surround back speaker

[tiger763]

Hello everyone I am a new member to club polk.I would like to know what type of speaker you would reccomend for a surround back speaker.I know that the sound that comes out is only bass so i was not sure if a centre channell speaker is good or is there another type of speaker?

r30 front speakers
sw350 sub
str de985 sony rec
415 sony dvd
cs130 centre
36hs500 sony tv
No surrounds yet was thinking of buying rt25i for surrounds

[Dr. Spec]

Why would a surround back (otherwise known as a rear center?) have only bass information? Anyone else here care to help - I'm not sure I understand this.

Doc

[capitan100]

I would think your surround center should be the same as your two surround speakers. f you were thinking about the rt25i's for the rears, I would think you should use the same for the center. Possible getting three instead of 2. I don't know, b/c I only have 5.1 instead of 6.1. I actually have virtual matrix 6.1, which is not the same.

I would think you would want a seamless rear just like a seamless front in terms of timbre matching and stuff. Correct me if I am wrong anyone....

[capitan100]

You would want your surround speakers to be full range types speakers. capable of high and low frequencies. These speakers are going to be sound effects and music as well. These will not produce only bass, but the whole spectrum.

[tiger763]

I went to the dolby website and what I understood was that the only signals coming out of surround back or rear centre was low frequency effects[ LFE] that the other surrounds could not handle.
If anyone can shed some light on this would be great.

[hoosier21]

Where on the Dolby site is this info? I thnk you mis-read it or something.

[HBombToo]

I think they, "Dolby", were referring to how the #6&7 channel is mixed onto the left and right surrounds. Their argument is that since the surrounds require less storage there is enough room to lay the additional information for the extra channels without impacting sound quality of the surrounds.

I also was under the impression that a good match for 6th in a 6.1 would be a speaker that would timber match the front left/right and center.

just my 2c

[Ron-P]

Are you confused on the 5.1 format and thinking that the .1 is a center surround channel?

If not, do a copy/past or provide a link to the info your reading.


Peace Out~:D

[burdette]

I've read the Dolby site before.. checked it again.... it says, in part:

With respect to home playback, the terms 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 mean that there are five, six, or seven main speakers, plus a subwoofer, in the playback system. (The subwoofer reproduces the LFE channel recorded on 5.1 soundtracks, plus any bass the main speakers cannot handle.) The difference is in the number of surround speakers: two in a 5.1 system, three in a 6.1 system, and four in a 7.1 system.

Obviously, a 5.1-channel soundtrack can be played on a 5.1-speaker system. But it is not always understood that it can also be played on a 6.1- or a 7.1-speaker system. To do this, the two surround signals on the 5.1 soundtrack are spread across the three or four surround speakers. This distribution can be accomplished by a Dolby Digital EX decoder, a THX Surround EX decoder, or other proprietary methods provided in home theater equipment by various manufacturers.

So the number (i.e., 5.1) describing the soundtrack does not have to match the number applied to the speaker system. It’'s even possible to play two-channel stereo content over these multi-speaker systems by using a matrix surround decoder such as Dolby Pro Logic® II. The delivery format and the speaker configuration are independent, and it is the decoder's job to bridge them effectively.

[tiger763]

I found the information on the dolby web site under information then scroll down to dolby digital then to technical info and mouse click on what is the LFE channel.

[shack]

This is where you made your mistake. LFE has nothing to do with the back surround. That is information that goes only to a subwoofer. Look in the example above. It is a single speaker in a 6.1 setup or two speakers in a 7.1 setup. If you are considering a 6.1 setup another cs130 or similar center channel would work well.

[Dr. Spec]

Sounds like a case of "surround confusion".

Yes, a full range signal IS sent to ALL surround channels (center, mains, surrounds), but to use full range speakers for all channels is not practical.

To compensate for this, the user will typically electronically set all speakers to "small" at the receiver (regardless of their actual physical size or bass capabilities).

The small setting redirects bass below about 100 Hz from all the surround speakers to the subwoofer. The subwoofer also gets the ".1" LFE signal. So it does double duty, if you will.

This arrangement eases the bass load on the surround speakers, and also eases the power requirements on the receiver.

Overall, the small setting results in a cleaner sound with more dynamic headroom for all the surround speakers.

Clearly, though, it also requires a darn good subwoofer, which can shoulder both the surround and the LFE bass load at the same time.

This is all generally referred to as "bass management", and is one of the most confusing aspects of HT and surround sound.

Doc

[tiger763]

Okay thanks for clearing that up.So a centre channell speaker would be better than a surround speaker for center rear?

[Dr. Spec]

Yes - a CS245i or something like it would work just fine.

Doc

[tiger763]

Thanks for you input Dr.spec.Ibought a csi130 for surround back and r15 for surround.Watched lord of the rings last nite good way to test out surrounds.I was confused about output to surrounds but thanks to this web site much clearer know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1