Speaker question?

Question

I have a new reciever with 7.1 surrond. I have a polk 5 speaker system that is only 2 years old. What would be the best two speakers to add? Tower speakers or shelf, or what?

Answer 1

Well, if your Polk speakers are all bookshelf size speakers, you could either get two more Polk bookshelfs or two Polk floor speakers for the mains (i.e. front left and front right). Polk speakers are pretty much all voiced the same way, so I would suggest that you stick with Polk for the best complement to what you already have. A powered subwoofer on the other hand, I suggest you get the best bang for the buck. My suggestion here would be the most Hsu Research model you can afford.

H a p p y
H o m e
T h e a t e r i n g !

Answer 2

You'll find that keeping all your speakers the same will give you the BEST sound...Also, there's NO difference in sound quality in having 7 (seven) speakers over having 6 (six) speakers...And if your listening postition is all the AGAINST the back wall, there's not place to add those extra speakers.

When a car zooms around your surround system you don't want it to sound like Corvette in some speakers and then sound like a Volkswagon in another...Having ALL the same speakers all the way around makes all the difference in the world...I like to have REAR speakers the SAME size as the FRONT speakers.

There are NO recordings in "7.1"...The best we have right now is "6.1"...Even in the seven channel set-up, the 6th and 7th speaker are in MONO...That is, they play the SAME audio information...And 2 speakers playing the exact same information sound like just ONE speaker.

And then there's placement...If you can't place that 6th (or 6th and 7th) speaker(s) as far away from your listening position as you existing rear, then you won't benefit from the upgrade...Click this link to see what I'm talking about: http://www.whydoesmyhometheatersuck.com/speaker.html

And even set up properly, most people can't tell a difference between a "5.1" and a "6.1" set-up...But you should try and see for yourself...Go to the store and have the sales person give you a back-to-back demo of both formats...Then you'll know for sure...And if YOU can't hear a difference, then DON'T spend the extra money.

Answer 3

You should have bought the other 2 speakers that are supposed to go with that system. Why is there only 5 speakers for a 7 : 1 surround sound ? Unmatched speakers added to that will not be good. You need to find the other 2 speakers & hook them up, in the placement the book says, otherwise it will sound all unbalanced.

Answer 4

The receiver manual will have a suggested location for the extra two speakers...typically behind the viewing seat. If you cannot get the location close to the recommended location, don't bother. A good 5.1 system will always sound better than a 7.1 system with bad speaker placement.
Also, if you stick with a 5.1 system, many receivers allow you to power speakers in a different room from the unused speaker outs.

Answer 5

i am going to guess that you have 2 towers up front, a center and 2 soround speaker

what 7.1 is is add 2 more sorrond speakers, so you would use shelf or in celling is another way to do it

if you have all small speakers, then I would take the 4 smaller speakers and put them for sorrond and buy you self 2 nice tower spekers up front and get a whole lot better sounding speakers

Answer 6

Depends on which channel you want to use it for. If its for the surround or rear, then shelf speakers will do.

Answer 7

towers sound betterthey tend to have a richer sound but if you dont have the room bookshelf's are great too