Surround Speaker advise

[jcardona]

I am looking for some advice on surround speakers.

I currently have RF-3 mains, RC-3 center, Infinity Composition Overture bookshelves as surrounds, and KSW-12.

I recently purchased a Pioneer Elite VSX-54tx (110W x 7)receiver and am not satisfied with the sounds of my surrounds. I am looking to purchase new surrounds. I wanted to stay under $200 each. I'm ok with floorstanding or bookshelves or dedicated surrounds.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jason

[Scp53]

welcome to the forum.

I say get rb25s. they can be used for a seperate surr or stereo sytem later. they are probably better than rs stuff. the rs are not as discrete. but Ive never messed with rs stuff so don't take my word on that. but i do own the rb25s and they are AMAZING to say the least. and they should cost around 350-400. anything smaller would probably be too small. and anything bigger would be to expensive. or you could get the rf10s($400ish)but never heard those so agiain im not sure.

scp53

[jcardona]

Thanks for the reply. I evaluated my situation and would probably be better off with bookshelves due to space constraints.

Would the Pioneer VSX-54tx be too much for the RB-25's? According to Pioneer, it produces a constant 110W per channel.

Thanks,

[yromj]

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On 9/5/2004 10:22:56 PM Scp53 wrote:

welcome to the forum.

I say get rb25s. they can be used for a seperate surr or stereo sytem later. they are probably better than rs stuff. the rs are not as discrete. but Ive never messed with rs stuff so don't take my word on that. but i do own the rb25s and they are AMAZING to say the least. and they should cost around 350-400. anything smaller would probably be too small. and anything bigger would be to expensive. or you could get the rf10s($400ish)but never heard those so agiain im not sure.

scp53

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Scp53, you and I need to meet for a drink sometime! I think we'd get along very well.

I was going to suggest the same thing for him. I will add that I have the RS-25s in my system, because the RBs are not available in white. They sound good, very good in fact, but I would still prefer monopole surrounds.

John

[Scp53]

Scp53, you and I need to meet for a drink sometime! I think we'd get along very well.

I was going to suggest the same thing for him. I will add that I have the RS-25s in my system, because the RBs are not available in white. They sound good, very good in fact, but I would still prefer monopole surrounds.

John

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my name is Jon too(actually Jonathan but I MUCH prefer Jon). except spelled different. isn't that a coincodence(bad spelling??).

by the way nice system.

_________________

and to answer jcardona's question, no the pioneer isn't too much for the rb25s. continuous power rating doesn't mean it puts out that much continuous, it means it can if needed. but that will never happen. music has peaks and power use goes up and down with these peaks. more power need for bass peaks than hf peaks. thats the simple way of saying it. that 110 wts is pure head room for the most part. does that make sense? im getting tired so.....

Jon

[jdm56]

If movies are your priority, I would definitely recommend RS speakers. They could go on stands too.

If multi-channel music is most important, then another pair of RF-3's, or the RB-25's would probably be more satisfactory.

If movies and music are equally important, then it's tough.

[yromj]

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On 9/5/2004 11:12:03 PM Scp53 wrote:

by the way nice system.

_________________

Thanks for the kind words.

BTW, I would prefer monopoles for movies and music, unless you had some WAF issues (which was my case), or if you had a REALLY bad placement scenario where you couldn't put the monopoles directly to the side.

John

[jcardona]

Movies are my only priority.

[white_shadow]

I have the RS3's. I'm not overly enthused with'm. I'd rather have another set of F's or B's. But I have a 5 setup. If I go to a 7 setup then I think the RS's would be awesome side surrounds. Your setup is similar to mine except you have 7 channels of juice. You could get the rs3's for rears and then use them for the sides when you go to a 7 setup.

You also need to keep in mind, which speakers are ported, and where the port is located. Thats why I'll end up keeping my RS3's but I'd rather have the rs7's.

[jcardona]

Thanks for all of the responses. I did some experimenting last night. At lower volumes, my current surrounds sound fine. At higher volumes, they can't keep up with my RF-3's. Would this problem be decreased with the RB-25's?

Thanks

[ShapeShifter]

The RB-25's would eliminate the problem, because they are timbre matched to the RF's. Timbre matching means that all of your speakers would have the same tonal qualities which will provide a MUCH better theater experience. The older Reference Bookshelf Speakers would be a good match too.

[jcardona]

Ok. I purchased the RB-25's. I have hooked them up and calibrated them using the auto calibration on my Pioneer Elite VSX-54tx.

What are some movies that have active surrounds so I can check them out?

thanks,

Jason

[nicholtl]

The original Matrix film has the best 5.1 surround test. The scene called "Dodge This," where Neo performs the limbo and the camera rotates 360 degrees around him while armor piercing rounds whiz by him in bullet time, leaving ripples in the punctured air.

If your surrounds are calibrated correctly, you will hear/feel the bullets zipping across your room and ears in blistering 3D sound!

Gladiator's opening fight sequence is excellent as well.

[jcardona]

Thanks for the recommendation.

I was going to play both of those but the kid's are in bed and I wanted to turn it up.

At low volumes, my right surround sounds fine (closer to me) but my left surround is not as loud. I'll have to verify the auto set-up channel levels.

[nicholtl]

Yeah, sometimes auto setups make each speaker a different decibel level. And even though it's supposed to make all channels relatively the same level, I find that I often have to go in and manually tweak a channel here or there to my liking. I usually turn the surrounds up a few notches, and the center channel I turn up a lot, since i like the dialogue crisp and popping from the music.

[ShapeShifter]

You can also try some DTS 5.1 Music Discs. The DTS-encoded discs can deliver some excellent 5.1 music re-mixes. The discs can be played on any DVD player connected to a DTS capable 5.1 system.

With DTS music discs, you are getting 5.1 channels of discrete digital audio. Should be easy to show off those rears!

http://www.dtsentertainment.com/music-featured.php

DTS encoded videos contain 5.1 channels of discrete audio too.