Speaker Surround Sizing

[Art_H]

Was going to post this in the skeaker section, but thought it'd be better here.

I am looking to get the Yamaha NS-777 speakers as they rate well for their price etc. and are good intermediates until I fabricate my own.

My question is, I want to set up a good surround system and have noticed that lots of people and retailed surround setups have smaller rear speakers. I don't think this is optimal, and I've heard that to set things up well, the fronts have to be limited to the capacity of the inferior rears.

Is there merrit to this?

Would I then be ok to get another set of the NS-777 for the rear, or go with the NS-555?

How about running one of the NS-777 as a centre channel with the benefit of being vertical?

Would the 7.1 channel rears also be much benefit as NS-777s?

Thanks

 

[Midcow2]

The rears are for enhancement and can be very small

Was going to post this in the skeaker section, but thought it'd be better here.

I am looking to get the Yamaha NS-777 speakers as they rate well for their price etc. and are good intermediates until I fabricate my own.

My question is, I want to set up a good surround system and have noticed that lots of people and retailed surround setups have smaller rear speakers. I don't think this is optimal, and I've heard that to set things up well, the fronts have to be limited to the capacity of the inferior rears.

Is there merrit to this?

Would I then be ok to get another set of the NS-777 for the rear, or go with the NS-555?

How about running one of the NS-777 as a centre channel with the benefit of being vertical?

Would the 7.1 channel rears also be much benefit as NS-777s?

Thanks

Your main speakers are your fronts. Then your center is next in importance. It is important that the fronts and center match to maintain timbre (seamless sound across the front). Next comes you subwoofer which is important fro you lower sounds. It doesn't have to match the fronts at all. The rear surrounds and other surrounds also are fro enhancement only and do not have to match the front and are typically much smaller. So the normal listen for most people and therfroe typically the optimal system is samller rears. That is not to say if your personal perferenec is for a strong rear sound you could also place NS-777s there. But most of the capabiltiy of the NS-777s would be wasted unless you turned the rear gain way up and then you probably would not like the sound.

You might want to think about adding a center speaker and smaller surrounds. Add the NS-C444 center speaker.

You could probably get by with NS-M125P speakers for surround . Or use the NS-333. The NS-555 or NS-777 would workwell but you would more than likely not use their full potential.

Good subwoofers if you are interested are SVS and Hu brands.


Having said all that i was watching a Blu Ray the other night and when the sound moved behind me it was awesome

 

[no. 5]

My question is, I want to set up a good surround system and have noticed that lots of people and retailed surround setups have smaller rear speakers. I don't think this is optimal, and I've heard that to set things up well, the fronts have to be limited to the capacity of the inferior rears.

Is there merrit to this?

Remember that the surrounds almost never need to make the exact same sounds as the mains, and in most surround mixes, are used for little more then spaciousness. And since in almost all cases, it is best to high pass all the main channels, the surrounds will not be forced to produce deep bass, allowing a smaller speaker to be used.

Certainly though, there would be nothing 'wrong' with using 777's or 555's all around. But for the center, remember that the NS-777 is a fairly tall speaker (I don't recommend placing it on its side), so your display will need to be placed high enough to keep the speaker from blocking it, and you may not want to sit through a two and a half hour movie with your head tilted back to see the screen.

 

[Art_H]

Remember that the surrounds almost never need to make the exact same sounds as the mains, and in most surround mixes, are used for little more then spaciousness. And since in almost all cases, it is best to high pass all the main channels, the surrounds will not be forced to produce deep bass, allowing a smaller speaker to be used.

Certainly though, there would be nothing 'wrong' with using 777's or 555's all around. But for the center, remember that the NS-777 is a fairly tall speaker (I don't recommend placing it on its side), so your display will need to be placed high enough to keep the speaker from blocking it, and you may not want to sit through a two and a half hour movie with your head tilted back to see the screen.

It makes sense that most movies would have been recorded with more of a spacious rear only. With the new Blu-Ray audio though, isn't it possible that there will be a much better audio track with producers upping the audio tracks because they can? Also what about SACD tracks? I haven't yet heard one, though I have a player. It's difficult to get the disks in Canada. I suppose that if the rears played certain instruments you would feel that you were 'in' the orchestra as opposed to listening to it. Maybe something that studios want occasionally.

They reason I was asking this full sized rears question was that I read somewhere that it does benefit to have a 'matched' setup, and that when the speakers were 'tuned' that the better fronts end up performing to the level of the weeker rears. Any merrit to that?

The article on audioholics about the centre speakers and placing them vertically improves their performance. My next thought was why a special front? why not just use the same speaker as your mains? I also read and was mentioned in this thread about having the front trinity matching. Yeah, in this case with the Yam NS-777 they are 44'' tall. But if the video screen began just above that it 'shouldn't' be unreasonably high. Ist there a correct height for a tv anyway? I know what you mean about the neck
Thanks again,

Art

 

[no. 5]

With the new Blu-Ray audio though, isn't it possible that there will be a much better audio track with producers upping the audio tracks because they can?

Anything is possible.

But, in my opinion, such a thing would have been more likely to happen with something like the transition from Dolby Pro Logic (matrixed, bandwidth limited mono surround channel) to Dolby Digital, or DTS (five to six discreet full range channels), than from Dolby Digital to Dolby TrueHD (five to seven full range channels, with higher sound quality). But like I said, anything is possible.

Also what about SACD tracks?

Not sure, I know of a few DVD-A disc's that have wild and crazy surround mixes, but SACD is often more subdued.

They reason I was asking this full sized rears question was that I read somewhere that it does benefit to have a 'matched' setup, and that when the speakers were 'tuned' that the better fronts end up performing to the level of the weeker rears. Any merrit to that?

It is true that any system will only perform well up to the capability of its weakest link, but you need to know how much 'weaker' bookshelf's would be to the front towers. For example, if the surrounds can only manage a peak SPL of 103dB, and the mains can do 110dB, how often are you going to listen to 5.1 material that has surround content at the same level as the mains at levels higher than 100dB?

The article on audioholics about the centre speakers and placing them vertically improves their performance. My next thought was why a special front? why not just use the same speaker as your mains? I also read and was mentioned in this thread about having the front trinity matching.

If you can afford it, why not? There is no reason why the LCR (or even all) channels shouldn't be the same. There are reasons why it may be unnecessary though.

Yeah, in this case with the Yam NS-777 they are 44'' tall. But if the video screen began just above that it 'shouldn't' be unreasonably high. Ist there a correct height for a tv anyway? I know what you mean about the neck

I believe the optimum is to have the center of the screen about at eye level.

 

[no. 5]

I believe the optimum is to have the center of the screen about at eye level.

Correction...ish; more information here if you haven't seen it already.