pretzelb Posted December 19, 2001 Share Posted December 19, 2001 Anyone have actual experience with trying bookshelves AND actual surrounds for their surround speakers? I'm curious which works better and under what conditions. I have a few days left to return my SB2's that are currently being used as surround. I may try and get some SS1's and test them out quickly to see if there is a difference (should have done this from the start). I think the big drawback for my setup is the room layout. It has 3.25 walls, 12+ foot ceilings, and the couch is against the back wall opposite the TV. I have a feeling that the room works against me in a lot of ways. Anyway, if someone has experience with trying both options and would like to share, I'd be interested to know what worked and why you think it was better than the other solution. -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilH Posted December 19, 2001 Share Posted December 19, 2001 mcqueene: Definitely try the SS-1's if you can. The main difference you will notice is that they will provide a wider, or more ambient sound for many surround sounds you hear. This is due to their use of 2 compression drivers creating a 180 degree pattern with their 90 degree each horns. A 5.25" woofer vs. a 6.5" inch one on the SB-2's will give you slightly less bass (no effect if you're channeling the bass to a sub)but that will be more than offset by the additional sound envelopement. As far as your room configuration, do you have the ability to place the surrounds on the wall or on stands to either side of your couch? PhilH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USparc Posted December 19, 2001 Share Posted December 19, 2001 mcqueene, I use 4 RF-3's, so 1 pair for surround. My opinion is that placing sound and ambient sound is something that is in the sound itself or created by DSP modes. I have a CD that can deliver placed sounds and ambient sound that you would never expect in a stereo system (2 channel). Ok, dipoles add more ambient effect, but they are useless for 5 channel stereo. The benefit is also the almost perfect match in speakers. I think that THX is also planning to leave the dipole speakers and use normal speakers for surrounds. ------------------ ------------------------- Receiver: Onkyo 676 DVD: Pioneer DV-525 Screen: Thomson 46" RetroProjection Front: RF-3 tFTP Rear: RF-3 tFTP Center: RC-3 tFTP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pretzelb Posted December 19, 2001 Author Share Posted December 19, 2001 PhilH I would probably put the SS on stands to the side of the couch. I don't think I could get away with mounting them on the wall. -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagnumMan Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 My experience in this is I've been usning Floorstanding speakers for my surrounds for over 4 years now. My belief is if you want to experience the most from DD & DTS, you want fullrange speakers in back. I don't have to have the subs on to feel all the bass. Once,late at night I was watching U-571 without the subs on. I was still feeling the explosions! What I did for configuring them was pull my couch away from the wall. The speakers are on stands putting drivers well above ear level. They are facing toward each other. Even though they aren't intened for surrounds,they do provide a great enveloping experience. My advice is to experiment with them. After you get them positioned right, go through using a setup disc, and caliberate the levels. Put some of you favorite movies in to see what you think. Hope this helps a little. ------------------ Jerry CP RULZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pretzelb Posted December 20, 2001 Author Share Posted December 20, 2001 Thanks for the replies. I got the SS1 and put them on some stands and I think they do a much better job of providing an "effect" than the SB2's. I can notice a loss in power or omph when it comes to bass in some cases. But on some of the true digital DVD's (like Toy Story 1&2, Bugs Life) I get much clearer effect of being (for lack of better word) surrounded by the sound. I angled my SB2's toward the wall to diffuse the effect but they still seemed to fire right in my ear. I do like the SB2's so it will be tough for me to take them back. It concerns me slightly that THX is leaving dipole for recommendation but I'm not so into this that I plan to follow along. I think my other problem is the Heresy II's I keep using. It's just a long drawn out process trying to match things with them I often think it would be better to scrap them and get an entire Synergy or Reference line. Now I wonder if the RS3's would match better (maybe another post). After reviewing some posts here (I'm not here much) it seems like a common characteristic is we all like to tinker and are never satisified with the our setups. -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-man Posted December 20, 2001 Share Posted December 20, 2001 mcqueene, Your final statement hit the nail right on the head. The more you buy, the more your tinker. The more you tinker, the more you want to continue tinkering with more. Do you see the most used word here??? I belong to the group who actually likes my direct radiating speakers for rear use. They are very close to my ears, just by the back corners of my couch on stands. I like the effect for both music and movies just fine. When the material calls for a diffuse surround setting, that's what I get. Test tones in pro-logic produce unlocalized rear sound. If it comes out of phase, that's just what you get. If it comes discrete, you get that, too. Oh yea, make sure you get the sweet spot on the couch before anybody else gets there! (it's in the middle) For the record, I never tried the WDST or Dipoles. I wasn't impressed the way they had them set up at the local Tweeter, though. Couldn't hear them so far behind me. T-man ------------------ KG 5.5 (mains) KG 2.2v (center) KLF-C7 (center in storage) KG 1 (rears) KSW-12 (sub) Denon AVR 681/1601 Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Kenwood LVD700 LD Sony CD changer Sony 27" Trinitron Sony PLX I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pretzelb Posted December 20, 2001 Author Share Posted December 20, 2001 T-Man I agree that the placement of the speaker can make the SS hard to hear. My local Tweeter did the same thing and put them too far back, too high, and on the back wall. I found another place that had them on the side wall instead of the back wall and it seemed to make a big difference. Thanks for the info. You and MangumMan make some valid arguments for the direct speakers, and I did find the SB2's to be pretty sweet. Dang this stuff can drive you nuts!!! I wish I researched this board first to plan this out better. ------------------ Fronts - Heresy II Center - KSFC5 Sub - Paridigm PDR10(?) Surround - ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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