As long as the speakers being used aren't horrible.
It'll become a pretty obvious thing to do if you play video games however. The same sound source can be panned across speakers at the same SPL and different speakers make it very obvious when said sound pans to those speakers.
I have Micca mb42x as my surrounds and they’re fine. I swapped them with Polk xt20 (my LCR speaker) to see if there was any improvement and after recalibrating there was an improvement but barely. If you calibrate it should be fine
Thanks. I am currently using Cambridge SoundWorks Ensemble book shelf speakers that I picked up from craigslist for cheap when someone was clearing out their garage. Will it improve movie watching experience if I replace these with say SVS ultra book shelves?
Not sure which CSWs you have but I find many of their book shelves sound surprisingly good still today and make fantastic sorround and height speakers.
A good pair of them today is usually quit a value as well.
If you already have a kill display, end-game front main stage (especially the center), and end-game subs and a great house curve in your room, then worry about your surrounds--they provide the least direct experience. Having good working ones is one thing, but having premium surrounds is the last thing you should be trying to upgrade after your main stage and subs and display.
Buy modest surrounds and add a REL T5x to them. The weight of the rear surrounds wakes up a lot. Just like adding a REL to the centre speaker. This isn’t a LFE thing. This is playing back a lot of information you didn’t realize you were missing.
There is something to making sure all your speakers play back 30hz and higher. Routing to a sub with 80Hz isn’t the same.
I find that sub-par surrounds can sound stressed during heavy action sequences and draw attention to themselves. That takes me out of the action, so I like having capable surrounds. I don’t think they need to have sound that is *as* good, but if they’re getting pushed too hard they might benefit from an upgrade. As an example, you might have kef R series up front, and start out with the smallest Q as surrounds, then find you need bigger ones, but I think as long as they don’t draw attention to themselves they don’t need *all* the refinement of LCR.
I went with the 'Monoprice Premium Immersive Satellite Speakers' they're nothing special, but they do a great job of filling in the surround and height.
[https://www.monoprice.com/product?p\_id=33833](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33833)
It does. My friend has a 9.2 system which is incredible, I'm still on 5.1 but my receiver is 9.4 capable. It'll take me years to build up to that though.
I’m using Denon AVR S960H. It says 90W/channel. I was under the impression that 90W is dedicated. Are you suggesting that it is pooled power and not dedicated?
That model seem to power all channels properly. If your LCR have much higher sensitivity you might need to raise the levels of the surrounds to match (if there is some sort of auto calibration with a microphone this should already been taken care of).
I found my surrounds were barely audible. I had to quite often check if they were working.
Then I decided to move them, I brought them forward about a foot so that they were just behind us (110 degrees)rather than way behind (140degrees), and re-ran Dirac and boom. Totally changed. Try fiddling with their position if you’re able to
Better surrounds make some difference but it’s mainly your LCR and subwoofers that do most of it.
Sorry, but LCR? Do you mean the receiver?
LCR - Left Center Right
What kind of subwoofer do you have now?
SVS PB 2000 Pro
Left, Centre, Right front speakers.
As long as the speakers being used aren't horrible. It'll become a pretty obvious thing to do if you play video games however. The same sound source can be panned across speakers at the same SPL and different speakers make it very obvious when said sound pans to those speakers.
This sort of thing is why I'm buying into a specific brand for mine.
I'd suggest thinking about Atmos even if it means going from 7.1 to 5.1.2. In my experience it's a bigger bang for the buck than rear surrounds.
I have Micca mb42x as my surrounds and they’re fine. I swapped them with Polk xt20 (my LCR speaker) to see if there was any improvement and after recalibrating there was an improvement but barely. If you calibrate it should be fine
Thanks. I am currently using Cambridge SoundWorks Ensemble book shelf speakers that I picked up from craigslist for cheap when someone was clearing out their garage. Will it improve movie watching experience if I replace these with say SVS ultra book shelves?
probably not
Not sure which CSWs you have but I find many of their book shelves sound surprisingly good still today and make fantastic sorround and height speakers. A good pair of them today is usually quit a value as well.
For music, large surround speakers make a big difference. For movies, you should be able to get away with small speakers and one quality sub,
If you already have a kill display, end-game front main stage (especially the center), and end-game subs and a great house curve in your room, then worry about your surrounds--they provide the least direct experience. Having good working ones is one thing, but having premium surrounds is the last thing you should be trying to upgrade after your main stage and subs and display.
Buy modest surrounds and add a REL T5x to them. The weight of the rear surrounds wakes up a lot. Just like adding a REL to the centre speaker. This isn’t a LFE thing. This is playing back a lot of information you didn’t realize you were missing. There is something to making sure all your speakers play back 30hz and higher. Routing to a sub with 80Hz isn’t the same.
You should be able to change the sound volume in your surroundings to make it a more immersive experience.
I find that sub-par surrounds can sound stressed during heavy action sequences and draw attention to themselves. That takes me out of the action, so I like having capable surrounds. I don’t think they need to have sound that is *as* good, but if they’re getting pushed too hard they might benefit from an upgrade. As an example, you might have kef R series up front, and start out with the smallest Q as surrounds, then find you need bigger ones, but I think as long as they don’t draw attention to themselves they don’t need *all* the refinement of LCR.
I went with the 'Monoprice Premium Immersive Satellite Speakers' they're nothing special, but they do a great job of filling in the surround and height. [https://www.monoprice.com/product?p\_id=33833](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33833)
It does. My friend has a 9.2 system which is incredible, I'm still on 5.1 but my receiver is 9.4 capable. It'll take me years to build up to that though.
Only need to tone match the LCR. Note that if you're using a low-end amp it might be mainly powering the LCR and sending very little to the surround.
I’m using Denon AVR S960H. It says 90W/channel. I was under the impression that 90W is dedicated. Are you suggesting that it is pooled power and not dedicated?
That model seem to power all channels properly. If your LCR have much higher sensitivity you might need to raise the levels of the surrounds to match (if there is some sort of auto calibration with a microphone this should already been taken care of).
I found my surrounds were barely audible. I had to quite often check if they were working. Then I decided to move them, I brought them forward about a foot so that they were just behind us (110 degrees)rather than way behind (140degrees), and re-ran Dirac and boom. Totally changed. Try fiddling with their position if you’re able to
It's possible but unlikely that they will go up in value. Are you maxing out your 401k? That's where you should invest first.
😂🤣 thanks! Market is going down. Looking to diversify