Home Theater Speaker Advice


I am upgrading my home theater and would like your opinions on speakers. The theater is 20' X 20' and based around a Rotel RSX-1065. It will primarily be used for video (I have separate audio listening room). I am considering two types of speaker systems:

1) Paradigm Reference Studios 100, Studio Dipoles and Reference Studio Center Channel.

2) Triangle Zays with matching CC and direct reflecting Triangle speakers.

Which of these two systems will mate well with the Rotel ?

Your advice will be appreciated.
erider

Showing 1 response by jaytor

I'll offer an alternative perspective. If you like to listen to concert DVDs, etc., where the surround channels are recorded as part of the concert, then I agree with the above recommendations for identical speakers all around. But for the vast majority of movie soundtracks, the surround information is added after-the-fact and is independent of the front channel information. The sound engineer expects a diffuse surround field - most movie theaters have close to a dozen surround speakers. This is why many (most) surround speakers are designed as dipoles.

From my experience, these dipole wall-mounted surround speakers rarely come close to being timbre matched with their corresponding front channel speakers. (the Revel Ultima system I was using in my previous theater is a good example). But the good news is that this doesn't really detract from the home theater experience for the reasons discussed above.

The acoustic energy that your surround speakers must deliver is also significantly lower than the requirements of the front speakers. While you can get away with a monitor speaker for L/R/C, I've found that a full-range speaker at least for L/R will produce a sound that has more impact and is more involving than a monitor/sub. (I still highly recommend a sub for the LFE channel).

So, I'd recommend that you spend most of your money on the L/R/C/sub speakers, and just get some decent speakers for the surround speakers, not necessarily matching the L/R/C or even from the same manufacturer. In my new theater (http://www.jaytorborg.com/home_theather_main.htm), I'm using Revel F50/C50 for L/R/C and a two pairs of inexpensive B&W speakers for the surrounds.

I'm not familiar with the Triangle speakers, but I liked what I heard from the Paradigms.