Considering Ascend fronts and small sat rears

[lifelong]

Hi everyone, I'd like to try out a set of 340se speakers for my mains and center, however, the wife is not going to allow 4 wallmounted 170se's or even 4 htm-200's as the rears in a 7.1 setup in our living room. So, I'm looking for opinions on whether mixing small satellite rears, like 4 Orb Audio Mod1's, for example, with Ascends in the front would or would not be a terrible idea. I know the Orbs can't really extend as low as the Ascends, and my receiver does not allow for independent crossover settings for different channels. Orb Audio recommends 120 or 150 Hz, and sell their complete systems with a 8" sub. But off the top of my head, I was thinking to cross over the Ascends at 80Hz since according to the frequency response graph they don't seem to have any problem extending that low. I would appreciate any general advice on my sitaution, since I'd really like to try the Ascends, and don't know if there are significant downsides to not having consistency between the fronts and rears in this particular combination (Ascends + Orbs).

Any other recommendations of small sats to couple with Ascend fronts with a high WAF would be appreciated as well.

[bikeman]

If you're not going to listen to multi-channel music (DVD-A, SACD), you should have little concern using a decent satellite from another company. For movies, the front three are critical but the sats give us a lot more leeway.
Will it be better with all Ascends? Sure. Just don't lose sleep over wife induced compromises. I'd never sleep a wink if that were an issue.

David

[BradJudy]

Are in-wall speakers an option for your room? I know some people can't use them because they are renting or the construction of the walls. If you want use them, that is probably the best option for high WAF surrounds.

[lifelong]

In-walls aren't necessarily disqualified, though the look would be questionable. We have dark walls with a textured, "sandy" paint on them which probably couldn't be applied to the grilles of an in-wall because of the texture of the paint. So then I'd have to worry about matching the paint color. Orbs would be much easier to install. Plus, in-wall speakers seem harder to audition without comitting to them. But, I'll consider everything, since I haven't made any firm decisions yet.

Can you recommend some in-walls I should consider at a similar price range ($200-250/pair)? Will the sound quality be comparable with an in-wall speaker?

I'm just wary of having to set the crossover at 120 or 150Hz because the Orbs reportedly break down if you go any lower. But then you may have subwoofer localization if you crossover that high. I have a 10" subwoofer. Or would you guys recommend crossing over at 80-100Hz and just dealing with the fact that there's a bit of a hole between about 80-150Hz in the rears?

[BradJudy]

I don't own any in-walls, so I can't make a recommendation, but I think a couple people here have recommended some in-walls, so a search might turn up a recommendation.

[ebh]

i'm having a similiar issue, trying to find pretty cheap surrounds that will be easy to mount or put on stands or shelves. i've got 170s as mains and am waiting for a 340 center, but just can't shell out almost $300 for the 200s.

as far as your issue, i would either look for something a little bigger than the orbs that can go down to ~80hz or just live with the hole rather than crossing much higher. it probably depends on how things sound to you, but i doubt you will miss all that much info out of the rears. of course i don't have any rear speakers yet so maybe shouldn't be offering any advice.

someone recommended BIC DV-32 as cheap small surrounds. they also don't go quite down to 80hz i believe but might be something to look at, tho at only $50 a pair I wonder about quality.

if you find other non in-wall speakers that meet your needs let me know, as I'm still searching for a good size/price/quality ratio for surrounds.

[lifelong]

I'm going to get the orbs and try them out before wallmounting them. If I don't like them, then I'm going to look into some in-wall speakers, though I'm thinking that would cost a bit more. Axiom also has a line of direct radiating in-wall/on-wall "hybrids" that extend only 3.6 inches from a wall when mounted. See them here. I think they were designed to be mounted alongside a wallmounted plasma or lcd, but would seem to work as surrounds, too. They would be roughly the same dimensions as an htm-200, but about 3 inches thinner. But they cost much more than a pair of htm-200's or a pair of orbs. They do look pretty, though. I might give them a try and see how they sound if the orbs don't work out. They may sound like crap for all I know.