Surround Sound Status Report

[edc]

Hi all. Some time ago I joined your great forum with many questions about how to set up my first surround sound system. I had an Yamaha stereo amp and two Klipsch Forte's (purchased new about 30 yrs ago). I was

using your knowledge to figure out how this stuff worked and what speakers were best to go with. After many posts and responses from you I came up with a plan and then due to some forced travel and several delays

the implementation was slow but the initial system is operational and exceeds my expectations. One of my primary goals (besides wanting a new larger TV) was to improve the dialogue in TV shows, movies, etc. I am

hard of hearing and use hearing aids and it was getting more and more difficult to hear dialogue -- esp the way they mix sound today. So based on a lot of advice from many of you I decided to use my Forte's as LF

and RF and I purchased another set of Forte's from craigslist so I could again follow your advice and use a Forte for the Center. (I will probably sell one of the Forte's when I get time, unless I find a way to put

two stereo channels into one speaker ) To go with the speakers I purchased a Sony XBR 850B 70" TV and a Sony STR-ZA3000ES amp. So now I finally have an operational system but with only the 3 front speakers at this time. I am blown away by this system, the picture and the sound are excellent, I tried blue ray concerts for the first time and they are spectacular, and again of major importance to me my ability to understand

dialogue has improved 100%. I still miss a little now and then but for the most part I can understand it very well. And all of this is without any special settings of the amp -- I just went through the standard setup with the microphone etc. I went from almost no understanding of dialogue to a very acceptable level of understanding. I think maybe by playing with the center speaker level and "small" or "large" settings it may

even get

better --but it is good enough now that changing these settings is a low priority. We also picked up the ability to stream Amazon Prime free HD movies (via the TV while the sound is sent to the Amp using the audio

return channel that is in the HDMI cable that typically sends content from the amp to the TV). One indication of how great this all works is that we have watched more movies in the last couple of weeks than we

watched in the last couple of years on our old TV. In summary, thank you all again for your patience and advice, it was spot on.

I am going to add some rear surround speakers. I have a large recessed area in the ceiling that goes around the entire listening/viewing area that we use. There is about a 9" vertical wall (the ceiling goes from 9' to 10') that I plan to use to mount the two rear speakers (which will get me to a 5.0 system). I looked at Klipsch offerings that would fit well in this area and came up with the S-10, S-20, KS-14 and RS-41 models.

It seems they would all fit and look well in the area I have. Any suggestions on which of these to use with my 3 Forte's (hey guys, I don't have room for more Forte's or I would go that route). At this time I am not thinking of getting a sub-woofer as I seem to get great bass out of the Forte's --- but who knows as the system evolves. So far I love the speakers, the TV, and the amp (and having a Sony TV, Amp, and Blue-Ray

has seemed to simplify things a little).

Thanks again, Ed

[wvu80]

Great success story Ed, thanks for letting us know how well things worked out for you.  That center channel makes all the difference, doesn't it?

 

I believe you can hook two speakers in the center by wiring them in parallel, not series.  Another forum member had done just that and was pleased with the way it turned out.  Frankly, as happy as you are with your current setup, I wouldn't change the front soundstage, as it sounds like you have it dialed in.

 

I'm not familiar with the surrounds you are asking about, so I'll let those with experience with those models give you suggestions.

[K5SS]

Use the remaining Forte as a center surround, if space allows.

[edc]

Interesting, but I don't think we have a good place to put another Forte in the room (I am quite sure that is my wife's position).  But out of curiosity, how does a center surround fit into the 5.1 model?  And wvu80, I also do not have room to use two Forte's for the front center.  I am building two equipment cabinets to go between the 3 Forte's in use and that pretty much uses up the width I have for the system. Another interesting idea however, I guess it would like one big 4 ohm speaker??

[BusaDude]

Interesting, but I don't think we have a good place to put another Forte in the room (I am quite sure that is my wife's position).  But out of curiosity, how does a center surround fit into the 5.1 model?  And wvu80, I also do not have room to use two Forte's for the front center.  I am building two equipment cabinets to go between the 3 Forte's in use and that pretty much uses up the width I have for the system. Another interesting idea however, I guess it would like one big 4 ohm speaker??

