Speakers priority when building a system

Haren Asher

Active Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2011
Messages
92
Points
28
Location
Bangalore
Hey !

Couldnt find details on this so best thought i'd ask you guys..

I am setting up my home theatre instead of picking off the shelf 5.1 setup.

Some had suggested picking up Fronts, then Surround, then centre and sub. Others suggest picking up fronts, center, surrounds and sub..

Still other suggest picking up fronts, sub, center and surrounds.

My usage is 70% Gaming/Movies and 30% music.

How should i go about it?

I just bought the amp - Denon 1611. :yahoo:

Have auditioned Qacoustics, Klipsch wharfdale bookshelves.

Liked Qacoustics and Klipsch. But the height of the Klipsch makes it an aesthetic issue and that rules it out. (Wife say NO:mad:)

So am back to Q's which are pretty good as well. :)

Is the centre more important, the surrounds or the sub?

Awaiting ur replies!
 
Since you prefer movies/games more, front speakers and subwoofer should be in your first list. If possible add center channel too.
 
No question about fronts of course. And surrounds definitely come last. It's a toss-up between the center and sub and you will see people in both camps. My take is that if you listen mostly seated between the fronts, then doing center later should be ok. If seating is spread out, then the center certainly helps to 'fix' the dialog in movies.

But without the sub you are missing out on fair amount of low frequency information - the thumps etc. Another benefit of sub first is that you can use it during music listening as well (you typically won't use the center for music, unless it's from DVDs).

Decision may also be driven by what is the frequency range of your fronts. Some go decently low to tide you over without subs for a while (though no fronts can match what a sub will do, of course). Bookshelves especially would be helped a lot by a sub.

So, my vote is for the subs as well. Unless your seating is very spread out, in which case I will get a center first. Best is of course to get both if possible.
 
Check out Tannoy Mercury series. Sound is pretty mellow and will not tax your ears on prolonged listening.

Thanks
 
In movies, 50% of the sound comes from centre channel, 30% from the fronts. The surrounds make up the rest. The sub is usually "always there" but gets accentuated during intense action. Sometimes it adds low freq sound such as humming of an aircraft engine, etc.

When playing games, the center does not play much role (unless there is speech). L+R+Sub take up much of the prominence.

When listening to music, L+R are the main players.

Hence, you order of importance should be:

a) Fronts (50% of total cost)
b) Center
c) Sub
d) Surrounds
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Walnut finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
Back
Top