my current setup consists of wharfedale diamond 8.2 fronts with a marantz 6.1 sr4300 a/v receiver and a klipsch rw-12 sub. havent felt the need for a center as the "phantom" center does a good enough job. usage 50% music (stereo w/dolby pl2) 25% movies 25% games (though most important would be movies)
presently i am using my old sony system cheap bookshelves as surround speakers. am thinking of buying new surrounds but dont want to spend too much. i may be wrong but movies dont have THAT much surround info to justify spending too much.
i was thinking of either wharfedale WH2 DFS (available for approx. 120$ locally ) http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1443
or the mission mh3s bipole which is available for around $70 locally http://www.mission.co.uk/model.php?model_id=40&range_id=5&type_id=2§or_id=
there's alot of difference in the prices and the missions seem a good buy at the price. only issue is that they are rated to only 110hz and my marantz AVR has a fixed crossover of 100hz which means that there'll be a 'hole' of 10hz.
ideally if i can convince some relatives coming down from US to get diamond 8 DFS (which is for about 90$ and available locally at 3 times that price!) that would be the best i guess since they'll match tonally. but dont know if that'll be possible.
what about those sattelite speakers (that look like bose). how is their SQ? any suggestions on brands/their prices.
would you guys suggest buying a new pair or sticking to the current sony's. would i benefit from upgrading?
also what is the best position for surrounds. i always thought on side or behind the listener but just glanced thru my marantz manual and it said slightly in front which i found strange.
hi john both the mission and wharfedale models i mentioned are bipoles. in case i am unable to go for the wharfie do u suggest i get the missions or stay w/ the sony's i have currently. will they be a significant upgrade? is it v. important to have the fronts match the surrounds?
To me the most critical thing is to have the center match the fronts, but because you are not using one, that is not a consideration. There is a little more latitude with the surrounds for most situations, especially movies. Without listening to the Missions I can't predict how they will sound in your system. I would suspect that either surround brand would be a step up from your Sony speakers. Either bipole should give you a much better surround experience.
thanx once again. 1 more question if you could plz help me with - if i do go with the missions, they are rated to lows of only 110hz and my marantz AVR has a fixed crossover to the subwoofer of 100hz which means that there'll be a 'hole' or 'gap' of 10hz. will that lead to me missing out on some sounds?
The mission speaker frequency response rating is nominal at ±3db, meaning they are promising fairly flat response from 110Hz to 20,000Hz. That certainly does not mean that these speakers suddenly stop producing sound at precisely 110Hz. There is always a rolloff below (and above) the rated frequency range, so the frequencies between 110 and 100 will be heard, just not quite as loudly as any sound above 110Hz. In my opinion, this small gap will not be audible for movies and music as well.
Again, of greater concern is the possible timbral mismatch between the Warfedales in front and the missions in back. But since you've been living with the Sonys in back, I doubt that any mismatch will be greater with the missions than with the status quo. With the missions you will gain better frequency response and dispersion, and that is good.
