[TJHUB]

I'm moving to a new home late next month.  My current 5.2 setup has in-wall surrounds that are staying behind.  My new room is flexible, but I'm thinking surface mount speakers directly to the sides of the main position.  I don't need to match my Salk fronts and center, but I'd like something nice.  I know nothing of bi-pole or di-pole speakers. 

I'm not sure what to say about budget.  My setup is primarily for 2-channel music, but I use it for TV and some movies.  I don't need anything special.

Any ideas of what I should consider?

[jarcher]

I'm inclined to think that the side surrounds are not that critical as often there's just not that much information coming out there.  And I use Magenpan MMG's custom mounted for L/R surrounds, so you'd think that if anyone was going to notice a big difference vs what I was using before (old bi/dipole RVSS Energy's), it would be me.  People do make an issue of going with the same manufacturer w/ the same drivers to "timbre match" the fronts, but I think that's really most critical between the center channel & L/R where the vast majority of sound info is coming from.

To me maybe the most important decision is direct or di / bi pole.  The usual "direct" ones (presumably what you had for in-walls) are as the name implies going to give you the most directional sound, whereas the di / dipoles are going to "throw" the sound a bit more, presumably giving more ambience / air to the surround info.  I tried to have it both ways w/ the MMG's, which are dipoles by nature, but also very resolving.  Besides that I had a preference for dipole types as I experimented with a normal & detailed direct speaker (Totem Dreamcatcher bookshelves) and it was a bit TOO directional. 

Re: placement I think ideally it's about 2 feet above ear level and behind you a bit.  Don't recall the exact ideal degree of angle above and behind, but you get the idea. Probably not super critical as long as the speakers are not too low (blocked sound) or too high (unnatural / sound bounce off ceiling / etc). Automated room correction (Audessy / etc) helps to deal with sound levels & eq.

With all of the above said, Salk Veracity HT on wall or dipole / bipoles would be the most obvious choice for your Veracity front three channels.  Depending on how much home theater / video you do, if you've got the coin, I say go for it - and I'd pay the extra money for the HT dipole / dipole.  Sometimes these can even be wired for 7 channel use - i.e. front facing are surround L/R, back facing are rear L/R. Don't know if Salk's Veracity HT home theater di/bi pole does that, but knowing Salk, he could probably do it for you.

Most stuff out there on blu ray is still 5.1 channel, but more & more on 7.1 channel - or you can use your receiver with one of the modes such as PLIIX to add the rear two surround back channels even to 5.1 channel for full 7.1.  This is what I do for added ambience. 

[TJHUB]

Thanks for the detailed response.  I thought about contacting Jim for surrounds, but I'm just not inclined to spend more money to match what I've got up front.  I don't like multichannel music, so timbre matching is much less important for my needs. 

My in-walls were never impressive sounding, but they got the job done.  I didn't have the best placement (too high), and they were absolutely too directional.  I like the idea of bi-poles to try out.

I was looking around a bit, and was thinking maybe a pair of Klipsh bi-poles might work.  But is there something that might be better for similar cost? 

[gregcss]

For $165/pr you may want to look into Philharmonic Audio's upgraded pioneer speaker. According to the description they were designed to pair with Philharmonic speakers as surrounds.

http://philharmonicaudio.com/folio-me/html/Phil%20Pages/AALS.html

[TJHUB]

For $165/pr you may want to look into Philharmonic Audio's upgraded pioneer speaker. According to the description they were designed to pair with Philharmonic speakers as surrounds.

http://philharmonicaudio.com/folio-me/html/Phil%20Pages/AALS.html

I saw those.  I think I'd rather get something designed to hang on the wall, and bi-pole as well. 

[jarcher]

I like the SVS ultra surround because it can be run as bipolar, dipole, or discretely for 7.1. But they are $600' each. My only concern with klipsch is they may be a bit bright, and the only cheap ones are the s-10 & s-20, which have dual side firing tweeters, but the midrange is single forward firing. The reference series on up which have a full 4 drivers per speaker also cost $600 each, and I'd got for the svs ultra instead at that price. Full  di/bi poles are not cheap because essentially each speaker is two speakers in one enclosure.

