Need advice choosing rear speakers

[JohnnyEF]

Need advice choosing Energy rear speakers

Currently my 5.1 home theater system consist of an older yamaha RX-V2092 receiver, two energy C-4 main towers, one energy center speaker, and one engery subwoofer. I am missing rear speakers and not sure what type and brand of speakers would be best for my system. Is it necessary to get energy rear speakers? Mostly the system would be used for watching movies, and somtimes music.

I am looking to spend under $300.00. The room size is around 15"x16".
Is the sound quality different from satellite speakers vs book shelf? I am not sure what I need, directional or bipolar? I do not have a shelf or stand for the rear speakers. Is it true the rear speakers need to be above the listener for the surround effect? I was hoping if I purchased satellite speakers it would come with some type of mount. I just want to make sure the quality of the sound is not decreased by getting satellite speakers vs bookshelf. But satellite would probably be more convenient since they can be mounted easily without a stand or shelf. Any opinions on brand and type of speaker for my system would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[zumbo]

If it were my system, I would stay with the same brand. As far as type, it's preference.

 

[tbewick]

To get good integration you probably should try to get the same brand but I've found using similar driver sizes (e.g. 6 inch, 8 inch) in each speaker gives reasonable results. For good integration the speakers should be placed in similar acoustical environments. You can tell how good the integration is when you run test tones through the speakers. The tones from all the speakers should sound the same.

I'd recommend dipole rears if you are going to sit near to the speakers. Using monopolar (normal) speakers can sound distracting if you sit near them. Tripole designs act like a combination of dipole and monopole.

Bookshelf speakers would probably add more bass than satellites. Whether you need this or not depends on the film you're listening to. Some films do make use of full bass range in the rears, e.g. Saving Private Ryan, probably the Star Wars films.

The speakers are best positioned slightly above ear level, around 1-2 feet. Putting them in a more reverberant part of the room may help the surround effect.

 

[AudioSeer]

It's better to stick with speakers from the same line because they are usually timbre matched.

That being said, the timbre that you hear from speakers changes radically as you move them into different positions in the room. Matching the 2 surround speakers in a 5.1 system is not nearly as important as matching left, right and center channels.

At the moment I am running different rear surrounds then my fronts and it isn't that big of a deal (ATC fronts & B&W surrounds).

If you want to listen to multichannel music, then directional is the way to go. Otherwise it's a matter of preference.

For multichannel music, it is best to match the rear surrounds with the left and right channels. For home theater, only about 10% of the sound comes out of the rear surrounds so it doesn't really matter.

Personally I would try to find some used Energy speakers from the same line on Ebay.

 

[JohnnyEF]

Energy rear speakers

I appreciate the replies thank you. Anyone recommend a model of rear energy surround speakers that will work well with my front energy C-4's. I am not familiar with the energy line.

Thank you again

 

[AVRat]

The C-R3 or C-R1 would be preferred. If you can find them, you can probably get a deal to meet your budget as the Connoisseur line is being revamped. http://www.energy-speakers.com/v2/products/product-line.php?id=4