Sierra 1 vs 340se for rear surrounds?

[musicguy]

How much are the Seirra1's an over kill for rear 5.1 Surrounds? Or are the 340 SE more than enough or maybe still an overkill?

Thank you for your input

[Dark Ranger]

Hi musicguy,

What do you have in mind? Are we talking about 5.1 for movies/games, 5.1 for concerts, or 5.1 for multichannel SACD and DVD-A titles?

Two of the biggest reasons why most people do not use Sierra-1s for surround speakers include 1) cost and 2) size/weight. If neither of those reasons pose a problem for you, then there's not much standing in your way.

If you listen to a lot of full-range multichannel content (e.g. SACD), the Sierra-1s are an excellent choice. They will work great for regular movies, music, and games as well. It really comes down to how much you want to spend on a surround speaker. If you can place them properly, I wouldn't necessary say they're overkill. They may not be fully utilized if you don't listen to full-range multichannel content, but that doesn't mean they won't be the best surround speaker you've ever heard. :D

[musicguy]

I would say mostly for movies. (5.1). I am 2 channel when I listen to music only. I don't own any multi channel cd's. I would like my rear sound to not sound small if that makes since. I'm pretty new to HT sound. I tried some small polks, maybe 100 dollar bookshelves in the rear. Sounded very small. My fronts are full range and I'm running a god subwoofer. I'm waiting on my Sierra 1 center to come in.

[Dark Ranger]

I think I understand what you mean by "sounding small." Many (physically) small speakers cannot produce the output, dispersion, and lower frequencies of larger speakers, so they sound small by comparison.

You might consider the CBM-170 SE, especially for HT. It has decent low frequency response, excellent dispersion and imaging, plus sounds like a larger speaker. It's also much cheaper than a Sierra-1. If memory serves, Dave uses 170s for surround speakers in the Ascend demo room. Since you don't listen to multichannel music, I would actually recommend the 170s over the Sierra-1s for surround.

If you're still set on the Sierra-1s, go for it. Ascend has a 30-day in-home trial period. But definitely consider the 170s for this application.

Hope that helps.

[muzz]

I use 170SE's for my surrounds, and they sound awesome.
Much much better than the small Boston Acoustics satellite speakers I had back there.

[curtis]

I've had both in the last few years, I went from 170SE's to 200SE's as surrounds.

I have been able to mount the 200SE's easier and against the walls, so the placement is wider apart than I had the 170SE's, but I did have to cross them higher. For surround use, I don't feel like I am missing anything...for movies and music.