A Guide to Bipolar, Dipolar, & Direct-Radiating Monopole Surround Speakers (PART I)

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Bluray_ne1

My question is this. What if my rears aren't bookend "left" and "right" pairs? I have Energy RC-R's and side-by-side, they are exactly the same. The negative (-) terminal is on the same side on both speakers (the side with the dipole/bipole switch, see my gallery pics). It is therefore impossible to "mirror" them with the positive (+) terminal facing forward in a side wall mounting configuration without mounting one of them upside down. They are set to "Dipole" now. If both positive terminals can't face forward, is it better to set them to "Bipole"?

I am assuming that you have 5 speakers and a subwoofer?

1. If you set the surround speakers to Bipole, make sure you install them to the rear of the main seating position and higher than your head. You don't have to worry about anything else, except calibration of your entire system.
2. If you set the surround speakers to Dipole, make sure you install them approximately on the same line as the main listening position, facing you, and slightly above your head.

I believe you misunderstood what I meant by Positive and Negative. It has nothing to do with + and - on the speaker terminals. I was referring to the direction of the movement of the midrange woofers. When you set your surround speakers to Bipole, the two midrange woofers will move out of phase with one another. This means that when one moves out (+), the other one moves in (-). Make sure the positive sides (woofer moving out) of your surrounds are facing your front speakers and the negative sides (woofer moving in) are facing the rear wall. This way, the front speakers will be in phase with your surround speakers in order to lessen the phase cancelletion problem of out-of-phase sound waves.