Help with surrounds - Low cost, low distortion, and high sensitivity; $125 max

[Krillin]

Dirac Live Spatial Audio - absolutely awesome
I am excited about the upcoming Onkyo flagship AVR and AVP. Dirac Live will be used and there will be bass management. I am looking further ahead at Dirac Spacial Sound (https://www.dirac.com/the-arrival-of...on-technology/), which uses loudspeaker co-optimization for room correction, reflecting a flattening out, a reduction in spatial variations, and cancellation of room resonances.

Therefore I am beginning to care about the quality of my surrounds in home theater as they will all contribute to the sound from the mains.


What I have considered:
I am planning to modify the existing cabinet into a sloped baffle or a triangle shaped enclosure for easy mounting at the ceiling corners. I have already looked at the following:
PartsExpress C-Note: Great value, good distortion but not near the sub crossover. Sensitivity is too low
Zaph ZA14 + XT25: Sensitivity too low and the ZA14 will not be happy at all in the lower frequencies. More of a midrange than a midwoofer.
SBAcoustics SB16PFCR25-4 coax: Great directivity and 90db sensitivity. Cheap and includes a crossover plan however I can find no distortion measurements and comments that the cone moving will destroy the tweeter response. More of a midrange I guess and not to be crossed at 80hz? Easiest to fit into a cabinet.
SBAcoustics SB17: 90db sensitivity but I can't find XT25 tweeter designs or something to keep price down. Distortion below 150hz similar to the C-Note but with good sensitivity. Might be okay crossed at 80hz.
Volt 8: Too heavy for a ceiling mount, not my cup of tea.

What is a good loudspeaker with good sensitivity, distortion, and value that doesn't sacrifice much?

[johnnyrichards]

Hmmm, you may have stumbled upon another design constraint rule. Pick any two of those three.

[billfitzmaurice]

You really don't need much capability from surrounds, because their program material isn't demanding. I use these, without tweeters, and they have no problem keeping up with my line array mains and horn loaded sub: https://www.parts-express.com/GRS-4F...80-02F-292-434

[djg]

Try extruding this through your criteria filter. I built a pair of ported as 2.1 satellites, very pleased for about $100. Crossed at 80 with a Dayton 8" dsp sub. Desktop.

https://techtalk.parts-express.com/f...0-8-easy-build

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton...-8-Ohm-295-384

[randyohoh]

The Peerless TC8FD05-04 3" is inexpensive @ $10.23 and relatively efficient at 88.96 db, but unfortunately currently out of stock. Peerless offers several other small (2-1/2" - 4") inexpensive drivers with less efficiency which could be doubled up.

[mattk]

I don't see that sensitivity in the specs

[Krillin]

The problem with the CX-120 is not the quality but for my case the sensitivity. Seems like an excellent speaker for Dipole/Bipole surround speakers assuming that sensitivity will go up the same as a monopole. Measurements here: http://www.dibirama.altervista.org/l...coassiali.html

The Peerless TC8 is good but will have very high distortion on the low end. The TC9 would be my go to if the low end is not a concern as a full-ranger.


Right now I am leaning towards the Sica or SB 6.5" coax. Only 6" woofers seem to be sensitive enough and get to 80hz cleanly enough.

[billfitzmaurice]

Don't sweat getting to 80Hz. 100Hz is fine. I wouldn't be all that concerned about sensitivity either, surrounds don't need to go anywhere near as loud as the rest. My L/R have 12dB higher sensitivity than my surrounds with no ill effect.

[Krillin]

Thanks Bill. In that case I will go with something smaller that looks better too.

[devnull]

The Dolby Surround Mixing Manual specs the surround channel at 100-7kHz. It actually says large speakers for base and extended range tweeters for high frequencies are not needed.

[johnnyrichards]

The Dolby Surround Mixing Manual specs the surround channel at 100-7kHz. It actually says large speakers for base and extended range tweeters for high frequencies are not needed.

DTS and AC-3 are, I believe, much wider bandwidth, however.

[129Decibel]

Dolby Atmos is full bandwidth on all ( ALL ) channels. Dolby pro logic II small surrounds are fine I guess. I just built full size 3 ways for my L and R surrounds with the same driver in my mains two 3' mids two 8' woofers and all I can say is wow your missing out if your surrounds aren't full range. And I have 3 18 inch subs also, it is a large room so space is my enemy.