Surrounds-Dipole or not

[DavidS]

I'm upgrading to 5.1 sound, building on my existing KEF 104s. My primary listening concern is music, but I will evolve to a home theater. My audio guy is recommending that I use dipole speakers. Would this be the best choice to just listen to music, as well. The audio guy says (and I tend to agree) that it's better to listen to most CDs/records in the two channel they were they were designed to be heard rather than to run additional speakers in surround mode. For music that is in 5.1 sound (e.g. Dual Disc), he argues that most engineers will assume dipole surrounds.

Bottom line- for listening to 5.1 audio, would the dipoles be fine, or would "regular" speakers be somehow better?

For what differenc it makes, the audio guy is recommending B&W, they I haven't looked at it closely enough in terms of model numbers.

Thanks

 

[AudioSeer]

You want direct firing speakers for surround music. Dipoles diffuse the sound and this isn't what you want for music.

There are a few audio formats that support 5.1 natively - namely SACD and DVD/A.

B&W's have their own house sound that you may or may not like. They tend to sweeten up the sound from neutral a bit in my experience. If you end up liking them or not probably depends on what kind of music that you listen to.

I would recommend visiting various high-fi shops and audition as many speakers as you can within your price range. Make sure to bring some CD's that you are already familiar with.

 

[jcPanny]

Tonal match of surrounds

Try to get surround speakers and a center that tonally match your mains. The easiest way to achieve this is to get speakers from the same manufacturer, same product line, and same driver size. This will provide better pans around the room for HT listening.

 

[DavidS]

Matching speakers

The "problem" is that I'm using my existing KEF 104s which I bought over 20 years ago but still like the sound. Even if I were to use today's KEFs, their center/surround channels aren't designed to match these speakers. So it seems reasonable to me to try to find something that will complement what I have, if that's possible.

Would it make sense for me to install both dipoles with a pair of in-wall surrounds and switch back from theater to music?

 

[nova]

Well,.. In my opinion, if you are primarily a two channel music listener and like the speakers you have now, go for the dipoles. Then enjoy two channel music and 5.1 movies,... and for the occasional 5.1, SACD, DVD-A or whatever go ahead and use the dipole. Since your center and surrounds will not be a great sonic/timbre match to your mains, you may find the more difuse sound of the dipoles will help everything blend a bit better. Personally I went from a 5.1 w/monopole surrounds to a 5.1 w/Bi-Dipole surrounds and really don't notice much,...then again I very rarely listen to 5ch music. fwiw