Bipole Vs. Dipole

[abulgan]

hi guys

First of all My HT system is like below

B&W 602 S3 fronts with LCr 60 S3 Center and Definitive BP2X surrounds
also SuperCube II sub

now i'm thinking to buy replace my surrounds with a Dipole speakers like B&W DS6 or KEF IQ8DS

so it is a right and good concern to make an upgrade Bipole to Dipole?

[elapsed]

This article is a good start: http://www.hometheatermag.com/bootcamp/25/index.html

[JoeE SP9]

All panels of any type are dipole. IE: The rear wave is out of phase with the front. When the front pushes the back pulls. Bipole almost alway has rear facing speakers that push when the fronts do. Kind of like a 2 sided pulsating flat sphere.

[Woochifer]

I think you should also look into another pair of DM602s to use as your surrounds. No better timbre match than with five identical speakers all the way around. I would guess that your surround performance will increase significantly by using a second pair of 602s as surround speakers, since Def Tech and the B&W 600 series are voiced very differently. In general, you don't want to go with surround speakers that don't voice match with the mains.

Although I haven't heard the current version of the DS6, the previous dipolar surrounds that B&W sold with the 600 series were a poor voice match for their bookshelf and tower speakers, so you definitely want to give it a good listen and compare the surround performance from the DS6 with using another pair of 600 series bookshelfs as the surrounds.

My personal preference is direct-firing surround speakers. You need to align them so that the speakers directly point at one another. Other things to check off to maximize your surround performance:

- align the speakers just slightly behind the listening position (about 110 degrees off-center)
- position them at a height about 1' above ear level (Dolby recommends 2' above ear level)
- level match them with a test tone and SPL meter (your ears are not precise enough to adjust for five speakers simultaneously)
- position them so that the speakers are all equidistant from the listening position (and adjust the delay timing if the distances are different)

IMO dipolar surrounds are a remnant from the Dolby Pro Logic era when that out-of-phase approach effectively created a large ambient soundfield from a monophonic surround track. But, with discrete surrounds and a lot of soundtracks increasingly using directional imaging cues in the surrounds, I don't think dipoles are the way to go anymore.

Bipolars though might work fine, but I don't know which models would be a good voice match for your B&Ws.

[abulgan]

also guy now i'm using DefTech BP7006(only one not pair)as a subwoofer with my system,
is it worth to replace with B&W ASW600 or 675 subwoofer

BP7006 is 300 watts Class D 8" woofer sytem
ASW600 is Class B 150 Watt 10" and ASW675 Class B 200 watts 12"

as u see wanna complete my HT system all B&W

[Tarheel_]

I agree with Woochifer....i'd go with direct firing rears. You didn't mention room size, but timbre matching all speakers is a good way to go.

On the sub, i wouldn't worry too much about matching...if your sub is doing its job and you like the output, i'd keep it and use budget elsewhere. If you really want to go deeper in HT, consider adding another sub to make a pair, but only if you have a decent size room....then, the fun starts and the bass will be awesome.

[abulgan]

also B&W has Bass-roll alignment and something option that speaker adjusts itself due to room bass response
i did not see anything like this on other subs
i wanna buy DEFTECH SuperCube II but B&W makes me wonder

[abulgan]

canceled B&W and rebuilding my HT system with Kef IQ series

fronts:Kef IQ3
center:Ked IQ2c
Surr:Kef IQ8DS