 

Your Sony STR-ZA3000ES receiver is 7.2 channel capable. So it would permit either 1 or 2 additional "surround back" channels... along with the regular side surround channels.

 

So you could do 5.1, with 2 surrounds and no surround back channels...

Or 6.1 with 2 side surrounds and a single "center back" channel...

Or 7.1 with 2 side surrounds and 2 surround back channels...

 

The "regular" surround channels are generally directly to the side or slightly behind the main listening position and elevated up on the wall.

The "surround back" channels are generally directly behind and above the main listening position.

 

So the single leftover Forte' would sit on the floor, directly behind your chair/sofa/main listening position.  Even sitting on the floor a single Forte will do a great job of filling in the "back" part of your listening room. (I had a 4 Chorus II's and 2 Forte II's in a 6.1 setup and the Forte II's were great as center front and center back speakers)

 

And unless your chair/sofa/main listening position is right up against the rear wall, the Forte would work as a single surround back channel.

 

Your receiver has speaker location and speaker terminal assingment that is part of the setup process.  So you would just tell it the number and location of the speakers you intend to connect and it will let you know which speaker terminals to use.

 

The Forte's do have very good bass, but for movies a good sub will make all the difference in the world.  So don't discount buying/using one at some point down the road.

 

As far as surrounds go, there weren't really any options that timbre matched the Forte speakers... unless you want to hunt down the Klipsch Academy (a discontinued center channel speaker) and use them as surrounds.  So your choices will be limited to what is currently available.  You mentioned the RS-41, but you might consider the RS-42II which is being discontinued, but still available... as it has better specs than the RS-41 and would be more capable (spec wise) keeping up with the Forte'.

Edited March 6, 2015 by GPBusa

[Rowan611]

Congrats and glad the center channel is helping. It's a very important speaker in any theater setup. Also, I would say that you should be on the lookout for a used sub. Being that you're in Cali, you should have a pretty large selecation of used subs (it's a large assumption). I think you will find yourself equally surprised by the addition of a sub as you were with the center, possibly more so.

 

Good luck on your journey.

[mxr dad]

By all means get a subwoofer. Your system will love you for it. I'm sure you can find one on Craigslist for whatever your budget allows. You wont regret adding it. While your on CL, try and find some surrounds. You could start small and work your way up if money is an issue. If it were me, top priority would be sub, then surrounds. Even if you find some other brand of surrounds until you get what your looking for, I think you will like it.

[edc]

Thanks for the info. I am going to limit my system to 5.1 so I can use the other power amps (6 and 7 outputs) to add another zone or two. Without boring you with diagrams and dimensions, I only have about a 9" vertical wall that

surrounds a large inset into the ceiling of my listening area -- placing the speakers on that vertical 9" wall would put them about 7 or 8 feet behind the listening area and over 9' above it. The actual room goes another 20 feet or so

and is a dining area with a wall of mostly glass -- no place for speakers and too far I think from where we sit. The only other alternative is ceiling speakers and I don't want to cut big holes in the ceiling. So I looked for Klipsch

surround speakers that would fit in this 9" area and the 4 I mentioned are what I found. There are other brands (Polk Audio etc.) that fit but I was trying to stay all Klipsch (not sure why). So it is this form factor I am after more than the cost of the speakers. You guys have me convinced to get a sub-woofer, but the surround speakers will be next. I have read that the location of the sub-woofer is not too important so that should be easier to locate within the

room. And, again, I am so pleased with the 3 Forte's up front that if I never added another speaker it would be fine. But it is like an unfinished project so it will become 5.1 soon.

[wvu80]

You are building a 5.1 system exactly the same way I built mine, and for the same reasons; I would watch TV broadcast in 5.1 and could not understand a word of the dialog!

 

I have an Onk 717 which supports 7.2 but I choose to go 5.1.  Your front 3 are better matched then my front three, but I got a made-for-center MTM speaker and I couldn't be happier because it is crystal clear for TV dialog. 

 

I have re-purposed a couple of low-profile Bose 301's for surrounds, an inexpensive Klipsch sub and together it sounds dynamic for movies.  If I watched TV only I would use 3.0 or 3.1, as it is the center speaker and the AVR that controls it that cleaned up the dialog for me.

 

Your system sounds dynamite.  Is your wife happy with it as well?