Speaker advice for new home theater

[sheldon]

Hi all,

I'm setting up a home theater in an 18' x 18' "media" room in my home. I'd like to use round in-ceiling white or paintable speakers for my rear surround speakers because I've had my house prewired for them and all the other rooms in my home have round in-ceiling speakers.

I'd like some advice on what type of speakers to buy for my in-ceiling speakers as well as what type of matched speakers for my center, left/right, and sub-woofer. I'm not an audiophile, but I want something decent if I can do without spending more than $1,500 (or less). I'm planning on putting in a @ 50" plasma or lcd monitor.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Sheldon

[sheldon]

I've seen a lot of home theater bundles that include matching left/right speakers, center speakers, and rear surround speakers that are reasonably priced. However, I've never seen a bundle that includes in-ceiling rear surround speakers.

I'm also wondering how important the rear speakers are since it seems like they are only adding some background to whatever is happening on the screen.

Thanks again for your help.
sheldon

[emesbee]

I'm also wondering how important the rear speakers are since it seems like they are only adding some background to whatever is happening on the screen.

Thanks again for your help.
sheldon

That may have been the case with dolby pro-logic, where the rear channels only provide ambient background. With dolby digital and DTS, however, each channel is discrete, ie: it is not matrixed from the front channels. That means that different sounds may be encoded into each channel, so that sounds may move across the room, or travel around the room, etc. Although not all DVD soundtracks make full use of the discrete surround channel encoding, many do.

[sheldon]

I'm going to go with Polk Audio. The sales people online have been very helpful and informative. I can get a pretty decent bundle for @ $1500.

[jaytrezza]

without the rear surrounds there would bo no "Surround Sound" !

jayt