just curious, why can't you use L/R speakers for surround speakers?

[bryantm3]

like you could have four standard L/R speakers and one centre speaker and a subwoofer. why can't you do this?

 

[Jack Hammer]

There is no reason you "can't"

Personally, I think music would sound much better with 5 identical speakers and a subwoofer. Many people get different surrounds for a variety of reasons. Such as they have floorstanding fronts, space is a concern, They're on a budget, etc.

Many HT surrounds are also designed to disperse sound around the room instead of directly at you. This helps to create a much better atmosphere for listening to movies, though many don't like how it sounds with music.

Matching the surrounds helps alot, but is not as important as matching the fronts and the levels. Work with what you got, upgrade when you can afford it.

 

[bryantm3]

Personally, I think music would sound much better with 5 identical speakers and a subwoofer. Many people get different surrounds for a variety of reasons. Such as they have floorstanding fronts, space is a concern, They're on a budget, etc.

Many HT surrounds are also designed to disperse sound around the room instead of directly at you. This helps to create a much better atmosphere for listening to movies, though many don't like how it sounds with music.

Matching the surrounds helps alot, but is not as important as matching the fronts and the levels. Work with what you got, upgrade when you can afford it.

hmm. i was thinking about getting wall-mounted direct (monopole) surround speakers, but i'm wondering if this might be a better option. hmmm...

 

[jaxvon]

like you could have four standard L/R speakers and one centre speaker and a subwoofer. why can't you do this?

You definitely can. In fact, the ideal setup (at least in terms of accuracy) is 5 identical speakers and a subwoofer. But many times this is varied for the reasons JackHammer listed.

 

[bryantm3]

You definitely can. In fact, the ideal setup (at least in terms of accuracy) is 5 identical speakers and a subwoofer. But many times this is varied for the reasons JackHammer listed.

wow. i was not aware of this. would i get good sound if i had 4 polk audio Rti8s and a centre channel (undecided) and a PSW10 subwoofer? cos i've already got 2 RTi8s and a PSW10 subwoofer. cos i could fit four speakers, but i have no idea where i'd put a 5th tower speaker, especially one that's for the centre channel. in front of the tv?

 

[Sheep]

ALSO, surrounds have to be above ear level, where as fronts should be dead on. Raising towers up that high is not an option in every room.

And theres the reasons Jack Hammer stated.

5th tower speaker, especially one that's for the centre channel. in front of the TV

This generally only works when you have a projector system with a screen above the fronts, or an acoustically transparent screen.

SheepStar

 

[bryantm3]

i also have another question about my reciever:
i have a RX-V757 reciever, and hifi buys (aka tweeter) came out and hooked it up. in the setup menu of the DVD player, i have it set to 96 Khz (or Mhz? i don't know; it just sounds better to me) but for some reason, it's hooked up by dolby digital, and when i check the signal info it says the bitrare is 48Khz and not 96Khz. this isn't a huge problem now, but when i get an SACD player for all the SACDs i have, i want to be able to hear high resolution audio, and my reciever might not support it.

 

[bryantm3]

ALSO, surrounds have to be above ear level, where as fronts should be dead on. Raising towers up that high is not an option in every room.

And theres the reasons Jack Hammer stated.



This generally only works when you have a projector system with a screen above the fronts, or an acoustically transparent screen.

SheepStar

why do they have to be above ear level? just curious.

 

[Sheep]

i also have another question about my receiver:
i have a RX-V757 receiver, and hifi buys (aka tweeter) came out and hooked it up. in the setup menu of the DVD player, i have it set to 96 KHz (or MHz? i don't know; it just sounds better to me) but for some reason, it's hooked up by Dolby digital, and when i check the signal info it says the bit rare is 48Khz and not 96kHz. this isn't a huge problem now, but when i get an SACD player for all the SACDs i have, i want to be able to hear high resolution audio, and my receiver might not support it.

I believe that depends on the source, not the connection. SACD is not sent over the coax or optical connecting that DD and DTS use. It is send over the 6 channel analog outputs on your Universal player and connected to your 6 channel inputs on your receiver.

SheepStar

 

[Sheep]

why do they have to be above ear level? just curious.

I believe is it how is was recorded.... or has something to so with the playback. The sound was recorded and meant to be heard from a speaker a foot or so above ear level. Don't quote me on this though.

