hi, i am looking at buying some speakers for my 7.1 980 Yamaha receiver. I was looking at 2 duel 6" jbl floor standings for the front, a duel 5 inch 3 way center, and i was going to get 5" 2 way bookshelf's for the back and sides. The crossover frequencies seem to be almost the same but i plan on playing sacd's and taking full advantage of 7.1 So im wondering if i am going to notice a difference or lack of full 7.1 sound with the 5" 2 ways when playing movies or listing to music. im just not trying to have the front and center speaker overpower the rear and sides to the point where you cant even hear them. thanks
Your front and center speakers are the main act, and the surround and rear play backup role. You'll have channel level controls for each channel so you can get the blend exactly the way you prefer, but their role is secondary in nature.
You'll be able to hear them just fine and they down drown out.
As for the timber matching, it's most important accross the front, and less so from front to back.
What Paul said is also what I thought before having timbre matching from front to back. It makes a huge difference in action movies. The surrounds play a secondary role until they are called upon; then they might be playing 100% of the content for seconds and then the sound field pans to the front. If the speakers sound different, the effect is far less convincing.
Paul is an action movie type, and one day they'll put matching CVs on the back and discover a whole new world.
Having said that, I donet know that the proposed two-way speakers will sound that different from the front array. There's no enough info to tell.
What Paul said is also what I thought before having timbre matching from front to back in my own setup. It makes a huge difference in action movies. The surrounds play a secondary role until they are called upon; then they might be playing 100% of the content for seconds and then the sound field pans to the front. If the speakers sound different, the effect is far less convincing.
Paul is an action movie type, and one day they'll put matching CVs on the back and discover a whole new world.
Having said that, I don't know that the proposed two-way speakers will sound that different from the front array. There's not enough info to tell.
The Dolby standard is for all the speakers to be the same. This is not always acceptable for home use for obvious reasons. Just keep in mind that every deviation from the standard is a compromise. At a minimum try to make sure the mains and the center use the same drivers.
I agree Peter and Tim. When I had my Paradigm Studio 40's and Mini Monitor rears something just wasn't right. As soon as I switched to Studio 20's rear everything changed for the better just like I had remembered from my previous experience with a fully timbre matched setup. It makes the whole picture totally coherent. Sounds often move from side to side or front to rear and without the match the sounds feel more random than part of a whole picture.
My two cents worth is you should decide what is more important; movies in 7.1 or SACD in 5.1. What Tim says is true for the Dolby standards; however, most people don't set their systems up to Dolby standards when dealing with a domestic room shared by the family. In general, close is good enough unless you are a fanatic about movies. If you are a fanatic about movies, then you have compromised the SACD performance as the set up for the two formats is quite different. SACD is no more than a 5.1 format and cannot be matrixed to 7.1 since you use the analog inputs on your receiver for SACD playback. You can run the digital output of your player to the digital input of your receiver, but then you are no longer playing SACD.
Audio sources from SACD strongly suggest five timbre matched full range speakers plus at least one subwoofer, preferrably two (at least). How the speakers are physically placed in your room is not the same as for DVD-video but is similar to what can be used for DVD-Audio. Your SACD player should have instructions on set up for a SACD audio system. If not you can obtain the set up off the web by putting "SACD set up", or something similar into a search engine. Depending on your musical tastes, music through a multichannel SACD system might have significant levels of full range signals through all five speakers (rock and some jazz) or it may only have ambience through the rears (mostly classical). Determining what your music will require in the way of frequency response in the rears might be a way to determine whether you want to spend the extra money for full range speakers in the rear despite what SACD recommends.
If you want to do a "correct" set up, it can't be for both DVD-video and SACD music unless you want to move speakers for each format. Some SACD discs from Telarc and Chesky eliminate the center and subwoofer channels and arrange the speaker positions to include side surrounds and front height channels. This means when you play these discs, to get the correct playback, you not only have to switch speaker locations but input signal locations. (Ain't audio fun?)
To be correct in one format will mean not being correct in the others. Your choices generally come down to being right for video, being right for audio or compromising for both.
This presents a conundrum. I have hooked up the Denon 2200 to the Denon 3803 with component video and a digital audio connection. So, this is great for HT, but it sounds like I'm not getting true SACD audio then. So, how come it sounds so much better than pre-2200. And, will it sound even better if I use analog RCA connectors, as Peter once suggested?
How do I get the best of both worlds without 1394 connection, OR, should I have bought the 3805 and 2910 after all. Ain't this a great hobby. LOL
JL
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Athena Technologies Audition AS-F2 Tower Speakers
Wich cable would you recommend for these front speakers?
Dak - SACD can only be taken from the analog outputs of the player whether you are listening in two channel or mutlichannel formats. This is a restriction of the SACD copy protection. I haven't checked into the 1394 connection to find out if it carries the SACD signal; my guess would be no, it does not, once again for the copy protection issues. If you want SACD sound, you have to run two or more cables from the analog outputs of the player.
Thanks, I figured you would say that. I'm getting up to the same values on my cabling as a pair of the dang Ascends. Again, ain't this a great hobby. OUCH