I'm in the process of choosing speakers and was thinking about the rear surround channel in a 7.1 setup.

I've auditioned dipoles for the left and right surround channels, and greatly prefer them.

I've listened to direct and dipoles for the rear channels, and didn't have a strong preference. What are the advantages and disadvantages of direct speakers and dipoles for the rear channels in a 7.1 system? What should I listen for to hear the difference between the two choices?

Listen to pan effects across the back. It's pretty hard to hear stuff behind you and localize it effectively anyway. It may be you won't hear much difference between the types of speakers for this location, I can't really think of major advantages/disadvantages for either one in a 7.1 setup.

Spiky,

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking that since I haven't heard much of a difference, I might go for the direct, as I could use those for Music, SACD. I believe the Denon receiver I'm looking at, AVR3805, will allow me to use those for Music. I'll take a closer look at the manual online.

Thanks!

If you're "canny" you could use both; use speakers A for films (di/tripoles) and B for music (direct) and select them for their respective inputs. Then again you could just do what I do - use A and B together (dipoles), making sure, of course, they're at least 8 Ohm impedance (and preferably the same model).

The vast majority of home theater environments are not ideally tuned for surround sound, and more often than not there is a window, door or artwork, where one or more of the surround speakers should technically go. I have found dipoles to sound lopsided in most non engineered theater applications, Wherefore I generally go with direct radiating in-wall/ceiling speakers like Triads In-Ceiling Gold/6 Omnis [Link: triadspeakers.com] .

RTI Installer,

This room is purpose built for home theater. Double Doors in the Rear Center of the room. No other windows or doors to worry about. I have 100% flexibility in placement of speakers.

Lucky you.

Hmmm, attach them directly to your ears, quit wasting time!!

dipoles dude.. seriously for surronds and rears you should use dipoles

for 7.1, i find that monopoles work best for all 4. your preference for dipoles for 5.1 would likely be different for 7.1

THX Ultra 2 specs call for dipole on the sides and two monopole speakers in the rear (side by side). The purpose for monopoles in the rear is for music modes, as music is mixed with monopoles. With that said, most installs I do for theaters involves four dipole speakers and I think it sounds great.

Truth is you can go either way. Monopole speakers are quite often cheaper than dipole speakers.

Matt

Thanks for the opinions...

After listening to them, I decided the best thing to do was listen, and make my own decision. I got the local dealer to allow me to take both direct and dipoles, and set the system up with each, and played with them for a weekend.

I decided that I preferred the dipoles in the room for both the side and rear surrounds. Even for music I preferred the dipoles. (This really surprised me.)

Again, thanks for the opinions. I would suggest others deal with a good reputable dealer who will allow you to listen to your options in your room. (In case you can't glean what I'm after, This means Best Buy, Circuit City, and the like are not the people to deal with!)

What receiver(s) have Speaker A and B on their rears, and are these switches separate from Speaker A and B on the mains?


Stretiak and diesel have good comments about this. I have always found that dipoles smeared the sound, so would not be good for rears. They would probably be better for sides, though, because rear is rear for everyone, so a point sound in the back would always sound like it came from the right place, while point sources on the sides would be too far forward for some people and too far forward for others (assuming two or more rows of chairs).

I know this is my first post and all but it's this thread that has driven me to post.

I was wrestling with this and auditioned a lot of speakers.

I found that the infinity qps-1 speakers work the best out of a slew of speakers...

I tried Onkyo and Sony, Panasonic, Polk and a whole bunch more in different styles dipoles or bipoles...

The Infinity set that I mentioned have four speakers per unit. Each speaker is is off center and slightly angled as to spread the sound.

I only saw one mention of bipoles in this whole thread. I have bipoles for my surrounds and they sound great for both movies and music. I listen to multi channel music almost exclusively (DVDA and SACD). I have over a 100 albums in my current and growing collection.

I suppose if I upgraded my system to 7.1 from 5.1 I would purchase full range floor standers for the rears and use my bipoles for the surround sides.