Surround Sound Opinions

[Pyrrho]

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Yes, but never paid enough attention to remember what they were as I typically focus more on 2 channel performance. I assume those in movie cinemas are more expensive yet I think my home system sounds much better.

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Movie theater speakers have different requirements than those sold for homes. Movie theaters, even small ones, tend to be vastly larger rooms than home theaters. (Next time you are in a movie theater, try to measure it with your feet, side to side and front to back, and then guess about the height as well, which contributes to the total volume of the space, which likely is many times larger than your home theater room, even if you are at a small cinema.) So they need to be able to play vastly louder than home theater speakers. That costs money, and is a separate issue from fidelity. Also, most likely, you were not sitting in the optimal position in the movie theater, whereas with modern receivers with automatic setups, one does tend to sit in the optimal position (for the setup as set) at home.

 

[Cos]

Questions:

Do you have surround sound? If so, how many channels? If not, why?

Yes 6.1 back in the DVD Days and now 7.1 / Bedroom 5.1

Is surround sound something you want (if you don't have it) or something you couldn't live without (if you have it)?

Depends on the application, for movies and video games Surround Sound greatly enhances the experience. For music, I like it, but could live without it.

Do you find much content coming from your surround speakers when watching movies?

5.1 is pretty much in every soundtrack with 7.1 becoming more and more prevalent. I am in no hurry to go 11.1 as it would be overkill for my room size

If you do have surround sound, did you spring for high quality surrounds or did you go for cheaper ones?

My Surrounds are dipole in my HT room and $900 per pair (2 Pairs) so I would not say they were cheaper ones, at least for my budget
My Surrounds are direct Aon's about $680 per pair (1 Pair) again, I would not really say cheap ones
My preference for Surrounds is dipoles, but that is a whole other debate

If you went cheaper on the surrounds, have you ever heard a system with expensive surround speakers? If so what brand? Did you notice any differences positive or negative?

N/A

At what level do you usually watch movies and what is the noise floor of your room?

29 on My HT room 32-34 in the bedroom (Both Integra)


Any other comments or opinions are welcome.

Look at the application and determine if surrounds are worth the investment. Also take your room size into consideration. In my case I watch TV / Movies about 70% with 30% music in the HT room so for me it was a must and I went a little better on quality.

 

[PENG]

I think "cheap" cannot always be clearly defined, what's cheap to one could even be expensive to others. I am definitely interested in knowing whether people use the same or at least the OEM recommended "matching" speakers for surrounds as they use for the fronts. For example ADTG have the KEF 201/2 for all 5 channels, I would have just used the R series for the surround L/R but to some people the R series are not necessarily cheap, just cheaper.

 

[PENG]

My Surrounds are dipole in my HT room and $900 per pair (2 Pairs) so I would not say they were cheaper ones, at least for my budget
My Surrounds are direct Aon's about $680 per pair (1 Pair) again, I would not really say cheap ones

You made a valid point albeit an obvious one IMHO, cheaper is not always considered cheap, by yourself or others.

 

[Cos]

I would also be interested how others felt about matching same OEM on the surrounds.
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When I bought my HT Speakers I went 100% Paradigm, including the surrounds. When I was thinking of replacing them with GoldenEar I spoke to the rep and while he recommended going with the same OEM for the fronts and center, which makes sense to me, he wasn't as adamant about the surrounds.

Since I didn't want to redo my whole HT system and loved my center channel, I stuck with paradigm.

With my bedroom setup, I was just impressed with the GoldenEar setup and kept upgrading, so I just kept moving my older speakers into the surrounds As I will be ordering the Triton 7s to replace the Aon 3s as my fronts, they will just move to the back and my 5.1 goes to 7.1 in the bedroom LOL, or I will just sell my Aon 2s as I really don't need 7.1 in the bedroom.

I am definitely not against looking at other manufactures on my surrounds, but for me it was as much Aesthetics as sound quality when I stuck with the same OEM.

 

[GranteedEV]

Questions:

Do you have surround sound? If so, how many channels? If not, why?

Yes, 6.1 channels. Perhaps someday I will get a center and some higher end surrounds but not in the immediate future.

Is surround sound something you want (if you don't have it) or something you couldn't live without (if you have it)?

I could live without surround channels, and even a subwoofer really.

Do you find much content coming from your surround speakers when watching movies?

