Monopole surrounds

[dc]

Thanks for yesterday's replies re open baffles - very helpful. Does anyone have any experience building them out of a material other than wood? Maybe a plastic or a metal?

Looking at Mr. Linkwitz's Phoenix speakers, I noticed the monopole surrounds. He notes that they are not ideal for HT. But, Loudspeaker Design Cookbook suggests that a monopole pointing up at the ceiling is significantly better than most arrangements and probably only bested by a box with angled baffles and perhaps two woofers/two tweeters. With the reduced frequency ranges required of surround speakers, it seems that one speaker could do the trick here, eliminating the crossover.

I'm leaning towards Mr. Linkwitz's surround design for four rear speakers - two on either side of a 9'+ couch and two in back. All would be positioned about 2'-3' above the listeners' heads when seated, but I probably won't be able to place them more than a foot to either side or in back of the couch. Arguments for Linkwitz's design:

1. I'd like people sitting anywhere on the couch to be able to enjoy music or movies without feeling the sound is too unbalanced. These speakers are supposed to be very diffuse.

2. I like Mr. Linkwitz's design and think something very aesthetically-pleasing could be made with it.

3. These surrounds would be significantly less expensive than two woofers and a tweeter or two per box + crossover.

I'm more interested in building a solid music system than the perfect HT, but I do want the HT to be there at times. Would I be making a huge mistake by using these speakers for HT? Can someone talk me down off this ledge?

Thanks again.

brad

[AudioFreak]

If your talking AC3 or DTS or 5.1 music then the surround speakers must be fullrange and must act as a point source ....

[Super]

I've heard of using corian, plexiglass, lucite, concrete, and acrylic (among others) for loudspeaker design. With the exception of the concrete, most of the others are very pricey, and concrete can be difficult to work with. For an OB design, I would stick to more common materials, like MDF.