this is a thread for movies, not music...i dont have my system yet or really need help on any specific components, this is really just me trying to grasp a few concepts of surround sound....these questions grew from me attempting to put together a surround sound setup very cheaply...and the "cheap" part is problable what became my downfall. Even though this thread DOES NOT have To follow any specific components, i will prob name some for the sake of examples. To start things off would like to ask this question.....which speakers give off the most sound during an actiom movie. If i were to answer this question i would say the front two speakers, but i have herd that the correct answer is the center speaker. This can get quite involved because somone could say that i am right based on loudness and power the front speakers give. However, it could be argued that it would be the center speaker because movies mainly consist of dialouge. which would bring me to my second question of what exactly is the role of the center speaker. Sure they are mostly noted for their voiced matched specks, but in a surround sound envoronment, souldnt they function for all things "centered" on the screen ( whether it be talking or explosions ).....I could go on with these diff senarios all day. I know i havent even mentioned the word size yet....but this intro is just to see how much interest my thread gets.
TPE
Unregistered guest
Posted on
The center channel plays about 80% of the movies sound (yes because of dialog). Dialog is the purpose of the center channel, alot of 'action' on the scene is out of the L&R channels. If you are trying to find which speaker is more active on the system and focus cost and performance on that speaker.......it will sound bad. Keep in mind that each speaker only puts out as much as the source provides, surrounds will sound quiet until needed, etc. Alot of AV professionals will use the exact same speaker for every location, most of these posts listing a different model speaker for each location think they are optimising thier performance by making the best speakers the L&R, then the center, then surrounds. No timbre match concern......think about it, if a character on screen is talking and walks by to where the surround will pick up if its not timbre matched or the same speaker the voice could become muffled or more bright, ect. Seamless transition of sound makes the surround, not power of each.
necely worded helps alot. and i do fully understand what u said, but i still want to break this down again, just because its the way i am....there would have to be some senarios where the speakers didnt have to exactly match each other. if u had each of the 5 speakers be the same 2 way jbs's that would be quite expensive...couldnt you compromize to the point to were it wouldnt make a bad diff. First example, have ur front three speakers be two-way jlb's and ur rear's one way (insert cheap brand here). Second example....u have a decent 600 RMS watt HTIB, with two way speakers as the rears, and a two way center...now get a pair of two ways that would handly "bass sounds" better than the ones that came with the sytem. Note that i now have better quality rears, so better front speakers wont be so obvious.
surrounds only need ambient sounds, so can you sacrifice on their quality a little. And second, (keep in mind that i understand what TPE said) the only reason i am so interested to get better fronts is this....if the fronts are going to do "bass sounds" better, that means that at higher volumes it will sound less distored. So in theory wouldt that mean better sound. And yes i know that depends on the reciever and other factors, to tell the truth im just trying to think outside the box here.
my next three posts will be diff speaker setup senarios. To make things easier, all recievers and subs were created equal, just for these three examples.
keep in mind im not considering floor standing speakers......The Ultimate Surround Sound Setup would have all 5 speakers being quality two-way bookshelf's. So, everything is exactly even and has the potential to blast u out of ur room.
The "acceptible" Surround Sound Setup would be one of those "home theatre in a box deals". It would have all 5 speakrs being low quality one-way satelites. So, everything is exactly even, but lacks power, so u will get a terrific surround effect, but it wondt have what it takes to play that movie loud.
the last one is....My Mixed Surround Sound Setup. It would have started as a HTIB deal that consisted of "decent quality" one-way's for the 5 speakers. The only speakers i keep in this are the two rear. Now i replace the center with an "ok quality" two-way speaker. Lastly, i replace the front speakers with "ok quality" two ways. Now i have a sytem that does not have a "perfect surround" effect, but i can have it louder because my two fronts will handle it better without the distortion you would get from smaller one-ways. And the increased loudness shouldnt hurt the rears because they only do softer ambient sounds, and are hardly ever used.