Surround speaker recommendations

[gil]

Hey guys,

I have a mix of Sonus faber and B&W up front and am using an old pair of B&W 603 tower speakers for the rears(see my profile). I'd like to replace the 603s with something I can place on the walls in hopefully more strategic positions. My room setup is pretty poor with the RPTV and fronts placed in a corner and the rears sitting in the opposite corners. I was thinking maybe going with a bipolar to improve the dispersion a bit around the rear of the room.

I'd like to be under $500 and preferably around three. Something in white might be more preferable with the SO but since the walls are off-white in color not sure if it really matters.
Any suggestions.

Gil

[John Holmes]

Welcome to the Forum gil!

I really am not familiar with the sonic signature of your SF's or B&W's. Lex has SF's and I'm sure he will check in soon.

As far as bipoles, I run a bipole setup for my surrounds and am quite happy with their performance.

Good luck and again Welcome!




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Lexman]

Gil, I personally run a 7 channel plus the subs configuration, so I not only have rears, but sides as well. My rears are large 3 way Infinity Kappa 7.1s with 10" woofers, polydome mid-range, and Emit-R tweeters. The tweeter has an adjustable tonal setting, so I am able to match them fairly well into the synergy of my system.

But regarding the sides, I was running Definitive Technology BP1X bipolar speakers, until finding a superb deal on a pair of used Concertos on Lovan Ballet II stands. What they do for my system is cohesively tie everything else together in my system. The BP1X, while nice speakers, just didn't give me the same level of tonal balancing to my system as the Sf speakers.

However, most important to your system, is the center. If your not running an Sf center, I really appeal to you to consider it in the future. I also recommend contacting Paolo in Italy for perhaps a used set of Concertinos. If he could locate you a used pair of either Concertinos, or Concertos, that is your best option. Of course, check the other normal outlets as well.

So, instead of recommending spending 200 less than 500, I am recommending more like 300 more than 500. Ooops. But I recommended what I think it best for your system.

The answer in short is:
More Sonus faber

Welcome to the Guide too! Nice to have another Sonus faber "fan" here. That is assuming that you are satisfied with yours.

Lex





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[gil]

I'm quite happy with my Concertos and will keep them for a very long time. Fantastic speakers for stereo and compare to others costing much more, well at least for the price I got them for.

I looked at the Solo center awhile back and I just wasn't convinced that it was significantly better than my B&W CDM center. The B&W cost me around $450 and the going price on the Solo locally is 1K!

I take it that the new versions of the Sf Concert line are out now. Does anyone have any experience with them. If the Solo center has been improved perhaps I should take a look.

Concertinos are excellent speakers. I just think they are way too good for use just as rears, and a bit expensive for the application.

I like the DefTechs alot for HT applications. In fact I almost bought a set of BP30s when I first started building my HT. But went with B&W since I preferred them with music. I suspect that the DefTech tweeters would not be a good match with the Sonus fabers. Does Infinity make a 2-way bookshelf or bipolar that might work for me?

John, are those Fosgates bipoles or dipoles? I suspect dipoles will not work well for me as I have a large area to cover in the rear (two large sofas). The dipoles leave a null in certain areas and usually are rolled off pretty quickly in the treble if they are THX.

Gil

[John Holmes]

Gil,
They can be configured either way (Di/Bipoles) via a module on the rear of the speaker. When I was running my H/K AVP1a I ran them Dipole. This worked well for it's pro-logic application. I found that I much prefer the Bipole configuration for DD/DTS.

My theater room isn't large, about 18x15. I can tell you that the Fosgates sound great. I have been unsatisfied with almost every other part of the audio portion of my system at one time or another, but never with the surrounds.

Now I feel, the last part of the audio to do is my sub. Then it's on to the TV

Oh, as far as the roll-off, you maybe right. They are THX thus, certain things do happen. However, I don't notice any lack of sound from them. When I first switched to DD/DTS from Pro-Logic I used Infinity 2000.5's for my mains and rears. While the 2000.5's did well up front, I didn't like them as rears. So, I pulled the Fosgates back out and purchased some THX speakers for the front soundstage.

I do admit that I don't like what THX processing does for every movie. Some just sound better without it but, this is a processing issue in the reciever not the speakers.

Hope this sheds a liitle light




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Andrew Pratt]

Gil I used to use the Energy RVSS as my rear speaker. Its a bipole model and should be in your budget range esp if you call marc at http://www.audioshop.on.ca for a quote since they generally have the lowest prices on Energy speakers. Having said that I can atest to what what Lex is saying by having the same or at least similar rears as mains. I know it might seem like a waste of a good speaker for rear duty but its not. I recently switched from an energy based system to my current Magnepan one. I've now got mains and rears that are very close sonically to each other and benefits its giving me is amazing. I think the best word to discrib it is seemless. I was never unhappy with the sound I had before with speakers that were supposed to match together but its amazing what real timber matched speakers can give you.

[Lexman]

I own the Energy RVS center, so I agree with Andrew that this is not a bad option. I think I would like Energy with Sf before Def Tech. Def Tech's metal domes are a bit to harsh for the Sonus fabers. The Energy with the soft dome should be a much better match.

Lex





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[gil]

Andrew,

Are the RVSS switchable between bipole or dipole operation, or just one of the mixed bipole and dipole types. The Energy website seems to indicate that it's mixed (no mention of a switch). The S&V Buyers guide indicates that it may be switched between the two modes but I don't trust it - I don't think I've ever seen so many errors in a guide before.

Do you plan to replace the Energy center? It always gets rave reviews for a center.

What do you think of the new PSB Image S10 bipole?
Gil

[Andrew Pratt]

Gil the RVSS rears are a special kind of speaker set up to really confuse people What Energy did was take the best of both dipole and bipole and put it in the same speaker. The tweeters always run as dipoles to get the largest soundstage possible in the higher frequencies. The woofers however always run as bipoles. Bipoler woofers allows the drives to get lower and louder bass since the drivers aren't canceling each other out like typical dipole drivers do. As a result the RVSS can produce useable bass fairly low for a rear speaker. I very much enjoyed mine when I was running the energy set. BTW the RVS is also available in white

I will replace my RVS centre later on when I get the RPTV and a dedicated HT room. My plan is to buy a single maggie MMG to use as a centre speaker but given thier size I can't put it on top of the tv while the HT is in our living room (wife would have kittens!) The rave reviews the RVS and the AC300 (same speaker for the most part mainly cosmetic differences with the RVS looking better IMO) are well deserved, its a great sounding speaker. I know of at least a few people that are using 5 RVS speakers in their HT so they are good enough for main speakers not just as a centre