7.1 Rear and Surrounds in Dipole or Bipole Mode?

[Bloodstriker]

I bought another pair of Totem Lynks surrounds and I'm wondering how which speakers should be set to bipole and which should be set to dipole. There's a switch on each speaker so I can select between bipole and dipole.

Right now, as a 5.1 setup, my surrounds are set to dipole so that I get more of a diffuse effect.

With the rear speakers added, I'm not sure if I should be setting everything to dipole, everything to dipole, setting the surrounds to dipole with rears as bipole, or surrounds to bipole with rears as dipole?

I was also reading an article cautioning about setting up the speakers so that phase and cancellation wouldn't be an issue with dipoles. I think the theory is that since there's a +ve and -ve phase happening at each end of the speaker, you have make sure that a each speaker is facing the right way so that you don't get a +ve and -ve adjacent to each other.

This is getting way over my head now.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Here's the post that I'm referring to:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/66471-guide-bipolar-dipolar-direct-radiating-surround-speakers.html

Dipolar Surround Speakers in a 7.1 Setup

Dipole surround speakers are typically labeled Left and Right so that, when you place them on the sides, the in-phase drivers are pointing towards the front of the room. This allows them to be in phase with your front speakers and avoid cancellation problems that can occur when out of phase drivers are facing each other.

If, in a 7.x setup, you decide to use another pair of dipole surround speakers in the rear, you will have to place the left speaker on the right side and the right speaker on the left side as in the diagram below. This is to avoid cancellation problem when the speakers are out of phase. If you decide to use direct radiating speakers or bipole speakers in the rear, you will not need any special consideration.