Side speakers

[Danny68]

Hi everyone

I have just bought the Wharfedale 220's with the original intention of using them as side speakers in a 7.1 setup. However they sound so much better than my aging Mission 773's that I have promoted them to the front main speakers.

I have just ordered the matching Wharfedale 220c centre speaker, and I'm using Mission 77DS wall mounted rear's and a Tannoy sub.

The question I have is I want to make this into a 7.1 setup but I'm confused over which speakers are adequate for this role? I've just popped into my local hifi store with the intention of buying the smaller Wharfedale 121's to match the 220's, but the store person said these wouldn't be suitable. He said that satellite speakers are specifically made for the job of providing clear crisp detail whereas the Wharfedales (and presumably most other speakers) are designed to offer a full range of sounds, from deep base to high treble. He said detail would be lost if I used a full range speaker

His recommendation was the tiny Cambridge Audio Minx speakers which, whilst sounding nice would look a bit out of place in my living room

Is the store person right in saying there are specific speakers for the role of side surrounds, and if so which ones do you recommend?

 

[markw]

To put it politely, the guy in the hi-fi store is, err, "wrong". Those smaller speakers will be just fine for surround duties. It's the front speakers that should be exceptional. The sides and rears only handle ambient sounds. Rarely do they ever carry information worthy of the quality of your front speakers.

 

[selden]

Being cynical, I suspect there is a much larger commission or profit margin on the Cambridge speakers. Or they were overstocked with them.

What receiver or pre/pro are you using?

The room equalization provided by most modern equipment does a good job of making differing speakers have very similar timbre. Also, it'll help if you can specify different bass management crossover frequencies for the different sizes of speakers.

 

[Danny68]

Thanks for the replies

I did wonder as there are other "pre configured" 5.1 speaker packages which all seem to use the regular small speakers in the range as the side surrounds.

The receiver I'm using is the Onkyo 609. It's about 5 years old now but still gives a very good sound, whether as a home cinema amp or just listening to a CD. It does all I want and I just can't see that I'd get much of an improvement if I spent £1000 on a new one.

I don't think the guy was trying to sell me something I didn't want. On a £100 speaker I'd be surprised if there's much commission difference between the two. Also I've shopped there on many occasions and they've always offered great service, to the point where I can take brand new speakers home and try them for a couple of weeks before deciding whether to keep them or not.

Getting back to the side surrounds does it make any difference that I'm thinking about using a regular small forward facing speaker like rather than a uni-directional speaker?

 

[markw]

I don't think the guy was trying to sell me something I didn't want.

C'mere, kid. I gots me a bridge I wanna sell you.

Getting back to the side surrounds does it make any difference that I'm thinking about using a regular small forward facing speaker like rather than a uni-directional speaker?

Some prefer bipolar/dipolar speakers for surround use, which intentionally smear the sound, but monopole speakers work quite well and are better for music. BTW, both the speaker types you mentioned are the same: They both fire in one direction.

But, it's your choice.

 

[herbu]

He said that satellite speakers are specifically made for the job of providing clear crisp detail whereas the Wharfedales (and presumably most other speakers) are designed to offer a full range of sounds, from deep base to high treble. He said detail would be lost if I used a full range speaker

Trying to give the salesman the benefit of the doubt, he may have meant that the rears in a 7.1 system get so little signal, that some speaker capability would be wasted.

As my system evolved, I also moved speakers back and ended up with full range towers as both side surrounds and rear surrounds in my 7.2 system. Frankly, I think the speakers have much more capability than they use. Side surrounds don't get a lot of signal, and rear surrounds get even less.

In fact, I've thought about getting rid of those 4 towers and going to smaller bookshelf/satellite speakers for surrounds.

The only time I see a benefit is the rare occasion when I use All Channel Stereo for music to fill the room.

The advantage towers can have over "satellites" is bass. If you have a good subwoofer or two, bass extension to 20Hz or below is not necessary in your surrounds. And for the money you're talking about, you won't get good bass anyway.

Generally speaking, 2 speakers for the same money, one a tower and one a bookshelf, the bookshelf will have a better mid and tweeter. The tower has to use a cheaper mid/tweeter to include a woofer. Maybe this is what the salesman meant.