Or buy used.  The energy rvss di/bi pole I had were under $200 a pair and were very smooth and very well built (early 90s Canadian built - not the cheapo plasitcky ones that came later).

[mresseguie]

TJ,

I've got a barely used pair of PSB Image S5 bipole surround speakers sitting in their boxes. They fell victim to WAF issues almost immediately after I bought them. They're just about one year old, but they've been boxed for all but one month. They are $899/pair new. I haven't tried to sell them because I'm not entirely certain what I want to do with them, but your predicament prompted me to post this.

If these sound interesting, perhaps we can come to an agreement. My zip is 97330.

Michael

[srb]

Underwood HiFi is selling new LSA1 OW on-wall speakers for $700/pr (MSRP $1300/pr) with front-mounted monopole / bipole / dipole switches and 5-3/4" depth.

Steve

[mcgsxr]

Some good advice here so far.

Two questions:

1 Your old in walls would have produced a very defined surround effect, allowing you to isolate where those sounds were coming from, did you like that?

2 Do you mostly listen to music or movies in surround?

I run Paradigm ADP-190's as my surrounds, as I mostly use them for movies, and prefer a diffuse surround effect.

They are dipoles.

[dminches]

Terry, what did you end up getting?

I am not thrilled with my surround set up. I love my Vandersteen 5As, but I think my other 5 channels are good, but not great. I have a VCC-5 and 4 VSm-1s. I think I could benefit from replacing the center and 2 side speakers.

[TJHUB]

Terry, what did you end up getting?

I am not thrilled with my surround set up. I love my Vandersteen 5As, but I think my other 5 channels are good, but not great. I have a VCC-5 and 4 VSm-1s. I think I could benefit from replacing the center and 2 side speakers.

Things have changed significantly for me, so I am now doing things much differently.  I moved into a different home 7 weeks ago.  My audio setup is now going to be in an almost dedicated room, and my home theater setup is now in a family room.  I am primarily a 2-channel guy, and my HT setup has always been fun (dual 18" LMS Ultra subs), but I'm not so particular about HT sound as long as it's fun to listen to. 

I am now using some cheap Emotiva speakers for the front 3, and I bought Polk OWM5's for the rear surrounds.  I started this thread wondering if I should try di-pole, or bi-pole surrounds, but after all of my research and desired mounting location lead me to direct speakers on the back wall.  The Polk OWM's just made a lot of sense for the money. 

It will be a month or so before I even hook them up.  I am remodeling the new home room by room starting with the bedrooms and living room first.  Then I will get to the family room, and it's getting some drywall work and cabinets on the wall I plan to mount the surrounds on to.  I hope they work out.  I know they're not the best, but I think I will find them more than satisfactory. 

My bigger issue lies in the fact that I will be attempting to run full-range with my audio speakers, so I'm considering a change there.  I just don know to what at the moment.  I'm a huge Salk fan, so I will likely stay in the family. 

[dminches]

My bigger issue lies in the fact that I will be attempting to run full-range with my audio speakers, so I'm considering a change there.  I just don know to what at the moment.  I'm a huge Salk fan, so I will likely stay in the family.

What do you mean by "attempting?"  Weren't you running full ranger speakers before?

What amps are you going to be using?

[TJHUB]

What do you mean by "attempting?"  Weren't you running full ranger speakers before?

What amps are you going to be using?

I've always ran with subs for 2-channel.  Too many reasons to explain.  I currently have Salk HT2-TL's with a matching center channel.  I have only liked EQ'd bass in the past, and just running any speaker full-range falls victim to the room's acoustics.  I don't know yet how my new room is going to react.  I really hope it's good.

I run a pair of Odyssey Statos Extreme monos for my mains. 

[dminches]

Gotcha. The Vandy 5As each have a built in sub so that covers the entire range of frequencies.

I was listening to I'm An Old Cowhand (Sonny Rollins - Way about West) on vinyl. I have never heard such deep and full bass. That's my biggest beef with digital. I can't get the same bass as I can with vinyl.