driver75

Has anyone used the KLH 2 way book shelf speakers (model 911b) for surround? They are on sale at Best Buy this week for $40.00 a pair. How do you rate them?

ANDREMIKE

I am not real familiar with that model number for KLH speakers but my overall opinion is that you don't need very expensive speakers for the sound that gets generated in the rear... I am sure these speakers will work just fine for rear speakers. I mean, I built my own 2 way speakers that I bought from Radio Shack and they sound great!!!
Now if you were planning on using these for the front speakers I would not reccomend that. These small speakers will not give the life to a movie like a bigger speaker can... For front speakers I recommend at least a 3 way with an 8in woofer to get the proper reproduction of sound.

Hope that helps....
Mike

Lush

In DD and DTS, surround info can be full-range and therefore justifies the need for quality speakers. In practice, sound engineers often do not use the rears to its max potential (except for Saving Private Ryan and a few others), and so we can get away with "lesser" speakers. Mind you, the front and back should still be in similar leagues. A lopsided HT system will suck.

2, 3-way describes the crossver design of the speakers. It does not translate to size of the speaker, power handling, volume output, or sound quality. "3 way with 8in woofer to get PROPER reproduction of sound" I hope you're not serious. By the way, how many speakers have you heard?

ANDREMIKE

Lush....
I understand what a 3-way speaker is,,,,sorry if you misunderstood what I meant. I just meant that a three way speaker will reproduce the high's, mid's , and low's better then a 1 or 2 way speaker can, especially if the application is for front speakers.
Yes I would agree with you that a well balanced system is best but it is not always affordable. I recommend that you invest in a good quality set of front speakers and you can get less expensive rear speakers. Like you said " sound engineers often do not use the rears to its max potential"
And about the 8in thing.. I personally like a good bass response and a typical 6in bookshelf speaker doesn't have very good bass response.
My DD theater sound system comprises of 3way-12in speakers in the front with a 10in powered subwoofer in the rear with homemade rear speakers and let me tell you my room just rumbles.....(I had to make my rear speakers because they were in-wall speakers and I couldn't find anything to fit in the opening)
I guess I come from the old school because I personally do not like these mini-speaker set ups.... Sure they sound pretty good but they lack the umph! of traditional speakers.
Besides you know the saying " No high's No low's just Bose"

bfrank

ANDREMIKE, In fact, many times a three way can sound worse than a two way. This is most common at lower price points. The problem is that you increase phase and lobeing effects due to the extra drive and crossover. Many manufactures will cheapen a two way design to afford the extra driver so beware!

Lush

3-way speakers do not reproduce better highs, mids, or lows better than a 2 way just because it's a 3way. 2 ways don't have to be on stands or wall mounted either. A speaker that comes to mind is Monitor Audio's Silver 7i. 1in tweeter + 6.5in bass driver. Sure, it probably can't rumble the foundation, but Cerwin Vegas can't make Holly Cole's voice drip like honey. I am not attacking 3ways nor am I defending 2ways. Each design can excel. If you like a full, dynamic sound, that's fine. But for many others, there's a lot more to music (and movies) than that. So you cannot generalize that 3ways are better than 2.

DVD_O_Rama

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Lush:
In DD and DTS, surround info can be full-range and therefore justifies the need for quality speakers. In practice, sound engineers often do not use the rears to its max potential (except for Saving Private Ryan and a few others),...
<HR>

Actually there are many DD 5.1 and dts soundtracks that feature low frequency bass in all channels including the surrounds, not just a few. Sattelite speakers do not do these soundtracks justice like a full-range speaker will.




------------------
<A HREF="http://www.dvd-o-rama.com"" TARGET=_blank>DVD-O-Rama.com
DVD Reviews..with an attitude
[email protected]

Lush

Oh.. you again. hee hee

You're probably right. "Bone Collector" is another one that popped into my head. Guess I've been watching too many dialogue movies lately.

brilon

Last I knew,a 5.1 recording routes all LFE to the subwoofer.Bass management is a wonderful thing.

tricky76

quote:<HR>Originally posted by brilon:
Last I knew,a 5.1 recording routes all LFE to the subwoofer.Bass management is a wonderful thing.<HR>

Brilon... is not just the LFE (the .1 in the 5.1) channel that contains bass. It usually does contain most of the heavy bass, but filmmakers can put massive bass in all 6 (full range, by the way) channels.

That should be right, but I usually stuff my foot real good into my mouth.

[This message has been edited by tricky76 (edited April 27, 2000).]

DVD_O_Rama

quote:<HR>Originally posted by tricky76:
Brilon... is not just the LFE (the .1 in the 5.1) channel that contains bass. It usually does contain most of the heavy bass, but filmmakers can put massive bass in all 6 (full range, by the way) channels.

That should be right, but I usually stuff my foot real good into my mouth.

[This message has been edited by tricky76 (edited April 27, 2000).]<HR>

tricky76,
Actually you are very correct in your response. 'Bass management' is a feature of of the receiver procesing the signal contained in a film's soundtrack. It is intended for use with smaller speakers that can't handle the bass, so depending on the setting on your reciever and the crossover frequency selected on your sub, frequencies below that point are routed away from the speakers and to the sub's.
If your speakers can handle lower frequencies, they will reproduce the sounds in their proper channels and not the sub (unless of course it is from the '.1' channel which is always geared toward the subwoofer).

------------------
<A HREF="http://www.dvd-o-rama.com"" TARGET=_blank>DVD-O-Rama.com
DVD Reviews..with an attitude
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by DVD_O_Rama (edited April 27, 2000).]

brilon

The reason I said that was because most rear speakers are not capable of handling powerful bass.If you have room for towers in the rear then great.90% of hometheaters do not.The best solution is to have at least 2 subs,one for the front and one for the rear.I have seen installations with 5 subs.I will stick with my answer by setting the rears to small and letting the sub do its job.I have the Definitive BPX rears,and they are not capable of handling some movies by themselves.So I think you are asking for trouble by setting speakers that are not capable to large.I have my Legacy Classic`s set to large,my Legacy Silver Screen to small.Most would think that my rears and center should be set to large because of their statistics.They blend and sound much better with that setting.

DVD_O_Rama

I just wanted to make sure I made clear that I was not trying to imply that all speakers should be set to 'large'. If your speakers can't handle low frequencies, by all means, 'small' is the way to go. Nothing wrong with letting a sub do the work, but directional bass will be 'pulled' away from where the sound was intended to be placed.

------------------
<A HREF="http://www.dvd-o-rama.com"" TARGET=_blank>DVD-O-Rama.com
DVD Reviews..with an attitude
[email protected]