Confused about back surround speakers

[ModBoyzz]

Hey guys,

I recently purchased some Polk FXi3's.I originally bought these because I want to upgrade to 7.1 from my existing 5.1 setup and I thought the price was a steal at $200.00. Heres my main question, would it make sense to use these speakers as a back surround? Im currently using Polk R50's for mains and surrounds and a Csi3 for the center. My sofa is against the rear wall. Which is one of the reasons that I purchased the Fxi3's. But now that I think about it, being set at Bipolar, wouldnt the sound seem as if theyre coming from my surround speakers? (R50's). I was thinking about ordering some R15's instead to use as back surrounds, and sell the fxi3's, would this be my best option?

Thanks in advance.

[VR3]

Stick with the FXi30 (or whatever u bought) for surrounds...

They have a switch, u can switch it to bipole or dipole...

[Early B.]

Return the Fxi3's or sell a pair of your R50's. If your sofa is against the rear wall, stick with a 5.1 setup.

[Tour2ma]

You've got them so try them in different combinations and locations. Just don't commit any to permanent mounting until you are happy.... use ladders, chairs, whatever during the test period.

[malikarshad]

Originally posted by Early B.
Return the Fxi3's or sell a pair of your R50's. If your sofa is against the rear wall, stick with a 5.1 setup.
I agree. I had the same situation with my setup. I ended up with 5.1 setup and i like it that way. I spend endless day experimenting with various setups with 7.1 but in the end 5.1 is the way to go for me.
BTW I have Fxi50's set in dipole mode if that helps. Experiment it. That's the best way you'll know what sounds good in your environment.

[ModBoyzz]

If I am able to move the sofa up about 2-3 feet away from the rear wall, will that be enough to go 7.1?

[Early B.]

What are your room dimensions?

I used to have a 7.1 setup with my sofa on the back wall. I thought it sounded good for a while, but once I reverted to 5.1, it sounded better. A 7.1 setup is not really designed for the "typical" consumer. You gotta have a rather large room (ideally one that's a dedicated HT room) and a wonderful WAF to take advantage of 7.1. Space is the critical issue here. That's why it's called "surround sound."

[ModBoyzz]

approximately 15x12x8

[ModBoyzz]

bump..

[Dennis Gardner]

A nice rule is to use 7.1 if you can set the sides even or behind your seating and still have roughy the same amount of distance back to the rears. If you can't be equidistant, to all speakers in your system, then 5.1 would be better. 7.1 was ideally made for long rooms with your seating in the center. I run 7.1 in my 30 ft. room as as I sit around 14 feet back. I run 5.1 in the living room since the rears are beside the sofa.

(I know that you can set speaker distances in your receiver, but this still doesn't beat a good setup to begin with.)

[ModBoyzz]

Excellent, Thanks again for all the replies, guys.

I'm gonna go ahead and sell the fxi3's and stick to 5.1

:)