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Quality of surround and ceiling speakers

How much does quality matter for surround and ceiling speakers?  Can these be substantially less expensive than the front an center speakers?

I am interested in what people think in general, and I will give my example.

Sometime in the next year I will upgrade my surround sound processor to Trinnov Aplitude 16.   In preparation, I plan to upgrade older surround and ceiling speakers, 4 of each.

My front are Sonus Faber Serafino and the center is Sonus Faber Olympica Nova CII.  These are all relatively new.  The 2 channel preamp is Simaudio 891 and amps 2 Simaudio 761 bridged. 2 SVS SB16 subs.

I most often listen to 2 channel for music, surround system with theater bypass for movies, sports and sometimes music with video (opera, for instance).

My choice for the ceiling:  PC 582 ($650), PC 682 ($950) and PC 683 ($1050).  For the surround PL 563 ($1400) and PL 664 ($2650).  

I am inclined to go with the 5 series (~$8000) vs 6 series (~$14000).

What do people think about my choice and in general about the quality of surround and ceiling speakers compared to front, center and subs?

billsw
erik_squires
17,552 posts
 

I have not read the entire thread, but I have thoughts.  IMHO, co/tri-axial in walls are much better than 2-way MTM (Mid-Tweeter-Mid) or WTW (woofer-tweeter-woofer) arrangements due to how well they perform off-axis.  

For a surround where you may be seated in a variety of locations having excellent off-axis response is crucial.  Same is true for a Center.  If you sit in a very narrow sweet spot this is less critical, and a Center can even be excluded altogether. 

Also, really, I have a 5.1 and the flyovers are excellent due to extremely good speaker matching and room acoustics.  IMHO, height speakers are oversold unless you have a yuuuge screen. :)  

+1 on Monitor Audio by the way. 

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,468 posts
 

Last night I watched A Million Ways To Die in the West. One of the ways they made it sound grand an involve you is to use music from all speakers... and it is quite effective... immersion. So in this case much more than just special effects. 

traubr
90 posts
 

Given your current system and future direction, you are playing at a high level and I think you would be more satisfied with the better quality surround and ceiling speakers.  Will the difference be discernible and worth the added expense?  That's subjective, but I always err on the side of trying to avoid "perhaps I should have spent a bit more, as I might be missing something."  Just about 100% of what I watch is streamed, and the sound quality is compromised versus, say, a Blu Ray disc.  Some programs/ movies have better sound than others, but I prefer to maximize the opportunity to squeeze all I can from the audio with better quality all around.

With the speaker upgrades, I'm curious what you will be doing for amplification for the surrounds/ ceiling speakers?  I found an upgrade to my 2 channel stereo amp made my overall system (stereo as well as HT) perform better, and I am considering an upgrade to my Emotiva XPA Gen 3 eleven channel amp, which feeds all but the two fronts in my 7.2.4 system.

Cheers,

Robert

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