Topic: Rear surround speakers -- looking for input/feedback

[newscane]

Four years ago, I bought my receiver (Denon AVR-1603) and front/center speakers (B&W DM 303/LCR 3), with the intention of completing my system down the road.  For a variety of reasons, I never got around to buying a sub and rears.  Things like concerts kept getting in the way    I now have a sub (a friend gave me his, didn't need it anymore), and am looking at rear channels.  I don't want to break the bank, so putting B&Ws back there isn't really an option.  I went to Circuit City and Best Buy -- saw some Sony speakers that seemed worthwhile for $60/pair.  On the CC website, I saw some Polk R15 speakers (which I remember as being decent for that level) at $24/pair -- it was an "outlet" deal.  Of course, they aren't available for shipping, and aren't at any local stores.  As I was driving by Sound Advice, I saw a "Clearance" banner, and went in on a whim.  I saw some speakers by Sapphire that looked interesting -- $48 each, marked down from $130.  This is pretty much what they are: http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1879210

Has anyone heard of these?  Are they crap?  Does anyone else have input on surrounds that I can get for $100/pair (preferably less)?

[bl6216@yahoo.com]

New or used ?

[newscane]

If it's a reputable source, I'll consider used.  I hadn't checked ebay, with the exception of one of the results that came up when I googled the Sapphire speaker -- it was a pair of those selling for $74 on ebay...

[Church-Audio]

Four years ago, I bought my receiver (Denon AVR-1603) and front/center speakers (B&W DM 303/LCR 3), with the intention of completing my system down the road.  For a variety of reasons, I never got around to buying a sub and rears.  Things like concerts kept getting in the way    I now have a sub (a friend gave me his, didn't need it anymore), and am looking at rear channels.  I don't want to break the bank, so putting B&Ws back there isn't really an option.  I went to Circuit City and Best Buy -- saw some Sony speakers that seemed worthwhile for $60/pair.  On the CC website, I saw some Polk R15 speakers (which I remember as being decent for that level) at $24/pair -- it was an "outlet" deal.  Of course, they aren't available for shipping, and aren't at any local stores.  As I was driving by Sound Advice, I saw a "Clearance" banner, and went in on a whim.  I saw some speakers by Sapphire that looked interesting -- $48 each, marked down from $130.  This is pretty much what they are: http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1879210

Has anyone heard of these?  Are they crap?  Does anyone else have input on surrounds that I can get for $100/pair (preferably less)?

I personally thing its very important that the Tweeters and mids are the same for the rear speakers as they are for the center and main's. So you end up with a even tonal balance between front and back. When you go into a studio that mixes in surround. You will see 5 matching speakers + a sub they are all exactly the same. This is where your movie or music that you listen too comes from a studio that has been set up this way.

So its best to have the same type of setup as they do with in reason, your not going to go out and buy Genelec 1036 studio monitors any time soon, but I think its very important to set up your home theater as close to studio specs as is possible.

This includes making sure the speakers are placed properly in the room and match the db levels so that they are all the same in 5.1 mode from the point in witch you will be seated. Then when I am listing to 5.1 I am hearing at least as closely as I can what was done in the original studio mix. If you use different brand names of speakers and mix and match it will be very hard to recreate a system that will be faithful to the studio after all when an engineer mixes he is not in your living room so you have to try and recreate his space.

Many people make the mistake of placing the surround speakers next to the couch, thats the worst place to put them you have to picture the studio again. Pretend your the engineer your sitting at a console. The center channel is about 5 feet away from your head. The left and right are about 5 feet from each ear, the surrounds are behind you pointed at the back of your head facing in slightly and about 5-6 feet back. The subwoofer can really be placed anywhere but most studio engineers prefer to have it dead center of there mix position so they can feel the air move from it.

This is an "ideal" setup but its not always possible but understanding it can help with your purchase of your surround speakers. The closer you get to what they do in the studio the more consistent your system will be with different movies / music.

Just my two cents.

Chris Church
 

[bl6216@yahoo.com]

Chris grate input. I did not look at it that way. Look on videogon.com and see what you can get.

