A surround speaker argument

[damonrpayne]

I have always favored direct speakers over Klipsch's "wide dispersion" designs or the THX style design. However I am nearing completion on a much larger room than I've had before, 20'x25' with 9' ceilings and I'm wondering if bookshelves or heresies would give me enough sound in enough places. I am contemplating a pair of KS-525 for side surrounds, any comments?

[jacksonbart]

No need to argue, just use dipoles/wide dispersion for side surrounds and direct bookshelves/heresies for the back surrounds.

[damonrpayne]

What fun would this forum be without arguments?

[Jay L]

direct radiators suck as side surrounds, but for back surrounds they are good.

[colterphoto1]

Use the 'sprayers' WDST or bipole for whichever set of surrounds is CLOSEST to you. Usually for a long narrow room that would be the sides, for a short wide room, it'd be the rears.

M

[Steve Phillips]

Here is a differnt thought and opinion......Heresy III on the sides if you have a good place for em. Any H would be fine, but I work here so please buy new. The room is wide enough for a direct rad to work well. I would lean a bit more to the RS-62 than the KS-525-THX if you go WDST, but either would be fine. The 62 handels more nom power and 1 dB hotter spl than the 525, not that it's an issue.

I was happy with the RS-7 WDST's when I used my Horns and LS center. I did not have a place for the Heresy. The HF of the Ref has a nice detail to them.

Before WDST's came out, I used direct rad's for a long time. In rooms from 12' to 16' wide. Place em about 6 feet off the floor to the bottoms with the width you have.

[Zen Traveler]

Use the 'sprayers' WDST or bipole for whichever set of surrounds is CLOSEST to you. Usually for a long narrow room that would be the sides, for a short wide room, it'd be the rears.

M

I disagree. I sit 4 ft away from my surrounds and have raised RF-3 towers with RS-7's sitting on top of them. The RS-7's aren't bad, but I prefer the RF-3's for both movies and multi channel music. Sometimes for action movies I play both A and B surrounds. []

[j-malotky]

Damon

You already know what I am going too say. Monopole all the way is the only way to go.

I know what the THX specs call for, but I think using the right Monopole speaker for sides and surrounds is the best way to go.

It's too bad the forum is so hard to search because HornEd had a lot of comments on why Monopole is the only way to go. This was debated heavily back in 2002 and 2003. It would be worth the time to research some of his comments. I remember M00n had posts that had a lot of good contributions.

Your original plan to have H3's make the most sence. Listen to Steve P. He and HornEd had some good insight into my HT speaker selection and design.

Having two sources in the same speaker palying the same frequency will always mud up the sound when it hits your ears as compared to monopoles. This is fine for movies, but not for accurate music reprooduction where as you know, the monopole is king. When I hear a snare drum snap on my side speakers, I want it to sound like it is in the room with me. Knowing you like I do, I think you will too.

Have you sat in my second row in my HT? Come on over one of these nights. My Heresys are sideways giving me a more narrow midrange dispursion pattern. You can hear them in my second row just fine. My room is 21 feet wide, very close to your width. Your plan to mount your H3's right side up will give you a broader spread than my setup.

Here is a good test for you. Take your new CW's and put them in your basement in your side speaker locations. Play some music sit in your seating areas and walk your room. The H3 will have almost the same radiation pattern that your CWs have. If you can hear your CWs fine, the H3 will work fine in your room.

Damon, I think your original H3 plan for sides and rears is right on.

JM

[SCOOTERDOG]

My Ht is 26x18 and I use Heresy II for surround side "A" and the I use a pair of WDST mounted vertical as surround side "B". They are about 6' apart, and then I run another set in the rear mounted horizontal about 6' above the floor. They make a great filler for the second row and because they are vertical the don't interfer with the heresy's. They don't have anywhere near the output of the heresy's so calibration is important. The rears are nice for EX and ES content.

However, If I had a room that was 10' wider in both directions[] then I would use only monopoles like another pair of heresy's. In this case I think it would sound much better

scooter

[Jay L]

i did an AB with RS-7 and HII, by far the RS-7 has better ambient surround effect. Also it created a smoother transition from front to back of the room. ive always used WDST speakers in the past. When i aquired a pair of heresys i used them 5ft. abover the floor and thought they worked great until i switched back to a wdst surround. when i switched back to the HII the surround field collapsed and placement of effect could be detected in each speaker. my setup is damn near text book placement, and i feel the wdst speakers are far superior for SIDE surrounds. i have no argument for back surrounds as i haven't compared in that location.