Rear Speakers

Posted by: Stuart M on 03 July 2003

Have tried with a Yamaha DSP-E800,
SBL + Phantom Centre + IBL Rears.
SBL + Pair IBL Centre + £100 mono pole rears,
SBL + Pair IBL Centre + MS903 Dipoles

NAP 140 for IBLs

Best effect was with the dipoles, The non focused and reflected rear sound was far more natural, the IBL's were good but way to precise as rears and made things sound artificial (on the other hand they could have just exposed how arificial suround sound is).

What rears would you recomend with SBL's
If I moved to 7.1 would this overcome the problems with mono pole speakers

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.

Posted on: 03 July 2003 by Two-Sheds

I have a 5.1 setup with mono pole speakers and know what you mean when the sound behind you is too directional. Part of the problem in my case (and maybe yours) is the room. In my (old) room the rear speakers were very close to me and sometimes the sound from behind me was too directional.

A friend has a much larger room with a 5.1 setup (again with mono pole speakers), but because of the size of the room you sit roughly equi-distant from all speakers and this sounds much better. I've just moved and haven't set up my home cinema yet, but in my new room I can put the rears much further back and they will be almost equi-distant from my seating position as the fronts and I'm looking forward to getting more out of them.

Posted on: 04 July 2003 by Stuart M

Thanks for the advice. Tried the rears pointing to the corners but the dipoles are still better so will be sticking with them for a while until I reorganise the room. Should be able to get something sorted as it's 19' by 15'

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.

Posted on: 04 July 2003 by Bob Shedlock

Can you get Cambridge Audio products in the UK?
I think their web site is www.hifi.com. They make a wonderful set of surround sound rears that are switchable from bi to mono. They're in the "Newton series".