thoughts on 2.1 out of bookshelves and 1 3-way floor standing?

[bah-bah'd]

Hello,

I wanted to ask if anyone has any thoughs on matching a pair of bookshelves with a single 3-way floor standing speaker from the same series. I would want to running the single floorstanding as mono, pushing as a sub (and center?) Sounds like a plan for my low budget! Stupid plan?

thanks for the advice,
~ bah

[bryantm3]

alright. what?

[jaxvon]

You'd be better off using a third, matched bookshelf as a center and a separate subwoofer with some real beef to it.

Out of curiosity, what bookshelves do you own, and what is your overall budget?

[bryantm3]

oh wait, i think i understand now. yes, that sounds pretty weird. how about just getting another matching 3-way tower and having a nice stereo system? you don't really need a sub if your 3 way has decent bass.


wait- let me make sure i've got your plan right - you want to use the 3 way as a centre channel and sub, and use the bookshelves for left and right channels, right?

cos having four channels (centre, sub, left, right) wouldn't do you much good, since you couldn't play anything in surround sound, you'd be missing the back two channels. besides, i don't think you can channel the subwoofer channel and the centre channel into one speaker. correct me if i'm wrong.

[bah-bah'd]

swans... there is only one 6.1 and one 5.1 speaker left. I could get matching 4.1s but they are only 4 ohms. I am just hoping that they get more 2.1 pairs in.

[bah-bah'd]

oh wait, i think i understand now. yes, that sounds pretty weird. how about just getting another matching 3-way tower and having a nice stereo system? you don't really need a sub if your 3 way has decent bass.


wait- let me make sure i've got your plan right - you want to use the 3 way as a centre channel and sub, and use the bookshelves for left and right channels, right?

cos having four channels (centre, sub, left, right) wouldn't do you much good, since you couldn't play anything in surround sound, you'd be missing the back two channels. besides, i don't think you can channel the subwoofer channel and the centre channel into one speaker. correct me if i'm wrong.


Actually, I would like to have the bookshelves as FL & FR then use the 3-way as a mono rear for the extra bass freq. coverage. I would be using seperate amps to power the bookshelves from whatever else.

Mainly I am trying to get 8-ohm speakers vs a pair of floorstanding 4-ohms.

[bryantm3]

i'm sorry that no one has replied to you yet, but i don't think anyone really understands what you're trying to say. is english your native language? cos if it isn't, try typing whatever you're trying to say into an online translator.

[jonnythan]

swans... there is only one 6.1 and one 5.1 speaker left. I could get matching 4.1s but they are only 4 ohms. I am just hoping that they get more 2.1 pairs in.
That doesn't make any sense. A single speaker can't be a "5.1 speaker." 5.1 refers to a configuration in which you have 5 speakers plus a subwoofer.

What, exactly, do you have, what do you want, and what is your budget?

[bah-bah'd]

those were model numbers, not speaker specs.

[j_garcia]

What you want to do won't work. If you configure the system to sub=none, but use bookshelf speakers, the bass will not be redirected to the center, it will be redirected to the mains only - one speaker cannot perform dual duty as both a center and sub.

[bah-bah'd]

Even when the extra floorstanding model has 3 pairs of posts on the back? This is what I thought 3-way meant, so maybe I did not make myself clear enough. In theory I could send a sub signal to the woofers and a mono-rear to the mids and tweets, right? This is what I mean by getting a pair of bookshelves or floorstanding for my front pair, and then simply adding to the system with one extra 3-way, 3 input floorstanding speaker to boost sub and maybe send a clean vocal signal to the top half or something...

[majorloser]

What you want to do won't work. If you configure the system to sub=none, but use bookshelf speakers, the bass will not be redirected to the center, it will be redirected to the mains only - one speaker cannot perform dual duty as both a center and sub.


Yes and No

If the tower speaker has dual terminals in the back for bi-amping the bass frequencies could be directed to that woofer. It would require another amp running off the receiver subwoofer output (LFE).

But why bother? It would be better off to have a dedicated subwoofer (powered or unpowered). Money would be better spent.

If your goal for the future is to get a surround system, an additional powered subwoofer will better meet your needs.

[j_garcia]

How would you separate the sub signal? That is the problem. Very few speakers have three inputs; most are only dual, and I don't think any from Swan are tri-wirable (I don't know for sure). You can't use the preamp outs directly to a speaker, you'd need an amp in between to power the bass portion (because that is signal only), THEN what you're saying would work and you would still be able to do that with a bi-wirable speaker theoretically. In the end though, it still wouldn't be as good as just buying a powered sub and a good center. * looks like Major beat me to it...:D

[bah-bah'd]

Thanks, perfect info. Yes, the Swans 5.1 and 6.1 both look 'tri-wirable.' I thought this is what '3-way speakers' meant, 3 seperate signal inputs for sub, mid & tweet. I guess even my bro's single input JBL towers are 3-way, meaning the speaker arangement...