Is there a difference?

[Clive]

Are there any speakers out there that is definately not recomended for Home theater use just two channel?




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[Burke Strickland]

Generally, (as you are probably already aware), if speakers sound good on music-only, they will also sound good on movie soundtracks. The reverse is NOT always true.

Some folks are dead set opposed to electrostatics (or other flat panel designs such as planar magnetic) being used for HT because they typically don't provide the "slam" that some cone-type speakers render on soundtracks. But even those can be very satisfying due to their detail and clarity -- movies aren't all about explosions and earthquakes :>) -- and when mated with a powerful sub, the "slam" can be there, too.

Also, some speaker designs (and again the flat panels come to mind) require a lot of floor space -- positioned out far a way from the walls -- to sound their best, and that means in a smaller room, only two of them will "fit". But actually, almost all speakers (except those specifically designed to be placed on or in the wall) benefit from being placed away from the walls, so that argument is kind of a red herring. If you like the sound, use the speaker.

Burke

PS -- if you are looking for recommendations on speakers that do an exceptional job on music, we'll be happy to make some suggestions.

[Andrew Pratt]

I guess you might be able to argue that some of the more exotic speakers don't have a matching center channel so in that regard they wouldn't make the best choice for HT applications but I don't think thats what you're really going after in this thread. I agree with burke though that any speaker that does justice to music should work well for HT also.

[Kevin P]

Basically like Andrew said. I've heard (and even owned) speakers that sounded pretty darned good during movies but were intolerable for music. If you find speakers that you're happy with for music, they'll shine for movies too, especially if you can get matching center and surrounds, and mate it with a good subwoofer.

I hit pay dirt with my Platinum Audio speakers. The speakers sound wonderful for music, and since the towers and the smaller speakers use the exact same driver configuration I get seamless timbre matching all around.

KJP




Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
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[Chris D]

I would just point out the difference in speaker types of monopole, bipole, dipole, tripole, etc. Depending on which speaker position you're trying to set up, whether front, center, surround, etc, I would definitely recommend one type of speaker over another. So in that sense, I would NOT recommend most dipole types for two channel. But I would not recommend many direct radiating monopoles for home theater surround.

My $.02




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[tonygeno]

My own feelings are that if a speaker is of low sensitivity and can't play loud because of power handling issues it probably is not a good home theater speaker (although it may work wonders for music). Examples might be the original Quad ESL, Celestion SL600 (82db sensitive), to name a couple.

[Clive]

So then for all you Audiophiles out there, would you recomend two separate systems/ speakers systems for music and theater. Do you use your "A" >"B" speaker switching?

How should we really have this setup?




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[tonygeno]

I would recommend finding a speaker that works well for music and home theater. Why complicate life unnecessarily with two sets of speakers in a room?

[Burke Strickland]

So then for all you Audiophiles out there, would you recomend two separate systems/ speakers systems for music and theater.

No. (See below.)

I would recommend finding a speaker that works well for music and home theater. Why complicate life unnecessarily with two sets of speakers in a room?

I agree.

I bought my Magnepan MG 3.6 speakers for "music-only" with the intention of having two completely separate systems in the same room. In fact, I set them up originally with a stereo preamp and power amp totally divorced from my HT system. But while we were setting up the Maggies, the dealer rep suggested I try them with a movie sometime "just to check it out".

Eventually I did, and from then on, the Maggies became "dual use". Except for comparison demos. I never used the Def Tech BP-2000s which had been my main L/R speakers for HT in that role again, and they are now my side surrounds in a 7.1 configuration. The Maggies do a superlative job of transporting the listener to the performing space where music is created, and they work their magic convincingly on movie soundtracks as well. (For LFE "slam", they are augmented in the lowest octaves by the Velodyne FSR-18 sub which I had purchased earlier.)

I merged the rest of the signal chain, too. One pre-pro to rule them all. :>) It just isn't convenient having two systems in the same room. With the right (high quality) components and careful setup, stereo music sounds sensational, and movie sound can be served properly too.

Burke

[Chris D]

Clive- Aha, you bring up the exact point that has been made on many other discussion forums. Yes, there definitely are music purists out there that advocate two different setups for music and movies. Mostly, though, it's just in regards to the surround speakers which are typically built as some sort of bipole/dipole for movies, not for music. Since main and center speakers are almost always direct radiating monopoles, they CAN be used for both music and movies.

Denon made their top model 5803 (and I think the 3803) to satisfy even these picky people, having TWO sets of side surround speaker outputs, in addition to the rear surrounds in a 7.1 setup! Only one set of side surrounds operate at a time, so the idea is that you connect the side surround A jacks to your dipole movie surround speakers, and the side surround B jacks to your music surround speakers. Then you switch between the two sets depending on whether your DVD or CD is music or a movie.

This means that you could have as many as **10** speakers in your room, counting the sub, center, two mains, two rear surrounds, and **4** side surrounds. Wow. Confused?

Me personally, I find that to be overkill for my needs. I mostly watch movies, so I just set up all my surrounds as bipoles for dispersed sound, not direct. When I listen to CD music, I only use my mains anyways, and usually don't try to convert it to surround sound and muddy up the sound image. If I happen to be watching/listening to a 5.1 DVD or CD, I don't find myself caring much about the sound coming out of the surrounds not being "pure" as a direct sound, so I live with it.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Clive]

Sure is good to know that I wouldn't have to consider buying more speakers, you're correct, it would be an over-kill.

Chris as silly as this may seem but I'll tel ya! I do know that many, many others here participate on other forums and I guess it maybe a good thing but I don't have the time. Before joining here I checked out two others. There were just too much bashing going on which made me afraid to even ask a simple question. I have never gone back since. Not because Lex pays me a lot of money to stay 8O really, I just don't have time. :LOL: Sharing that knowledge is priceless............Thanx.




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?