Fullrange home theatre

[Jameslc]

ok so it should be ok to run 35watt speakers so with the sub what sort of driver a 8" scanspeak?

[planet10]

5 of these.

They won't eliminate the need for dedicated subs for the train wrecks... but they'll surprise you. There are a number of enclosures for dual drivers too... but you won't likely need that in your smallish room

dave

[Jameslc]

Hi dave how would these driver compare to the Fostex FF225WK ?

[planet10]

Haven't heard the 225 yet. FF85, FF125, FF165, i like them all -- they get better as they get smaller (with the usual caveats)

EL70 is quite different. Will go as low without heroic enclosures (not that there aren't some), 8 dB less efficient, doesn't need a tweeter, better HF dispersion, is not as picky wrt amplification. smoother, won't play as loud, won't be as dynamic (that can be ameriolated by doing Twins)

I'm one of the guys that thinks 4-5" is the sweet spot.

dave

[Jameslc]

it is a very hard to pick between the fostex and the creative sound ones but i think i might give the fostex a go without the tweeters see how they go

single 8" left and right channel
single 8" for center channel
and single 8" for the rear surrounds

[talaerts]

Originally Posted by Jameslc

it is a very hard to pick between the fostex and the creative sound ones but i think i might give the fostex a go without the tweeters see how they go

single 8" left and right channel
single 8" for center channel
and single 8" for the rear surrounds

I recommended adding a tweeter because the FF225WK has little treble above 10khz. Well, make sure that you have space left to add a tweeter.
And for the rear surrounds you really don't need the 8", the 6" or 5" should suffice.

[norman bates]

I find movies sound horrible up high (compression), so I'd not worry about extension too much for movies...........

Norman

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by Jameslc

it is a very hard to pick between the fostex and the creative sound ones but i think i might give the fostex a go without the tweeters see how they go

single 8" left and right channel
single 8" for center channel
and single 8" for the rear surrounds

a few thoughts:

at 14.59m^2 ( 157ft^2) the described room is approx 1/2 the size of my own- I think you could definitely go for much smaller drivers all round- and sub woofer(s) - yes multiples of small units even (or particularly ) in a small room, and take advantage of the AV receiver's bass management - I don't think it can be overstated how much of a godsend that feature and the autocalibration / EQ functions of current HT processors are to someone looking to assemble a surround system with FR drivers.

definitely keep the drivers in the front row the same, but the rear surrounds could afford to be much smaller than 8"

If you want to stick with Fostex, and larger than 4" for the mains, consider the FF165WK for the front row, and FF125WK for surrounds - but honestly, I think even one size smaller than those for each location - i.e. FF125K front row and FF85WK surrounds. I've heard all three of these and the smaller 2 are very good and don't need tweeters - for some folks the 165WK might, and based on previous experience with 8" Fostex, the 225 would almost definitely .

"Power Handling" rating of loudspeakers is one of the most useless specs out there - to expand on talaerts comment - there are many other ways to damage a loudspeaker (and your hearing/enjoyment) than connecting to a properly functioning amplifier with higher "rated output" than the speakers'.

[tuxedocivic]

Well, the CSS EL70 would have my vote. But I'm sounding like a broken record by now

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by tuxedocivic

Well, the CSS EL70 would have my vote. But I'm sounding like a broken record by now

Well, you wouldn't be the only fan of that driver, but I needed to break out of that rut myself

the FF125WK is another very viable candidate