Rear Surround Speakers for a 5.1 system?

[anonymous-user]

A bit of help and suggestions please.

I am looking to buy a pair of rear surround speakers to make a 5.1 setup but want something to match the Focal Chorus 714s fronts and centre CC70s.

The plan is to get the 5.1 system sorted out and then extend to a 5.1.4 system with ceiling mounted speakers as part of a general upgrade for 4k UHD. Generally confused about the type of rear speaker needed so any advice appreciated.

Amp is currently a Denon AVR-4306 but will be upgraded to a similar one that supports UHD audio formats.

Thanks

[PhilboSE]

The 2 extra speakers in a 5.1 are the "surround" i.e. side speakers. Rears are usually 6&7.

You can get away with much lower grade speakers on the rears and height channels as so little signal goes through them. The EQ on your amp should do a job of balancing out any tonal differences between the speakers especially if it is Dirac or ARC. The side surrounds do a bit more work and are often matched to the L&R but I can't help but think that's the speaker manufacturers dictating the market.

You could stick with Focal but go down a grade or two on the surrounds and a couple more grades on the rears and heights and not notice IMO.

(I have a mix of XTZ & entry level B&W in my 7.1.4, both wall mounts and in-wall, and with Dirac EQ you just don't notice it. Something like 90% of the signal goes through LCR.)