5.1=central+subwoofer+[(4 floostanders) vs (2 floorstanders + 2 standmounts) vs 4 standmounts)]

[alefzero]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to buy my first HiFi Home Cinema and I have a conundrum of principle. Let us suppose one has settled on a speakers brand and line (e.g. B&W-600series or Q Acoustics-3000series). Often, one has floorstanders and standmounters to choose among to build the ideal 5.1 configuration for the room. Let us suppose one wants to place the system in a room that is big enough for all of these speakers to sound fine. How different from each other will these three 5.1-systems sound from each other?

1) central + subwoofer + 4 floorstanders;

2) central + subwoofer + (2 front floorstanders + 2 standmounters);

3) central + subwoofer + 4 standmounters.

I guess this might all boil down the difference between a floorstander and a standmounter+subwoofer set.

Many thanks in advance for your inputs.

 

[Frank Harvey]

One major aspect will determine which route you take. If you listen to multi-channel music, you'll want exactly the same speaker all round, and ideally they need to be as full range as possible (ideally all floorstanders). Whether you go for large or small speakers is up to you, but there are also benefits to keeping all speakers the same size for movies too.

A large room might require floorstanders, smaller rooms standmounts can fit in and sound better.