[grantc79]

Having a hard time nailing down what I wanna go with.

The most appealing bang for your buck possibility right now is Martin Logan FX because they have a ribbon sort of tweeter but they do not play very low.

http://www.amazon.com/MartinLogan-Motion-FX-Surround-Speaker/dp/B0041O5YIE

I think if I don't go that route I'm just going to have Jim build me something, but I don't wanna blow a ton of money on surround speakers considering I really need 4 of them not just 2.

I suppose I could use a couple of those on the side walls and then get a nice pair of bookshelves or towers from Jim for the back channels. At that point I'd be blowing a load of cash for surrounds though which I'm not sure makes total sense for me.

Thoughts?

[Jdgate]

You really don't need the surrounds to go that low.  I am guessing by purchasing 4 you are looking to do a 7 channel setup for movies.  Your surrounds are going  to crossover around 80hz or so with your fronts crossing over at what ever you or your room correction software sets up.  Just make sure you get a good sub.

[MikeC78]

Do you need ribbon tweeters for surrounds?  I'm looking hard at the WOW1's to go with my Veracity ST's, but I'll only need a pair on stands.

[James Romeyn]

Whatever are side and rear surrounds must be:
Matched
Mono pole (based on experience and advice from respected acoustics experts like Nyall Mellor and others, any other radiation pattern degrades performance because modern HD audio depends on directionality in the surrounds...the more diffuse the surround radiation pattern the less accurate is effects "steering"....also highly dependent on proper placement/height)
Site mid/treble drivers per Dolby's current protocol, at proper angle and height only a few inches above listener's seated heads

I don't personally know any benefit to surround bass cutoff lower than about 80-90 Hz.  Considering budget constraints, ask Jim for a dome 2-way appropriate to match your front mains.  He probably already has at least one.

My system performance dramatically improved trading four matched quasi-bipoles @ 7' height to four matched mono poles sited just a few inches above seated ear height.
 

   

[Jdgate]

If you want to go cheaper you could look at some NHT Superzero 2.1.  They run $99 a piece from NHTaudio  but every so often go on sale for 20% off.  I have SCST's and a SCSC and the NHT's were recommended to me by a few different people including Dennis for being a pretty neutral speaker that should be able to match in relatively well with the Salk's for movie surround sound duty (until I possibly get some surrounds from Jim).  They do have to be crossed over at 100hz so make sure you have a decent sub that can handle crossing over the surrounds that high (I have a ryhmik audio). 

[Saturn94]

If you want to go cheaper you could look at some NHT Superzero 2.1.  They run $99 a piece from NHTaudio  but every so often go on sale for 20% off.  I have SCST's and a SCSC and the NHT's were recommended to me by a few different people including Dennis for being a pretty neutral speaker that should be able to match in relatively well with the Salk's for movie surround sound duty (until I possibly get some surrounds from Jim).  They do have to be crossed over at 100hz so make sure you have a decent sub that can handle crossing over the surrounds that high (I have a ryhmik audio).

+1

My NHT bookshelf speakers worked very well as surrounds with my former HT2-TLs.  They also worked well with other speakers I've owned.  I think the key is using a surround speaker that's pretty neutral, like the NHT.

Btw, I'm using an NHT center as well.