[newscane]

I personally thing its very important that the Tweeters and mids are the same for the rear speakers as they are for the center and main's. So you end up with a even tonal balance between front and back. When you go into a studio that mixes in surround. You will see 5 matching speakers + a sub they are all exactly the same. This is where your movie or music that you listen too comes from a studio that has been set up this way.

So its best to have the same type of setup as they do with in reason, your not going to go out and buy Genelec 1036 studio monitors any time soon, but I think its very important to set up your home theater as close to studio specs as is possible.

This includes making sure the speakers are placed properly in the room and match the db levels so that they are all the same in 5.1 mode from the point in witch you will be seated. Then when I am listing to 5.1 I am hearing at least as closely as I can what was done in the original studio mix. If you use different brand names of speakers and mix and match it will be very hard to recreate a system that will be faithful to the studio after all when an engineer mixes he is not in your living room so you have to try and recreate his space.

Many people make the mistake of placing the surround speakers next to the couch, thats the worst place to put them you have to picture the studio again. Pretend your the engineer your sitting at a console. The center channel is about 5 feet away from your head. The left and right are about 5 feet from each ear, the surrounds are behind you pointed at the back of your head facing in slightly and about 5-6 feet back. The subwoofer can really be placed anywhere but most studio engineers prefer to have it dead center of there mix position so they can feel the air move from it.

This is an "ideal" setup but its not always possible but understanding it can help with your purchase of your surround speakers. The closer you get to what they do in the studio the more consistent your system will be with different movies / music.

Just my two cents.

Chris Church
 

Thanks for the advice.  Due to the layout of my living room, my main listening point is somewhat far from the front/center channels, and will be relatively close to my surrounds.  My receiver does have a setup feature to account for that, though, so that will be able to compensate for it somewhat.  I'd like to get another pair of DM 303s for surrounds, but I don't know how practical that is right now.  I've pretty much forgotten about the Sapphire speakers -- after doing some digging, it appears that's just a Tweeter/Sound Advice house brand.  No thanks.

I'm checking out videogon right now -- I see some B&W 302s for $190/pair -- seems to be very similar to my fronts.  A definite possibility...

[newscane]

Well, I picked up a pair of used Polk Audio R15 bookshelf speakers on ebay for about $50 plus shipping.  They're supposedly in excellent condition (appeared so from the photos).  After paying for them, I had a bit of buyer's remorse when I remembered there was still an auction for a new pair of R15s, with the high bid at $66.  That disappeared a few hours later when I saw the final price was $107.  That's still a great deal, considering MSRP is $180/pair.  But I'm much happier with what I paid   It would have been nice to get B&Ws for the rears, but this is much more practical, and I think it will work just fine.

[newscane]

Well, that proved to be an interesting experience.  They arrived, and for one reason or another, had more dents/nicks than I expected, as well as a dented tweeter.  Needless to say, they're now going back, and I'm getting a refund.

I'm poking around on ebay some more, now.  I'm finding some other Polk R15 pairs, and considering those.  There are some B&W 302s that are still reasonable.  I'm also checking out some DefTech ProMonitor 100s.  I've listened to bigger DefTechs, and I know that they sound great.  I am a bit concerned about how they'll match up with my B&Ws, though.  Thoughts/input?

[Church-Audio]

Well, that proved to be an interesting experience.  They arrived, and for one reason or another, had more dents/nicks than I expected, as well as a dented tweeter.  Needless to say, they're now going back, and I'm getting a refund.

I'm poking around on ebay some more, now.  I'm finding some other Polk R15 pairs, and considering those.  There are some B&W 302s that are still reasonable.  I'm also checking out some DefTech ProMonitor 100s.  I've listened to bigger DefTechs, and I know that they sound great.  I am a bit concerned about how they'll match up with my B&Ws, though.  Thoughts/input?

I still stand by what I said, try and find something that has the same tweeter as the speakers you have now it makes a huge difference I would rather wait a few more weeks/months until I could afford set that matched the fronts I have at least as far as the mids and tweeters go.

Chris Church

[newscane]

I still stand by what I said, try and find something that has the same tweeter as the speakers you have now it makes a huge difference I would rather wait a few more weeks/months until I could afford set that matched the fronts I have at least as far as the mids and tweeters go.

Chris Church

I'll take a close look at the B&W 302s... those should work well...