For some time, I have been unhappy with my surround speaker set-up:
This was composed of 2 JBL XPL-series speakers hooked in parallel in a dipole set-up. The problem was that with aggressive surround effects, you could often notice that the sound was coming from the rear of the room. This is not correct. Surround sounds should most often be non-localizable. It is a diffuse sound and you don’t know where it is coming from.
To solve this problem, I determined that I had to do two things:
1. Mount the speakers high (which I couldn’t do with my very heavy set of surrounds).
2. Install a second set of surround speakers towards the front of the room, preferably dipoles so as to enhance the diffuseness of the sound.
After some research, I decided to get 2 pairs of Paradigm ADP-370’s:
While the speakers look tiny in my large HT and when compared to the other speakers, I figured that they were sufficient, considering that each speaker has 2 x 6.5” woofers and 2 x 1” tweeters. That means that when I use all 4 speakers, each channel has 4 x 6.5” woofers and 4 x 1” tweeters.
Since the ceiling at the rear of my HT is 14’8” high, I mounted the speakers around 9’ high, using DIY brackets which allow me to easily remove the speakers for maintenance purposes.
The result is pretty good. I feel I accomplished what I set out to achieve. The surround sounds are now quite diffuse and seem to really fill up the room.
Issue: Isn’t it better to get surrounds which are the same brand and model as the rest of the speakers? Theoretically, this is true. However, I believe that the surround speakers are a less critical component of the audio experience because they mainly provide ambience. Furthermore, with the use of the Audyssey room correction, you achieve a better tonal balance among all your speakers.
My front and center speakers are both PSB Stratus models and I guess that is what is most critical.
As an added comment, I have noticed that the surround speakers use much less power than the front or center speakers. Therefore, I decided to use the internal power amp of the Denon 3808. Since the 3808 has 140 watts per speaker and I have 2 speakers per surround channel, I effectively have 280 watts per channel. This means that I have now freed up my Aragon 4004 power amp – I now have a spare amp in case the power amps for the front or center blows.