Not during "most" movies, but some movies like Prince of Persia or Master and Commander have had some awesome surround.

If you do have surround sound, did you spring for high quality surrounds or did you go for cheaper ones?

They are inexpensive, but I find them to be adequate for the role. If I were to upgrade them, it would probably be in the directions of smoother power response, increased low level detail retrieval, and deeper extension without a port.

If you went cheaper on the surrounds, have you ever heard a system with expensive surround speakers? If so what brand? Did you notice any differences positive or negative?

No, I have not heard a superior surround setup aside from demo rooms. I am sure they are awesome.

At what level do you usually watch movies and what is the noise floor of your room?

The noise floor is slightly audible at times. It really depends on whether the fridge is humming - and i'm not afraid to unplug it for an hour or so. During the night there have been moments when the lack of noise floor has really just creeped me out. It is not a dedicated HT space.

Now - why I advocate inexpensive surrounds - because fronts are the most important for enjoyment "most" of the time, and often the "amazing" part of surround is something even mid-fi bookshelves can extract.

I support anyone who has their dream fronts buying superior surrounds to match. I don't support compromising on fronts for the sake of """ balance """

 

[chaluga]

It seems like every time someone comes around looking to add surround sound speakers, be it for 5 channel or 7 channel it seems a mini-debate always arises about the pros and cons. I did a quick forum search and didn't come up with a single thread dedicated to these opinions so I thought it might be helpful to consolidate the debate into a single thread. If I missed one, I apologize in advance. Instead of debating the merits of 5 vs 7 vs more channels or which type of speaker to use for said surround (dipole, bi-pole, etc), I'm more focused on opinions on surround sound in general. My curiosity stems from some comments I've read quite a few times about going cheap on surround speakers due to the lack of surround content in most movies and/or skipping them altogether.

Questions:

Do you have surround sound? If so, how many channels? If not, why?

5.1

Is surround sound something you want (if you don't have it) or something you couldn't live without (if you have it)?
I wouldn't want to lose it

Do you find much content coming from your surround speakers when watching movies?
I watch a tonne of movies. I really like to feel surrounded by the audio. I turn up my surrounds a couple of db's just to hear them a bit more. I would say 1/3 of the time I really notice, 1/3 somewhat, 1/3 not much (mostly wife movies)

If you do have surround sound, did you spring for high quality surrounds or did you go for cheaper ones?
mid level quality

If you went cheaper on the surrounds, have you ever heard a system with expensive surround speakers? If so what brand? Did you notice any differences positive or negative?
heard full B& W diamond series in store and it sounded great but not sure how much attributed to surrounds. That room had 200k of gear in it.

At what level do you usually watch movies and what is the noise floor of your room?
movies at -12 to -8 and tv -20 to -14. Noise floor is 35-40db.

Any other comments or opinions are welcome.

Great thread with good questions. I always find it interesting to hear what others have in their setting.

 

[Blackmambakila]

I run 5 ch because there's more formatted this way and I still get full surround. I like to crank movies up until the foundation shakes

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I do not like surround sound at all, even at movie theaters. To me it is just distracting, and I am a big lover of movies, old and new and in between. The other two people who live here, my wife and son, do not want surround sound either. We are strictly stereo around here. I usually crank up the volume for most movies. Peace and goodwill.

 

[fuzz092888]

What about it do you find distracting?

Have you tried it at home?

I do not like surround sound at all, even at movie theaters. To me it is just distracting, and I am a big lover of movies, old and new and in between. The other two people who live here, my wife and son, do not want surround sound either. We are strictly stereo around here. I usually crank up the volume for most movies. Peace and goodwill.

 

[Natrix]

Do you have surround sound? If so, how many channels? If not, why?

Yes. 7.2

Is surround sound something you want (if you don't have it) or something you couldn't live without (if you have it)?

I have watched some old movies before that only have 2 channels of sound and I noticed (as GranteedEV has mentioned before) you really get better imaging with only the fronts playing. Although, if I sat off-axis I'm sure I would feel the center channel provided a better experience. But to answer the question directly: I could definitely live without surround sound.

Do you find much content coming from your surround speakers when watching movies?

It depends on the movie, but in general yes. I use to have my side surrounds on stands at ear level just behind my seating position (I have since wall-mounted them about two feet above ear level) and I noticed much more sound coming from them when they were on the stands even to the point of being distracting at times. I prefer them wall-mounted much more.

