What`s next

[rrpete49]

I have a moderate size room 20`x 20`with an open floor plan. Right now my HT consists of 52" sharp LCD 1080p capable,denon 788 receiver with denon five disc dvd/cd. I decided to use Polk surround bar because of WAF. That being said the sound needs improvement. I want to add a subwoofer next,possibly svs10 I have read about on these pages. If I am still not satisfied I was considering disconnecting the surround speakers on the sound bar and using it for three channels.Then matching some Polk ceiling speakers for left and right surround.One other option I can think of is to leave surround bar as is and add one or two rear surround ceiling speakers. Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks in advance Pete

[MatrixDweller]

20x20 is a fairly large room. Assuming 8' ceilings it would be about 3200 ft³. The 10 inch sub would probably be on the small side, but given that you are using smaller speakers in the surround bar it might be ok. I'd go with one of their twelves. For an extra $100 you'll get a whole lot more performance.

A subwoofer will make an enormous improvement seeing that the surround bar's are very weak on the low end. Note that you would also want to set the crossover on you Denon higher than the recommended 80Hz standard.

How does the bar sound anyway? I've seen some in stores but it's hard to get a feel for the surround capabilities.

[rrpete49]

The room is actually 19` x 20` with 11` foot ceilings, I will certainly consider going with 12" sub,thanks for pointing that out. To answer your question the sound bar fills the room with what I consider to be entry level quality sound . It does a good job with music and can be heard throughout the main floor of the house without blasting the volume.Truth be told it is a real stretch to consider this a surround system. Last night I watched the 300 dvd and was not impressed at all with the sound I heard. With respect to the Polk Audio people I have to say that I am still tinkering with the speaker settings on the receiver and it is very possible that I haven`t done it properly yet. In my original post I mentioned disconnecting the surround speakers on the soundbar and adding ceiling speakers for that purpose,but I since have realized that the left and right surround channels use four of the seven drivers. Disconnecting them would be a waste of perfectly good drivers. I think I`ll just add two rear surround speakers and the sub woofer and all will be well. My priority has always been picture quality first sound second.
I would also like to mention that the surround bar is an excellent choice for certain situations. It is pleasing to look at and super simple to set up with all of the wiring included.It sounds way better than the T.V. speakers. I was able to buy it last week at Circuit City for $588 including tax, all things considered I think it was money well spent. Thanks Pete

[MatrixDweller]

That's a pretty big room (over 4000 cubic feet). The high ceilings must be nice too.

I kind of figured that with the Soundbar. My parents bought a TV 20 years ago that had surround speakers inside the TV on the sides pointed outwards on a 45° angle. It made the sound seem larger but I wouldn't have called it surround by any means. Cool TV though. It had speaker spring clamps for optional external speakers (front or surround).

Maybe you could use the second zone to connect to the surround channels on the Soundbar to make the surround into fronts on the Soundbar. I'm not sure if the 788 is capable of that. Some people use the second zone to bi-amp on certain receivers.

If that did work, I wouldn't go with in-ceiling speakers for surrounds. The performance of most in ceiling speakers as surround leaves much to be desired. In-wall would be better if the WAF keeps getting in the way.

[John Simpson]

Depending on the room location, you might like to consider an infinite baffle subwoofer system. The sub manifolds can be hidden behind grills and take up no space in the HT room itself. IB will certainly outperform equivalent-priced boxed subs.

[rrpete49]

At first I had no idea what you were talking about ,however after doing some research I found out what an interesting concept it really is. There was one project that would leave many people speechless IMHO. Check this page out http://home.comcast.net/~klone-audio...-12Shiva1.html
Twelve 15 inch drivers suspended from the floor joists over the basement. I wonder if the house is still standing. Honestly this type of project is way to complicated for me but thanks for trying to help. I have to say I`m getting quite an education reading through the pages at the Shack.

[rrpete49]

I sent a room diagram over to the people at SVS. I said I could go for the PB 10 NSD,PB 12 NSD or the SB 12 Plus. They suggested PB 12 NSD over the more expensive SB 12 on account of better deep bass movie capabilities. I sure did like the size and Rosewood finish on the SB 12 though. Suggesting the less expensive speaker has to say something about that company`s integrity.
After the sub is bought I think I`ll let Polk recommend two in ceiling speakers that will match the sound of the surroundbar to use as rear surround. Thanks again.

[John Simpson]

Yeah, sorry Pete -- I should have qualified my statement a bit further!

That IB setup you linked to is a good one, but isn't ideal sonically. In fact, the best IB setup is simply to screw the drivers flat into a wall (albeit a reinforced one!). With the manifold setups like the Shiva, the opening should be equal to the summed area of the drivers (which that obviously isn't) and the drivers themselves should be as close to the opening as possible (or you get interference issues within the manifold). People tend to build manifolds as they're very neat and still do a fabulous job... but not 100%.

Whatever you find pleasant to listen to is right for you, and some say IB is overkill. (So says he, sitting next to 4 x 18" Soundsplinters, waiting for an in-line installation )...