Video Asylum

Posted by Lasermeister (A) on April 28, 2002 at 15:00:13

In Reply to: Need efficient surrounds.. posted by Impoverished Audiophile on April 28, 2002 at 12:12:04:

You also need to look at the sensitivity of your fronts in relation to the rears. I used to have problems having 93 or 94 dB sensitivity Cerwin Vega speakers in the front (this was before I became an audiophile) and trying to get any kind of sound out of the rears, even using smaller Cerwin Vegas. If you have very sensitive front speakers (the impedance is irrelevant in this context), you are going to have trouble in this regard.

However, if your front speakers are of normal sensitivity (say, no higher than 91 dB), you shouldn't have much of a problem finding some kind of 90 dB sensitivity surround speaker to go along with them. My small Definitive Technology bipolar surrounds are 90 dB sensitivity and work very well with my Kef center and B&W left and rights, which are 90 and 91 dB sensitivity, respectively. If you have 88 dB sensitivity front speakers, there are even more speakers that will work as surrounds. However, if you have something like Klipsch or Avante-Garde front speakers, your choices for surrounds are going to be very, very limited.

Todd