Rti8's for rear surrounds

[rdcraig]

I have a pair of RT1000i's for fronts, Csi30 center, and a psw202 sub. Right now i have a pair of Bose 141 (I know don't laugh, I fell for the BS advertising prior to investigating) bookshelf speakers for the rears. Have a Onkyo 595 receiver. Would the 8's be OK for a set of rears? I have the room for them,even though I have a small living rm (15x20x8). Don't want any over kill just to top the system off with a set of good rear surrounds.
Anyone else used these as surrounds or any advice?

[okiepolkie]

Welcome to the forum.
The RTi8's should make good rear surrounds for music and movies.
BTW, it is okay that you have Bose, but is even better that you have realized your mistake and are trying to fix it.

[gmorris]

The RTi8's are floorstanding, tower type speakers.

Surround channels are supposed to be mounted ~3 feet higher than your ears in your seated listening position, meaning they are generally mounted to the wall, or placed on tall stands.

So, from a technical point of view, tower speakers are not good for surrounds because they position the drivers too low.

But, if you don't want to fool around with mounting speakers on your wall or getting a tall stand, then sure, go ahead and use the 8's. They will sound just fine. It is not optimum, but if it sounds good to you, then that is all that matters.

[Early B.]

The 8's would make awesome surround speakers.

[faster100]

Lets make centers as mains, and towers are surrounds, and subs as center channels... LOL

They all have a place, what they were made for..However it's your setup and no one knows what it will sound like better then you trying it for size your self.. I myself stick with what they were intened for for looks and optimal sound, I would buy surrounds and save the towers for later, or another rig.. :)

[PolkThug]

Sounds like a great idea. Ideally, we want to hit as much of the audible spectrum from EVERY channel (except sub). However, due to space and monetary constraints, we end up with 'little' surround speakers. One of the coolest systems I've seen had fullrange speakers all the way around which included 12" subs in the surrounds. There is also a polkie here who was Lsi15's as surrounds.

One problem that can happen though is that your seating will be somewhat blocking the sound trajectory of the rear RTi8's, so you may need to find a way to raise them up.

Regards,
PolkThug

[gmorris]

Originally posted by faster100
They all have a place, what they were made for..However it's your setup and no one knows what it will sound like better then you trying it for size your self.. I myself stick with what they were intened for for looks and optimal sound, I would buy surrounds and save the towers for later, or another rig.. :)

Agreed.

Although, I bet 5 center channel speakers + a sub would make a very good 5.1 speaker system.

[Early B.]

A friend of mine has towers as surrounds and it sounds great. Sounds just as good as my surrounds which are mounted 6.5 feet high on the side walls. More bass, more impactful, yada, yada, yada...

I'd go with towers as surrounds, but my room won't accomodate them. You need at least several feet of space behind the listening position to make it work.

[tryrrthg]

The perfect surround sound set up would be having the SAME speaker for all channels. But for most people this just doesn't work.

[gmorris]

Originally posted by tryrrthg
The perfect surround sound set up would be having the SAME speaker for all channels. But for most people this just doesn't work.

I'll agree with this if we're talking about surround music, but I disagree if we're talking about HT movies.

For movies, you don't really need a full range speaker in the surround position. As long as the drivers are the same, i.e. speakers from the same model range, R series, RTi series and so on, that is good enough.

Most, I repeat most, info in the surround is just background noise or effects. When was the last time there was a bomb exploding in the surround channel?

[tryrrthg]

Originally posted by gmorris
Most, I repeat most, info in the surround is just background noise or effects. When was the last time there was a bomb exploding in the surround channel?
How would you know if you don't need a full range speaker in the surrounds if you've never experienced it? How do you know there's not full range material coming from your surrounds if you've never had full range speakers for surrounds?

Originally posted by gmorris
I'll agree with this if we're talking about surround music, but I disagree if we're talking about HT movies.

For movies, you don't really need a full range speaker in the surround position. As long as the drivers are the same, i.e. speakers from the same model range, R series, RTi series and so on, that is good enough.


oh, and I didn't say they all had to be full range speakers. ;)

But why wouldn't you want the same speaker for HT also? Same drivers, same freq response, same crossover. Seemless transition from one speaker to the next.

[landry_p2000]

My friend has a set of RTi10s for fronts, a set of RTi8s as surrounds, and a set of RTi70s as rears. His Center is a CSi5. They are powered by an Onkyo 801 model 7.1 channel receiver along with a PSW505 sub. The result? Awesome! His room is a huge enclosed 2 car garage, so his speakers are not blocked at all. What faster100 and gmorris said was true, but if you got the space, why not? (imo):D

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

I have tower surrounds, build some shelves though, don't want em at ear level by any means.

Nothing replaces full range or close to full range surrounds. Period. 80hz crossover sucks...

Full range all around, then the world is a good place! :p :D ;)

[PolkThug]

Try this:

1. Disconnect your center/left/right speakers.
2. Watch your favorite 'surround sound scene'. (only speakers running are the surrounds)
3. Now move your big left/right main speakers to the surround position and hook them up.
4. Watch that same scene again (sound only going through the surround channels).

Enjoy the enlightenment.

[TheReaper]

And on a smaller HT scale/budget:

13' x 15' room
R50s L/R/C
R30s on 29" stands SL/SR/RL/RR
PSW404
HK AVR630
Toshiba 42" HDRPTV

Fills the room up with sound :D

Along the way I had R15s and R20s as surrounds. The R30s (fuller range) do sound better when watching action movies. Better sounding flyovers, thunder, explosions and a better increase in sound when an effect brings up the volume on all speakers.

[gmorris]

Originally posted by TheReaper
And on a smaller HT scale/budget:

13' x 15' room
R50s L/R/C
R30s on 29" stands SL/SR/RL/RR
PSW404
HK AVR630
Toshiba 42" HDRPTV

Fills the room up with sound :D

Along the way I had R15s and R20s as surrounds. The R30s (fuller range) do sound better when watching action movies. Better sounding flyovers, thunder, explosions and a better increase in sound when an effect brings up the volume on all speakers.


R30s on 29" stands. Very cool.