Are rear speakers really important in a home theatre system?

Question

Are rear-speakers a big deal in a home theatre set up? It seems like noise coming out right behind your head would actually be annoying. Isn't a sub-woofer and good front speakers more than enough for a great sounding system?

FYI, this is my concern for my specific situation:

-I am going to buy a 42 inch LCD TV from Best Buy and I am also going to get a $500 type speaker system with a receiver, sub-woofer etc.

-I think that I am going to not get rear-speakers with my system because I don't want to have to bother with figuring out how to snake the wires under my carpet.

-I could get wireless rear-speakers but these will probably be expensive.

-I could always but rear-speakers to add into my system later

Thanks for any information.

Answer 1

I have a home theater system and its true: its a MAJOR pain in the *** to deal with the wires of the rear speakers. BUT if you're buying a home theater system the whole point is 5.1 audio. If you don't have rear speakers you're not getting 5.1 surround sound so why bother. Get some good speakers and save a ton of money.

If you really want a home theater system get the one listed below. Its on sale at CC now. I have the earlier version and its amazing. Don't be fooled by big names or the size of the speakers--when I turn up the sound on my system, the walls shake!

Answer 2

The rear speakers give more depth to movies and at times to television shows. You could go to a place that sells home theatre and listen to a system that has surround sound and have the salesperson play the stereo with and without the rear speakers and you can judge for yourself if you want them or not. You don't have to buy there but places like that are a great resource of information. Who knows you may find something you like in your pricerange.

Answer 3

You won't get surround sound that way, of course.

Make sure you switch your audio setting to "stereo" instead of "5.1 surround", so that you don't miss the sound that would be emitted from the rear speakers.

I've heard wireless speakers get too much interference to be practical. But, running wire under baseboards works well, if that's an option.

Answer 4

You can get by without rears.  Some receivers have a setting that will send the info that would go to the rears to the fronts instead; without such a setting, if used in surround mode you will lose some audio info, but the most important comes through the center, in particular in theater applications, and fronts, so don't skimp on the center speaker which, ideally, should "timbre match" the fronts, ie at least share the same tweeter model; without matching sound between the center and the two fronts, you will have a noticeably incongruous soundstage... everything should blend smoothly.  When listening to music, not theater, then just use the fronts and turn off surround mode.   Rears do add an additional dimension, and not annoying at all if you set them up right to be subtle and not in your face.  

There are some receiver/speaker systems on the market that are designed specifically for people who don't want rears, but recreate the spaciousness via psychoacoustics.

P.S. I like the person above's suggestion for that little sony system on sale...  it has the five speakers but if you didn't want to put the rears in the rear you could put the fronts right next to the tv, and then put the rears further spread out on the shelves and maybe play with their angles to see if you can get a broad, enveloping experience.

P.P.S.  And yes, another option is to just get two really good stereo speakers (magnetically shielded) and place them pretty close to the TV and play your audio in stereo and not worry about "surround sound"... I did that for years and it worked fine.