Question: My home theater is located in a 12 x 12-
foot spare bedroom. A local A/V dealer
told me this room is too small to install back
surround speakers for 7.1. Is this true? If so, is there a speaker that can function as both
surround and rear speakers so both channels
can be hooked up to the same pair of surround
speakers (thereby getting a 7.1 from a 5.1
speaker system)?
STEVE TEMPLE / VIA E-MAIL
Answer: That space is definitely on the small
side for 7.1, but installing back surround
speakers is possible as long as your sofa isn’t
placed directly against the rear wall. When I
ran your letter by Sound & Vision’s speaker
gurus Daniel Kumin and Brent Butterworth,
however, they recommended that you not only
avoid stuffing back surround speakers into
such a tight space, but that you also consider
using dipolar models for your side surround
channels. A dipolar surround, which can create
a more diffuse sound field than a standard
direct-radiating speaker, is a better option for
small rooms, where surround speaker localization
can be an issue.
Another — and potentially much bigger
— problem that both of our gurus pointed out
is your room’s square dimensions, which are
likely to generate a bass hump in the 90- to
95-Hz range. They suggest that you set your
receiver’s crossover to 100 Hz and that you set
your sub’s crossover to low-pass-filter signals
at 80 Hz. You might also consider Audyssey
EQ, a processing mode built into many newer
receivers that can help to smooth out bass
problems.
Since you asked, we do know of a few surround
speakers we know of that can be wired
to deliver simultaneous side- and backchannel
sound. Snell’s SR30THX ($2,000) is
one option, as is PSB’s Imagine S, which is
part of a full PSB system that Sound + Vision reviewed in the December 2008 issue. (You
can find that review at soundandvisionmag.com.) At $1,200 a pair, the Imagine S also
doesn’t come cheap, but its ability to deliver
7.1 from a 5.1 speaker system means you
essentially get two sets of surround speakers
for the price of one.
-- Al Griffin
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