If you do have surround sound, did you spring for high quality surrounds or did you go for cheaper ones?

I originally only had a 5.1 setup using the Verus Grand Bookshelves as surrounds, but I felt this was a waste of a good speaker, so I got the Verus Forte Satellites, but they could not handle the DTS 5.1 intro without distress so I moved the VGB's from 2 channel duty back to surround duty and put the VFS's on the back wall for 7 channel. I still feel the VGB's are wasted as surrounds, because they're great when showcased, but I've been getting into the DIY side of speakers for 2 channel so I don't feel so bad about having what I consider great 2 channel speakers playing a background role.

If you went cheaper on the surrounds, have you ever heard a system with expensive surround speakers? If so what brand? Did you notice any differences positive or negative?

I have never heard a system with more expensive surrounds. My theater is the best I have ever heard, although I don't get out much. I tried to go cheaper, but it didn't work for me as I like to play some things at reference level and the little 4.25" coaxials almost gave up the ghost trying to keep up.

At what level do you usually watch movies and what is the noise floor of your room?

-7.5db is about where I listen to most blu-rays, -32.5db is my standard TV level, -12.5db for music. I'll turn it up to 0db if I'm watching The Dark Knight Rises or the like. The noise floor in my house is much higher during the day, but at night it is fairly quiet. I have never measured the noise floor to give an exact number.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

What about it do you find distracting?

Have you tried it at home?

When I am at a movie theater, which happens about ten times a year, if there is sound from the sides or back, it takes my attention away from what is happening on the screen. I have sometimes actually turned my head towards the sound. No, I have not tried it at home. We have a natural gas space heater on one side of the audio-video setup and a door on the other side, so it would be quite challenging to wire up back or side speakers, although I have plenty of unused speakers to use (LOL). When I go to a concert, the band is in front of me, and that is how I prefer it. To each his/her own. Peace and goodwill.

 

[fuzz092888]

See, now I'm the opposite. I find that the surround detail only adds to the experience. Instead of everything happening in front of me on a screen, it makes me feel more like I'm in the scene. I'd love to someday add one of those 2.35 (?):1 ratio projectors and screens to even further entrench myself in whatever I'm watching.

When I am at a movie theater, which happens about ten times a year, if there is sound from the sides or back, it takes my attention away from what is happening on the screen. I have sometimes actually turned my head towards the sound. No, I have not tried it at home. We have a natural gas space heater on one side of the audio-video setup and a door on the other side, so it would be quite challenging to wire up back or side speakers, although I have plenty of unused speakers to use (LOL). When I go to a concert, the band is in front of me, and that is how I prefer it. To each his/her own. Peace and goodwill.

 

[avengineer]

Do you have surround sound? If so, how many channels? If not, why?

Yes, 4.0 since 1982 when I was building custom surround decoders before they were commercially available. Mine included a form of re-eq, and no steering logic. I got decent center to surround separation, but only 3dB adjacent channel separation. It was enough to make the point that surround was worth the trouble. Back then we never had matched surrounds, or even centers. We used old speakers we had laying around. The decoder also included a virtual surround method in case you didn't have any extra speakers.

Is surround sound something you want (if you don't have it) or something you couldn't live without (if you have it)?

I haven't lived without it for 31 years, don't think I'll start now. I do listen to 2.0 and 2.1 of course, and only use the synthetic surround functions occasionally.

Do you find much content coming from your surround speakers when watching movies?

Varies with each film, and moment to moment. Some directors use a lot, some very little.

If you do have surround sound, did you spring for high quality surrounds or did you go for cheaper ones?

Mine were chosen for their dispersion angle and the resulting coverage over seating area, and their general match to the mains. I would do tri-polars next gen., and would definitely do 11.2 if I had the room for it.

If you went cheaper on the surrounds, have you ever heard a system with expensive surround speakers? If so what brand? Did you notice any differences positive or negative?

My first surround speakers were beat-up Dynaco speakers left over from the late 1960s. Yes, current surrounds are better.

At what level do you usually watch movies and what is the noise floor of your room?

Room typically measures NC-21 with the HVAC off and no aircraft flying over, gets to NC-15 if we shut down a couple of devices in the room, and it's late at night with low ambient outside. We typically listen at -10 (re: reference), and occasionally play at reference. The control system has buttons for both levels for quick and accurate level setting.