Adding extra surrounds?

[SammyG]

I'm building a room and was wondering if I would benefit by adding 2 more surround speakers, 2 surr left, 2 surr right, sticking with 2 surr back's. The room is not huge but I think the dispersion would be killer this way, any suggestions/comments? BTW, the room is 25' x 15'

[MrFattBill]

I personally wouldn't. I think that a single speaker for each discreet channel will sound better. Also how would you tie them in?
Bill

[SammyG]

I would use a Y adapter on the pre-outs and sell my 5ch amp for a 6ch, giving me a total of 9ch since I run a 3ch for the fronts, check the sig.

[Gremal]

Set up a good 7.1 system--that's all you need. Or add an extra sub for 7.2 if you need more bass in the room (I'd love to have a room that big).

[SammyG]

Got the extra sub, check sig, I was just thinking this would flow around the room seemlessly.

[SammyG]

The room is not finished yet, but I was just shooting in the dark, because a deal came up where I can get another set of surrounds for next to nothing.

[Aerodude73]

I would def. add them. My HT room is approx. 11x13 & I have 4 Polk FXI A3's (2 for Side Surrounds, 2 for Rear Surrounds) --- Pics in my Gallery (left) & in my Sig. below. They sound Great when I "matrix" them out so they All get used for 5.1 movies, & for the few (for now, I think more will be avail., tho' Lions Gate has Many great titles in 7.1) that Are 7.1, my smallish home theater room sounds amazing. (It's actually 7.2 as I have 2 subs; A 2nd PA-120 will be here Monday, to match the Main/Front PA-120 I already have). Anyway, your room is Much larger, so if I were you, I would Definitely add 2 Rear Surrounds. Your room is plenty large enough to make it work.

[SammyG]

Originally Posted by Aerodude73

I would def. add them. My HT room is approx. 11x13 & I have 4 Polk FXI A3's (2 for Side Surrounds, 2 for Rear Surrounds) --- Pics in my Gallery (left) & in my Sig. below. They sound Great when I "matrix" them out so they All get used for 5.1 movies, & for the few (for now, I think more will be avail., tho' Lions Gate has Many great titles in 7.1) that Are 7.1, my smallish home theater room sounds amazing. (It's actually 7.2 as I have 2 subs; A 2nd PA-120 will be here Monday, to match the Main/Front PA-120 I already have). Anyway, your room is Much larger, so if I were you, I would Definitely add 2 Rear Surrounds. Your room is plenty large enough to make it work.

Mine is 7.2 also, but I'm talking about going 9.2, it might be overkill, or it might work great.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by SammyG

Mine is 7.2 also, but I'm talking about going 9.2, it might be overkill, or it might work great.

Not sure how the sound would blend throughout the 6 surround speakers, but you could always try and find out. It seems it wouldn't cost you $ to try, so the most you would lose is your time. Perhaps you can try it and get back to us with your impressions.....however I have to admit I have my doubts that any sonic improvement will occur.

[crazyBLUE]

I'm pretty sure Big Daddy runs 2 right surrounds & 2 left surrounds in his Home Theater .

[kareface]

It's not a bad idea, but depending on how it's implemented it can create more problems then it fixes. The problem with having 2 speakers near each other that run in phase is they will create nulls. There are a few good ways around this problem. Dipole speakers operate with drivers on either side of the speaker out of phase, which helps greatly in reducing nulls. The ideal option is to get a receiver or external device capable of matrixing the rear surround signal. This uses an algorithm to divide the normal rear signal to additional speakers. On the whole I would suggest getting better surrounds rather then getting more of them. However if you go this route make sure you don't end up hurting your SQ in the process.

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by SammyG

I would use a Y adapter on the pre-outs and sell my 5ch amp for a 6ch, giving me a total of 9ch since I run a 3ch for the fronts, check the sig.

As soon as I hit the post button it clicked in my head that a Y adapter would be the answer, I just never went back to fix it :-)

Bill

[Mordir]

Originally Posted by SammyG

Mine is 7.2 also, but I'm talking about going 9.2, it might be overkill, or it might work great.

You could pick them up for a future upgrade since Dolby Pro Logic IIz supports 9 discrete channels.

[naturephoto1]

Hi Sammy,

Your room will be a little larger than mine and I have those huge Prototype speakers and 2 18" subs that I am struggling to move around. But, I think that a 7.1 system will probably be more than adequate. My room is 19' 4" X 14' 7" and I had to put the big speakers on the long axis due to their size and the numbers of components in the racks. As it is I am struggling to get the rear 2 speakers in for the 7.1 system behind the seating and in front of the curtains.

Also, consider that movie theaters as I recall are based upon a 5.1 system so even a 7.1 surround system is beyond the big theaters. I sort of think that a 9.2 system is just a bit gimmicky, but you may think otherwise.

Rich

[bad_code]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Hi Sammy,

Your room will be a little larger than mine and I have those huge Prototype speakers and 2 18" subs that I am struggling to move around. But, I think that a 7.1 system will probably be more than adequate. My room is 19' 4" X 14' 7" and I had to put the big speakers on the long axis due to their size and the numbers of components in the racks. As it is I am struggling to get the rear 2 speakers in for the 7.1 system behind the seating and in front of the curtains.

Also, consider that movie theaters as I recall are based upon a 5.1 system so even a 7.1 surround system is beyond the big theaters. I sort of think that a 9.2 system is just a bit gimmicky, but you may think otherwise.

Rich

Actually theaters use special coded audio to handle all those speakers. It goes way beyond 5.1. SDDS is old technology used is some theaters.

[SammyG]

Thanks everyone for the input, I'm going to pass on adding the extra set. I do have a set I can use for height channels when and if I get a pre with PLz. Rich swayed me when he said it sounded gimmicky and really it is kind of overkill, this is not an IMAX, it's my house. 7 speakers and 2 subs is already working beautifully, if its not broke, why fix it. Thanks again everyone!

[DavidAg02]

85% of a movie sound track typically comes from the front 3 speakers. Adding additional surrounds would be overkill at any price really.

[kingofgrills]

For more expansive surround sound, I would suggest swapping out your current RS-3s for a set of RS-52s as your side surround speakers. This would keep the uniformity found in a single speaker, but give you the expansive sound dispersion you're looking for. It makes a big difference for surround sound.

Here it is:

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/rs-52-overview/

[Steve]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

For more expansive surround sound, I would suggest swapping out your current RS-3s for a set of RS-52s as your side surround speakers. This would keep the uniformity found in a single speaker, but give you the expansive sound dispersion you're looking for. It makes a big difference for surround sound.

Here it is:

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/rs-52-overview/

Not a bad idea. It would also take care of any impedance issues that might arise from running the signal from one speaker output to two speakers.

[SammyG]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

For more expansive surround sound, I would suggest swapping out your current RS-3s for a set of RS-52s as your side surround speakers. This would keep the uniformity found in a single speaker, but give you the expansive sound dispersion you're looking for. It makes a big difference for surround sound.

Here it is:

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/rs-52-overview/

That's exactly what I had in mind. I'm using RF-3's which are towers, although I do have a set of RS-3II's in the basement.