Small surround speakers

[Pagan]

I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup. Currently
I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5 speakers,
and I need something as small as possible for the presence and center rear
speakers.

The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their wacky
prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly gimmick. I
simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.

I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some of the
other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have something
like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's going to
poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.

Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a sore
thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch. In-wall
speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of my home, are
not practical.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Thanks for any advice.

Pagan

[Youngin...]

I personally like the Athena MKII package. Small with pretty good
sound. Get a sub to go with them though.

young...

Pagan wrote:
> I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup. Currently
> I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5 speakers,
> and I need something as small as possible for the presence and center rear
> speakers.
>
> The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their wacky
> prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
> something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly gimmick. I
> simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.
>
> I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some of the
> other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have something
> like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's going to
> poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.
>
> Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a sore
> thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch. In-wall
> speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of my home, are
> not practical.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
> Pagan
>
>

[Bill]

Pagan wrote:

>I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup. Currently
>I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5 speakers,
>and I need something as small as possible for the presence and center rear
>speakers.
>
>The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their wacky
>prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
>something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly gimmick. I
>simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.

Sounds like you want fairly accurate sound, and that's the dilemma.
Quite simply, it's impossible to get good, full sound from a tiny
speaker, at least with anything known so far.

Generally, I've found that speakers with a woofer smaller than about
five inches, fails to produce upper bass and lower mids with any solid
definition - the speakers just sound like tin cans.

>I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some of the
>other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have something
>like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's going to
>poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.

Those little systems are actually rather robust and can handle a fair
bit of power because they don't produce any bass. They usually have a
rather large dip in the response where the sub drops off and the tiny
speakers start to take over. To me, they sound horrible.

The smallest speakers I found to be acceptable, have 5.25" woofers and a
dome tweeter, and the cabinets are roughly 10x6x6" (HWD).

>Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a sore
>thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch.

If your couch is that close to the rear wall, you shouldn't have
speakers behind your head. They should be placed above left/right of the
listening position, and dipole speakers might be better to help spread
out the soundfield.

Direct speakers behind and at ear level, should be well back of the
listening position, and placed at a 45 degree angle, roughly.

So basically, you can get small speakers if you wish, but the trade-off
will be sound quality. You have to decide at what point you're willing
to sacrifice sound for speaker size.

[TCS]

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 23:04:33 -0500, Bill <bill@c.a> wrote:
>Generally, I've found that speakers with a woofer smaller than about
>five inches, fails to produce upper bass and lower mids with any solid
>definition - the speakers just sound like tin cans.

Even with a subwoofer, 4" speakers just can't handle even a 12'^2 room. I've
used 4" midbass drivers in a car stereo setup, but replacing them with a 6.5"
midbass and a 4" midrange sounded a hell of a lot cleaner.

The bose setup is basically a 5" woofer for the whole room coupled with 3"
midrange speakers. The woofer is incredibly resonent for maximal efficiency
at the cost of anything resembling a flat frequency response. The bose
frequency response is pretty much from 500hz-5khz with a 100hz boom.

[Lucas Tam]

"Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in
news:10u0hjoh73c7e1d@corp.supernews.com:

> Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a
> sore thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch.
> In-wall speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of
> my home, are not practical.

Check Mirage Speakers - they have several tiny speakers.

http://www.miragespeakers.com

--
Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

[Uptown Audio]

Then the anser is simple; get another pair of the Klipsch to match.
You don't want to mix any brand.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250


"Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in message
news:10u0hjoh73c7e1d@corp.supernews.com...
> I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup.
Currently
> I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5
speakers,
> and I need something as small as possible for the presence and
center rear
> speakers.
>
> The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their
wacky
> prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
> something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly
gimmick. I
> simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.
>
> I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some
of the
> other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have
something
> like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's
going to
> poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.
>
> Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a
sore
> thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch.
In-wall
> speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of my
home, are
> not practical.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
> Pagan
>
>

If you can find them def tech makes a great line of small speakers, the
procinema in paticular
"Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in message
news:10u0hjoh73c7e1d@corp.supernews.com...
> I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup.
Currently
> I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5 speakers,
> and I need something as small as possible for the presence and center rear
> speakers.
>
> The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their wacky
> prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
> something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly gimmick.
I
> simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.
>
> I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some of the
> other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have
something
> like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's going
to
> poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.
>
> Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a sore
> thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch. In-wall
> speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of my home, are
> not practical.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
> Pagan
>
>

[Dennis' Newsgroups]

CompUSA has the HSU Ventriloquist set of 5 speakers (without a sub) for
under $200 now. These have received very good reviews for their size and
the inovative center channel uses 4"x6" woofers to handle the midbass and
midrange better than most tiny 3.5" or 4" woofers. Add the Hsu STF-1 and
get a full 5.1 setup for under $500 with a good sub.

http://www.hsustore.com/vt12.html

Other options are Mirage AVS500, Mirage Nanosat, Psb Alpha Intro, Paradigm
Cinema, Def Tech Pro Cinema 60 or 80, Atlantic Technology System 920, Athena
Micra 6 or Point 5, Tannoy FX5.1, B&W LM-1, etc. Personally I would bother
with Cambridge Soundworks - they are decent, but you can do better for the
same or less money. Totally toss Bose out of your mind - they are terrible
(but it sounds like you knew that already).




Dennis


<steve99@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:WwAHd.68747$zy6.51775@bignews5.bellsouth.net. ..
> If you can find them def tech makes a great line of small speakers, the
> procinema in paticular
> "Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in message
> news:10u0hjoh73c7e1d@corp.supernews.com...
>> I am looking for fairly small speakers for my home theater setup.
> Currently
>> I'm using a Yamaha 5790 with the Klipsch Quintet for the main 5 speakers,
>> and I need something as small as possible for the presence and center
>> rear
>> speakers.
>>
>> The Bose cubes would be perfect, but I'm not about to pay their wacky
>> prices, and they have no midrange anyway. I'm also not looking for
>> something with 'quad spectrum mass handling' or some other silly gimmick.
> I
>> simply want to hear Tie fighters flying through the room.
>>
>> I haven't been able to hear the Cambridge MC50 in action, nor some of the
>> other cheaper small speaker sets from Pioneer and Sony, which have
> something
>> like 5 speakers and a sub for $100. I don't want something that's going
> to
>> poop out the first time Ahnold blows something up.
>>
>> Basically I'd like very small speakers that don't stand out like a sore
>> thumb on the wall, or bump my head when I lean back on the couch.
>> In-wall
>> speakers have been considered, but due to the construction of my home,
>> are
>> not practical.
>>
>> Anybody have any thoughts on this?
>>
>> Thanks for any advice.
>>
>> Pagan
>>
>>
>
>