Mark D. Zacharias wrote:
"Brian" wrote in message
...
I read a few years back that surround speakers had to be the same
brand and the same size for true surround sound effect.

If you want the best possible and most consistent sound, then I agree
with the above. But you may find you can be quite happy with speakers
that don't meet the above ideal.

I see now that some surround sound speakers are of the same brand
but
in mixed sizes such as fall standing speakers for the left front
and
right front speakers with book self speakers as the rear speakers
and
a different shaped center speakers.

That can work fine. It also saves having rear speakers that are big and
bulky.

I'd be interested in knowing if there are any real advantages in
having speakers of the same size (eg satellite speakers)?

The sound will be more consistent from front to rear. But the front
speakers in a surround-sound system are usually playing at a much
higher volume than the rear speakers, so different rear speakers often
aren't noticeable.

If the fronr pair of speakers were of a different brand (and better
quality) than the rest of the speakers can this cause any problems
in
a surround sound speaker set up?

In practice with surround-sound TV and movies, it's not usually a
problem, because the rear channels are mostly used to provide subtle
ambience effects at a much lower volume than the front channels.

If possible, I'd go with either identical speakers all around, or else
smaller rear speakers from the same speaker brand and product line as
the front speakers. But in practice, having rear speakers that are from
a different brand than the front speakers will often sound fine.

However, if you have surround-sound music, rear speakers very different
from the front speakers, and the recording includes a lot of
rear-channel sound at the same volume as the front channels, you may be
able to notice that the rear speakers sound different. But music
recordings like that are rare.

To complicate things a little further, many fine speaker makers also
make bipole or dipole rear speakers that are designed to provide a
diffuse sound. These speakers would work poorly as front speakers, yet
these bipole or dipole rear speakers can complement and sound great
with the different front speakers.

Regards Brian


I would say it's a question of how critical you tend to be, and
whether you
plan to listen to music using the full complement of surround
speakers.
Watching movies etc is perfectly satisfying IMHO using almost
anything for
speakers. Critical listening to music is another matter entirely.

Agree. In my case, I have some surround-sound speakers at home that
sound fine when I'm watching TV, VHS tapes, or DVD shows and movies,
but the same speakers sound mediocre when I use them for music only.

Mark Z.