surrounds? and or bookshelf speakers?

[vikings22]

hi eveyone, need advice on surrounds and bookshelf speakers. right now i have polk- rt800i's as my mains. polk- cs400i as my center. looking to upgrade my rears, which are some yamaha's. i listen to and watch music and dvd's about the same. do i go with surround speakers for both surrounds and rears, our mix it up. i have been reading some threads and noticed everyone seems to stick with one brand on speakers. something about blending? thanks for any advice.

[Whadyasay]

Some of it may depend on placement. If you intend to have your suround speakers directly to the side (or a little rearward), dipolar/bipolar surrounds like the polk FX models create a nice wide soundfield...so it doesn't sound like the surround material is coming from right next to your ear, but rather all around you. Regular small bookshelf models are fine for the rear surrounds. Some people prefer direct-radiating bokshelf speakers for the surrounds when listening to multi-channel SACD because the audio material is intended to be more specific...supposedly. I would recommend bookshelf speakers if your surround will be mounted more than four feet rearward of your main listening position. Wall mounts with the ability to swivel a bit would probably be ideal so that you can point them forward a small amount.

[vikings22]

any suggestions on surround/bookshelf speakers? polk, def. tech,or others?

[malikarshad]

The best is to stick with the same type of driver and tweeter for best timber matching. I personally prefer the polk FX bipole/dipole speaker for the versatility of placement choices. I personally won't use mix/match different makes or different line of speakers but that's just me.

[vikings22]

anybody using either of these- polk fxi5 or polk rti6? if so, what do you think of them?

[malikarshad]

I have Rti6 in my computer system and they sound great to me. I like the sound of new Rti tweeters. The bass is also very good for a bookshelf.
I had Fxi50 the older version of Fxi5 when I had the Rti HT setup and man they are very good surround speakers. I used them in Dipole mode most of the time and had a very good enveloping surround effect.