Any news on the multi-polar surround speakers?

[FirstReflect]

In glancing around this forum, I noticed that a year ago, Dave F. was talking about introducing a multi-(bi, di, quad?)polar surround speaker. Just wondering how that is coming along and whether we can expect it to show up in 2006?

I'd be very very interested in a diffuse surround speaker from Ascend. It is the only area I have found lacking in the Ascend line-up. I happen to agree with THX and Dolby that a bi or di-pole speaker directly to either side with monopole surround back speakers most accurately recreates the movie theater soundfield in the home while offering an acceptable compromise for multi-channel music.

Anywho, just thought with all the news of the SE models that some info on these surround speakers may be available now

Jon

[bikeman]

In glancing around this forum, I noticed that a year ago, Dave F. was talking about introducing a multi-(bi, di, quad?)polar surround speaker. Just wondering how that is coming along and whether we can expect it to show up in 2006?

Merry Christmas, Jon. I believe the idea of a multi surround speaker was dropped more than a year ago due to lack of interest. With the introductions of the SE's, I don't think we'll be seeing anything new out of Ascend for some time.

David

[Quinn]

From Aug 2004....

I do have a plan for a multi-polar rear, something really neat. If you ask for it, it will come.... just takes a while thats all...

Take care!


Good Sound To You!

David Fabrikant


Then in Feb 2005....

"if I remember, we did talk about dipoles a while back. Strange thing is, in the past year while our sales and email inquiries have increased, the requests for dipole speakers have dramatically decreased...."


I don't think it is happening.

[FirstReflect]

Merry Christmas! Thanks very much for the replies! I hadn't seen the posts where David said the plans were off (actually, I guess that's obvious since I asked in the first place ).

That's too bad that not enough people showed interest! I certainly would have, but I wasn't around these boards back then Oh well, at least now I know I can buy an Ascend setup and not worry that I'll have to replace the surround speakers within a year or something. I was considering just using tthree pairs of CMB-170SE's with a pair on each side for the surrounds and the third pair at the back for the surround back channels. I figure that will mimic the multiple surround speaker you'd find in a commercial movie theater quite well sine I'd actually have multiple surround speakers

Anyways, again, thanks for the info and best wishes to all for the Holidays!

Jon

[Quinn]

There has been a lot of people asking about them this fall. So, it may return to his plans.

[FirstReflect]

^^^oh, that is interesting. Perhaps I should still hold out in that case. I don't imagine Dave F. and the rest of the Ascend crew would have totally scrapped all work they had done in R&D for the multi-polar speakers. It seems they were at least in the design stage last year so I imagine at least some work has been done on them.

Like I said, I'd really prefer a diffuse surround speaker. I was actually going to audition some Axiom QS8's with the Ascends up front to see if the timbre match for front to back pans would be good enough that I could use the QS8's. But if there is a decent chance of seeing a diffuse surround speaker from Ascend to match the CBM-170SE's (which I imagine would be the likely speaker to modify into a diffuse surround) then I might just hold off and wait for it.

I think I'll start a petition or poll and try to gauge how many others now want this speaker.

Any chance Dave F. would make one just for me?

Jon

[curtis]

Have you compared di or bi polar speakers with direct radiating?

[jbhungvt]

Merry Christmas, Jon. I believe the idea of a multi surround speaker was dropped more than a year ago due to lack of interest.
David

I think more people are interested, just that they are not as vocal like me.
I wish Ascend makes dipoles etc, that way I won't keep looking for the right setup for my theater. So far Ascend is a high candidate but still lacking the dipoles setup as Jonathan said.

[curtis]

If you haven't, you really should compare dipoles to direct radiators in the same environment. Each has its pros and cons.

IMO, surround in the past were for ambience and that is where a diffused sound was preferred. Nowadays, the use of surrounds are becoming more and more specific, and I think direct radiators benefit in that area.

[FirstReflect]

I have tried mono and bi/di-pole speakers. Actually the diffuse speakers had a switch that allowed them to work as either di or bi pole so that gave me a fairly good idea. Out of the three, I prefered the bi-pole speakers.

I just found that the mono-pole speakers were too easily noticed sometimes. It was often easy to point right at the speaker and say "there! that's where the sound is coming from." I get that for some effects, people prefer that kind of localization, but I'd rather lose a little precision in direction to get a less localizable sound for other effects.

The di-pole setting was really diffuse and made it quite hard to pick out location sometimes. That basically went too far for my personal taste. So the bi-pole setting was a nice compromise. The sound wasn't pin-point precise, but it also wasn't so diffuse that I couldn't localize effects at all.

Adding two mono-pole speakers at the back for the surround back channels made some direct effects sound more precise, while also giving me a nice direct sound at the back.

Looking things up on THX, Dolby and DTS' website, I just found my own taste agreeing with the suggestions they have for a 7.1 setup.

Again, I can understand how many people may prefer mono-poles all around, but one other thing that bugged me with mono-pole surrounds was that if I sat to either side of center on my couch, the one side would be noticably louder than the other. This was true with the bi-pole speakers as well, but it wasn't as pronounced and it didn't seem like I was sitting right next to a speaker like it did with the mono-poles.

So that's my reasoning for wanting to use a diffuse speaker in the surround position. My preference would be for a bi-pole design, but I'd certainly like a quad-pole like the Axiom surround speakers as well.

Like I said, I can always just use a pair of mono-poles on each side to really simulate the multiple surround speakers you'd find in a commercial movie theater. But if the Ascend multi-pole is on the way, I figure it'll be less expensive than getting a pair for each side and it will also make it easier for placement because I'll only need to hang one speaker on each side wall

Jon