5 identical speakers

S

scottyg

Junior Audioholic
What would the benefit of having 5 identical floorstanding speakers to having regular surround speakers..........say having 5 klipsch rf-82s besides having three of their higher end surrounds

thanks
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
two words

scottyg said:
What would the benefit of having 5 identical floorstanding speakers to having regular surround speakers..........say having 5 klipsch rf-82s besides having three of their higher end surrounds

thanks
timbre matching.

but, it's best if the front/center is very close to, and either directly above or below the monitor. Floor-standers are designed to sound best when in a vertical orientation. If you findyourself having to place it on it;s side to satisfy these requirenments, then just go for the matching center

And, I don't follow you when you say "besides having three of their higher end surrounds"? Are you saying you are considering "better" surrounds than your center/mains? ...does not compute...
 
S

scottyg

Junior Audioholic
I was just wondering for the best surround sound if it would be better to go with rs-52s
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
Define "best"

Sometimes the difference between "very good" and "best" is either negligible or, comparatively speaking, prohibilitively expensive in the real world.

Several things to consider before simply throwing money around:

1) The sub does the grunt work in a HT system.

2) The surrounds are more effective if they are above ear level. If all you care about is HT then full range speakers are superfulous.

3) Full range surrounds might make sense if you went for a multi channel music system but the results may conflivct with # 2, above.

4) Using a tower as a center channel, you would have to mount the monitor directly above the speaker. The mains would be on the same plane as the center, which would cause the sound to appear to be coming from below the visual focus. This might work for music wherethere is no visual focus, but could be a bit bizarre for movies.
 
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MACCA350

MACCA350

Audioholic Chief
markw said:
4) Using a tower as a center channel, you would have to mount the monitor directly above the speaker. The mains would be on the same plane as the center, which would cause the sound to appear to be coming from below the visual focus. This might work for music wherethere is no visual focus, but could be a bit bizarre for movies.
A few years ago I changed to 3 identical towers up the front, and honestly I'd never go back to a smaller/different center. My screen sits just above the speakers and I've never had an issue with visual/sound focus its just the same as using a smaller center above/below the screen.

scottyg, if you have the space up the front go for it, I found advantages in better dialog(especially male voices) and sound pans and overall soundstage.

As markw said, surrounds for movies are supposed to be 'diffusive'(not the exact term I was looking for) in nature and not as directional as towers because they are trying to emulate and array of speakers that surround you. Although some people do use towers for their surrounds, so if you can try it both ways and see what appeals to you.

cheers
 
D

Dolby CP-200

Banned
Spacing the loudspeakers just anywhere in the room will create problems with timbre matching! If the fronts where all placed side by side and then play the pink noise it will sound slightly different with each voicing of the loudspeaker!

Equalization is still required to tackle these minor problems!

Placement of the matching fronts is crucial that all (three-screen) channels are at the same height and no more than 2/3 the height of the room. Too high and the stereo width will become to narrow with dialogue panning and the term (psychoacoustics) will drastically kill the film as the sounds need to be in close proximity to the on screen action if using a video projector.

It’s paramount that loudspeakers are placed behind the screen, a perforated screen!

Loudspeakers again will always sound different when placed in different parts of the room. 3-dimensional spacing creates a real headache and can take days to equalise. Just has if your where in a de-compressor chamber it’s got to be equalized correctly.

I would say good idea for matching five loudspeakers, with two at the back and I would also say very bad idea as you’re going to end up with holes in the surround field!

You’ll be better off with an array of good quality bookshelf loudspeakers placed along the sidewalls and rear wall. That is the whole point of (((surround))) something most home cinema users don’t cotton onto!
 
JoeE SP9

JoeE SP9

Senior Audioholic
Timbre matching is the good thing if nothing else. I use 4 ESL's. From 100hz up I have the same sound from 4 speakers. My fronts are 2 ESL panels per side from 85hz up. My rears are 1 ESL panel per side from 100hz up. I don't use a center front.:cool:
 
jcPanny

jcPanny

Audioholic Ninja
Listening preferences

I think that the 5 identical speakers are ideal for multichannel music like DVD-A. Movies will probably sound best on a system with a dedicated sub and dipole/bipole surround speakers because the audio is mixed for this type of system.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I run 5 identical speakers and I couldn't be happier.
 
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