dipole or normal bookshelves for surround?

Autor

Beitrag

trivisingh
Schaut ab und zu mal vorbei

#1 erstellt: 26. Feb 2005, 12:24

as I have mentioned in an earlier post, I might be getting the sonodyne speakers for my Home theatre setup. I was wondering whether to get the dipole speakers as my surrounds or the normal bookshelves. a lot of brands are offering dipole speakers as the rear speakers. do they make any difference or are they just a gimmick?

benkenobi
Hat sich gelöscht

#2 erstellt: 26. Feb 2005, 13:17

Dipole speakers work extremely well if and i mean if you have a rear wal.
they are designed to reflect the sound off the rear wall and create a complete surround effect without the need for the other two channels(present in 7 channels).
they should be positioned such that the plane side between the pair of drivers is parallel to your listening positoin and should be wall mounted(ideally) at around 4.5 to 6 ft height.

guys correct me if i'm wrong.
Benks

Arj
Inventar

#3 erstellt: 26. Feb 2005, 19:41

Uh.. Benks me thinks you are confusing between Dipolar & Bipolar !

Dipolar means there are 2 sets of drivers usually wired out of phase to each other. (Usually at 90 degrees to each other). this way the sound is not localised but Diffused hence creating a web of sound.

eg Wharfedale WH2s in case you can take a look at them
you can read about dipolar speakers at the Paradigm site ie

www.paradigm.ca or paradigm.com as they make one of the better dipoalrs.

Bipolar means that the drivers are in pahese with each other and hence very often use the rear wall to reflect and since the time taken for the reflected wave is more, gives an diffused effect...but they need not necessarily be only for the rear wall..I think Polk makes speakers which have an option of Bipolar or Dipolar setting so the speaker setting can be finetuned.

Anyways to answer your question, Dipoles make the best surround speakers..but are expensive as they need double the no of drivers. hence for the same cost you do have the option of buying much better Direct radiating or Normal speakers. if you do that their positioning must be made carefully and their sweet spot would be limited, unlike dipolars which have a huge sweetspot..

benkenobi
Hat sich gelöscht

#4 erstellt: 26. Feb 2005, 19:53

no, i know what's dipole and bipole are but i did'nt know that the bipole ones were dependent on the rear wall.
however this is true.Dipolar speakers are used most commonly as surround channel speakers and are the only form of speaker certified by THX for use as surround channel speakers.
thanks for the info arj and yeah i actually did consider the wh2 but will ultimately buy the Diamond8.1 to complement my setup.
[quote]I think Polk makes speakers which have an option of Bipolar or Dipolar setting so the speaker setting can be finetuned.
actually many manufactureers give this option. they provide a switch to change between bipole and dipole.