SheepStar

 

[MDS]

i also have another question about my reciever:
i have a RX-V757 reciever, and hifi buys (aka tweeter) came out and hooked it up. in the setup menu of the DVD player, i have it set to 96 Khz (or Mhz? i don't know; it just sounds better to me) but for some reason, it's hooked up by dolby digital, and when i check the signal info it says the bitrare is 48Khz and not 96Khz. this isn't a huge problem now, but when i get an SACD player for all the SACDs i have, i want to be able to hear high resolution audio, and my reciever might not support it.

96 kHz.

The vast majority of DVDs are 48 kHz. That setting is for the rare case where a DVD uses a 96 kHz sampling rate. I've never seen one personally, but supposedly the player cannot output 96 kHz if the dvd is copyright protected - that is why players usually have an additional setting called '48 kHz compatable', which means that if it encounters a 96 kHz sampling rate it will resample to 48 kHz.

You want that setting set to 96 kHz for DTS 96/24 discs (if the receiver has 96 kHz or greater capable dacs) so that the player won't resample to 48 kHz. But for SACD/DVD-A it has no effect because those formats can't be passed over the digital output anyway.

My player is set to 96 khz as well and I have yet to encounter any problems.

 

[bryantm3]

does anyone know what i could use to put a couple of RTi8s about a foot off of the ground?

 

[Jack Hammer]

Generally surrounds sounds are mixed to be heard from a position of 2-3 feet above the listeners ears and to the side or slightly behind the listener (on the side wall and up to a foot or two back). That doesn't mean you can't place them elsewhere.

If you want to use those speakers, put them behind where you sit and play with the location until you get the best sound. I think if the speaker is a few feet below ear level you'll be ok too for now. Later on you can experiment with different (smaller) speakers above you or wherever to get the sound you personally like best.

I usually use what I've got until I am able to upgrade to something better. There's nothing wrong with you doing the same.

 

[jaxvon]

does anyone know what i could use to put a couple of RTi8s about a foot off of the ground?

I'd experiment with stacking things underneath them to find the height that sounds good to you, then go to home depot and pick up some lumber to build some stands.

 

[bryantm3]

I'd experiment with stacking things underneath them to find the height that sounds good to you, then go to home depot and pick up some lumber to build some stands.

hmmm. since i can't fit a l/r tower speaker where my centre channel is, i think i'll buy a horizontal centre to go on top of my tv set. the thing is, though, is that i'm afraid i'll get great sound from the four towers and terrible sound from the centre. do they make centres that sound decent, and can the thing fit on top of my tv set?

 

[jaxvon]

I would go for the Polk center channel that's meant to go with your Polk towers. It should sound fine.

 

[bryantm3]

I would go for the Polk center channel that's meant to go with your Polk towers. It should sound fine.

there's a couple, the CSi3 and the CSi5. the CSi3 is smaller, but still might not fit on my television set.
the CSi5 is larger, but comes with this thing to hook to the back of your tv set so it doesn't fall off.
since the CSi5 probably will give me a better sound range, i think i'll go with that.

 

[muncybob]

I would go for the Polk center channel that's meant to go with your Polk towers. It should sound fine.

I agree with this...I have an old pair of Polk SDA-2's and matched them with a Polk center...sounds good to me. Just received a pair of Axiom speaker stands for my Axiom surrounds and it's amazing the difference 2 feet in height will make on your surrounds!

 

[bryantm3]

I agree with this...I have an old pair of Polk SDA-2's and matched them with a Polk center...sounds good to me. Just received a pair of Axiom speaker stands for my Axiom surrounds and it's amazing the difference 2 feet in height will make on your surrounds!

at the hi-fi buys, they might not have the centre channel recommended to go with the RTi8s. should i just go with whatever they recommend?

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

I think the "above ear level" rule for surrounds is so they won't "beam" at you. The idea is for surrounds to be hard to acoustically locate, so as to make a wide, "diffuse" sound behind you instead of precise soundstaging like you have from your fronts. At least I think that's why. Although we don't locate sounds behind us as precisely as those in front of us anyway - it's the way our brains are wired.

Might also help in movies where you have overhead pans (like jets flying overhead) but I don't know for sure.

FWIW, my former stand-mounted front speakers are now my surrounds and I didn't bother to raise them. Even though they're at ear level they sound pretty "diffuse" as long as they are pointed mostly forward into the room and not "toed in" toward my head. But so far I'm only listening to music, and mainly to stereo discs thru Dolby PL II.