Thread: Rear Speakers

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Post by veltri January 10, 2005 (11 of 17)
armenian said:

For those of you who have SACD systems, what is your opinion of front vs rear speaker size relations.

I listen mostly to rock music. I had large rears(which I set to small for bass management), then switched to satellites for my "better half". The overall sound went from heavy to ping pong. Even when no obvious sounds were coming from the rears there was a noticeably lighter sound. I ended up switching back to the large rears for new kitchen appliances.

Post by bruser January 11, 2005 (12 of 17)
armenian said:

I am in the process of purchasing the additional components for expanding my two channel stereo to MC SACD, just got a pair of floor standing Sapphire ST2 Tower speakers with response down to 30Hz, nearly full range but nowhere near as large as my main speakers. For those of you who have SACD systems, what is your opinion of front vs rear speaker size relations.
Here is a quote from Telarc web page on the above topic;
"To achieve the best surround performance from music and video sources, we suggest starting with a minimum of four matched loudspeakers: one pair for the front left and right positions and one pair for the surround left and right positions. For best playback quality, the speakers should all be full-range with equal and adequate amplification for playing high-resolution audio."

Thanks,
Vahe

Given that most listener's music systems also double as home theater, full range is more than a little impractical. I have a pair of Axiom QS8's in the rear that do an excellent job on both multichannel music requiring discrete placement of sound sources and movies too. But if cost is no object and you have a large enough room, I would go for the five full range speakers.

bruser

Post by armenian January 11, 2005 (13 of 17)
Given that most listener's music systems also double as home theater, full range is more than a little impractical. I have a pair of Axiom QS8's in the rear that do an excellent job on both multichannel music requiring discrete placement of sound sources and movies too. But if cost is no object and you have a large enough room, I would go for the five full range speakers.
That may be true in most cases. I have my music system in its own room with no TV, to me these two do not mix and offer nothing in common. The room itself is fairly large, 27'x18' with sloped ceiling 8' to 14'. The main speakers easily fill this volume despite acoustical treatment over 50% of wall sufaces. In selecting the rear speakers I faced two issues, first they had to be full range, the ones that I got go down to 30Hz, not full range but close enough for classical music where the rear speakers are primarily for ambience. The other issue is how well do the rear speakers deal with the room volume. The answer for that one will have to wait until I setup the system.
I am findig out that expanding a very large stereo system to SACD is co$tly indeed.

Thanks,
Vahe

Post by eesau January 16, 2005 (14 of 17)
Hi,

Telarc recommend using full range speakers because they mix players/performers all around. So if you plan buying a lot of their SACDs, then get true full range speakers to the back.

If you mostly listen to classical music (or Chesky's excellent multi-channel SACDs), there is no point of having full range speakers in the back. Typically your amplifier can adjust the subwoofer level to suit the smaller rear speakers. Getting speakers from the same manufacturer/series is recommended.

Now, if I were to buy a new set of speakers, I would buy five similar speakers + two subwoofers and a multi-channel amplifier that can do proper bass management. Hmm ... or actually six speakers + an amplifier that can use the middle rear channel also for 5.1 audio. This is because rear localization is almost impossible without a middle rear channel and some (stupid?) engineers try to mix intruments to your rear. This has happened e.g. in Diana Krall's "Girl from Another Room" where there is a very good sounding guitar right behind you ... but some people don't localize it to the back and I have some problems with it, too

Esa

Post by armenian January 16, 2005 (15 of 17)
eesau said:

Telarc recommend using full range speakers because they mix players/performers all around. So if you plan buying a lot of their SACDs, then get true full range speakers to the back.

If you mostly listen to classical music (or Chesky's excellent multi-channel SACDs),

I mostly listen to classical music, Telarc is not one of my preferred labels, do not care too much for their classical artists and their mostly dry acoustics. I bought number of Mahler and Bruckner symphonies on Telarc, never again. That said, Telarc is one of my favorite jazz labels. I will check out Chesky's.

Thanks,
Vahe

Post by armenian January 18, 2005 (16 of 17)
If you mostly listen to classical music (or Chesky's excellent multi-channel SACDs), there is no point of having full range speakers in the back.
I checked Chesky's website, they have a little writeup on SACD setups, here is what they consider "full range" speakers in this context:
"let’s move on to the next qualifier -- do you have FIVE full range speakers? By "full-range" I mean floorstanding or substantial bookshelf speakers, speakers with 6-inch or larger woofers."

Thanks,
Vahe

Post by mdt March 17, 2005 (17 of 17)
eesau said:

Hi,

This is because rear localization is almost impossible without a middle rear channel and some (stupid?) engineers try to mix intruments to your rear. This has happened e.g. in Diana Krall's "Girl from Another Room" where there is a very good sounding guitar right behind you ... but some people don't localize it to the back and I have some problems with it, too

Esa

Did you set up the rear speakers at the correct angles (the amp, if at all, can only compensate the distance, not the angle)? How about listening room treatment, even simple stereo requires treatment of first order reflections for good localization, much more so with multichannel!

As for the "stupid engineer": if he can read a score and see brass being placed in the corners of a concert hall e.g. in a large scale requiem, or a mass written for several choirs distributed throughout a church, then i dont see why he is stupid if he uses suround channels to realize what the score demands.

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