]

Where on the wall will you place these speakers? If you are placing them to the side of the listening position, I'd recommend getting the ADPs instead (best for diffuse soundfield). If the rear speakers are going to be more than a few feet behind the listening position, I'd suggest the 20s (they will present a better image of the soundfield).

He says that using the Boston Micro speakers and not being consistent with the fronts will have negligible effect on the overal sound quality, given the amount of material that is sent to the rear speakers. Also, he says that the rear port of the Studio 20's makes them unsuitable for wall mounting (bracket or not bracket).

If the rear port has 1"-2" you will be fine. The main problem is placing this type of speaker so close to the wall (imaging, reflections, etc.). An ideal situation would be to place the 20s on stands behind and to the side of the listening position. Matching the fronts & rears isn't as critical as the LCRs. However, I feel that it's important to have quality speakers for the rear channels (ability to resolve very faint sounds is important).

 

[EricHaas]

Boominess of wall mounted, rear ported speakers is not much of an issue where 1) the speakers are set to small and crossing over no lower than 80hz, and 2) the speakers are used in a surround capacity where only about 10% of the sonic information is routed. I have Titans (also rear ported) as wall mounted surrounds and there is no boominess. OTOH, my Studio 20's didn't sound their best when wall mounted as front mains. They are much better now on stands. While your dealer is certainly correct that matching rears is not critical, you should always follow your own ears as opposed to another person's opinion, *especially* that of a dealer.

 

[HarryR]

You could also plug the ports of the Studio 20's. You could either fabricate a port out of some kind of foam but I think I remember you may be able to get port plugs from Paradigm. By the way I have Studio 60's and 20's. Love it.

 

[Craig Woodhall]

After re-reading this thread, I went and checked my speakers again, there is only 3.5 inches of space behind the port.. I listen at reference and power them with 200w from a Cinepro amp. Far from ideal placement but I like direct radiators and not di/bi/etc polar. Also, buying the 20's gave me the versatility of using them as fronts one day if I ever wanted to.. I also use the BT-77 speaker brackets and love em.. I did have one fall out of the brackets so I decided to put 3 small screws in the bottoms to make them totally secure. Luckily the broken speaker was covered by Visa