Try as I do, I can't seem to get localizable surround effects in that scene. It's too diffuse, which is wierd cause I'm using monopole surrounds. Perhaps they're set up too high up in the air? Because whenever I play that scene, it sounds good, but it doesn't sound like the things are bouncing all around me.
You don't want localizable for a surround field. You want it to be diffused.
NOT trying to pick on you or condescend. But I would really like to further discussion on the topic...
This is not optimal for surrounds
***. People do it, sure, and it works to an extent. I don't know where this theory sprung from or how it spread like wild fire, but it is not correct for the home theater. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes for budgetary concerns I end up having to use them for surrounds on projects. It’s not like it breaks anything, but it’s not actually considered “correct” either.
Where did this come from?
I'm guessing someone somewhere looked up at a commercial theater and saw... "Hey, they seem to have direct radiating speakers for surrounds.... THAT must be the best thing for my home "theater"".
However, what that guy failed to realize, or ignored, is that the movie theater has a bunch of those cascaded all the way up the wall so there is no need for a "dipole" speaker. In a commercial theater they throw many many speakers at the problem (localized sound) as well as delay settings & level tapering over dozens of rows. In a home theater, the room is way smaller and typically has 1, 2, or 3 rows. This is where a dipole speaker does the work of what the commercial system does and can offer a diffused sound field. A monopole cannot.
Somewhere in all of this, the term "monopole" became a popular, fancy way to describe a normal speaker being used as a surround. This is probably to help the concept fit in with dipole & bi-pole during discussion. In actuality, your typical tower speaker is also a monopole.
Where direct radiating/monopole speakers are recommended is for surround back channels 6 & 7 or, if need be, when the rears are narrowly & directly behind someone.
Anyway... I would experiment with placement as well as your db levels. That demo can show flaw in speakers and setup. I once heard it play in a client's home and it sounded directionless. it was like a giant mat of sound got flopped over the whole room. Turns out his kid downloaded the manual to the receiver and turned up the rears to + 10 DB. They were less than 4' from the listening position!!!! And at loud volumes.... Holy cow!
NOTE***: Where a monopole absolutely CAN and WILL work for surrounds is if you are using certain types of ribbon based line arrays for your surround speakers. The sound stage out of something like this:
http://bgcorp.com/PDFs/R-550-literature.pdf is fine for a 3 or 4 row theater. But... this, the BG SS-303:
http://bgcorp.com/PDFs/SS-202-303.pdf is still better, IMO, and it is a Dipole. Again, it all comes down to application, room size, etc.
Thoughts, disagree, etc.?
