I have a pair of Optimus speakers with 15' subs, 4" midranges and 2" tweeters with 100 watts each that I bought in 1990. I want to set up a surround system using those two as my front left and right speakers. But I'm not sure what size speakers I should get for the left/right rear or center speakers. I realize that getting an exact acoustical match is probably out of the question and I'm prepared to live with that for two reasons. 1) I can't afford all new speakers and 2) I like the sound of my old Optimus speakers. I figure an older set of Optimus speakers will probably come closer to matching my old ones acoustically and since I'm poor I've been looking at used ones on ebay. I need speakers that can keep up with the volume the old ones crank out. Having looked at ebay, the Optimus Pro 77 speakers 70 watts with a 5 inch woofer and a 1 inch dome tweeter seem to be fairly common. Then there's the Optimus Pro 127 50 watt, 5 ¼" woofer and 1" wide dispersion tweeter. Do you think these are about the right size? For the center speaker I'm figuring on a basic Optimus 5"x2 with a ½" dome tweeter center speaker.
So why the oldies? Well I bought them new from Radio Shack when I was a freshman in college. I bought my first CD player (Sony) and a used JVC Super Amp. The speakers came with a 5 year warranty and only cost $200 bucks. That warranty came in handy over the next few years while Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Metallica, Megadeath, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains and even a little Phantom of the Opera proceeded to blow out both woofers not once but twice, blew both midranges at least once, one of the crossovers once and one of the tweeters and even cracked one of the boxes. All while it was still under warranty. Even my poor old JVC Super Amp finally burned out too. Buy the time I finished school and decided I'd better save a little bit of my hearing for old age I practically had new speakers. So yeah, I liked them because they were absolutely, totally, obnoxiously loud. But they don't do a half bad job of playing Bach and Beethoven either. I guess you'd say I have eclectic musical tastes. I'm sure there are way better speakers, but for the money, I can't complain. I still like the way they make the whole house rumble when a big star ship flies overhead in Star Wars. You know the feeling.
There may be some disagreement on this topic. However, I would suggest that for surround sound applications, size is not crucial. A good sounding speaker with decent specifications will typically perform well in surround sound mode. Much surround sound info/material is limited, although from time to time, full bandwith (especially when using Dolby Digital or DTS)might be employed. If the specs are extremely limited, then you won't get realism when that space ship flies over. You should also consider a subwoofer if you really enjoy movies with a broad range of special effects. However, if you only watch nature shows, for example, and your surrounds are needed for the occasional cricket and bird sounds, almost any cheap speaker would work. Such a purchase would however, be some what shortsighted. Hope this helps.
Dale, Here are the specs on the Optimus PROX77 speakers. Do they have the range you are talking about? Frequency Response: 90 Hz - 25 kHz - 10dB Crossover Type: L-C Network Crossover Frequency: 2.5 kHz Impedance: 6 Ohms +/- 15% Power Capacity: 55 W Max Sensitivity: 89 dB +/- 2 dB
Any nice 3 way bookshelf will do for surrounds. Im not really a fan of the little satellites, and prefer midsized bookshelf instead. I have them on small stands to position them at ear height.
I do agree with dale, and that size isnt really very important. It's whatever floats your boat. I do also have a pair of smallish wallmount speakers too though, but I have them positioned for back speakers.
James, those referenced in your email should be just fine for surround purposes. Assuming you have a subwoofer, I suggest you set your receiver to small speaker mode for front and surround speakers. This will direct the lower frequencies to the sub. If you do not have a sub, still set your surrounds to small speaker setting. Good listening. Again, Paul is right on the money.