Can Rear channel speakers be too big??

Question

I have a 5.1 system that delivers 100 watts per channel and to my knowlege have the real channels turned up as high as they will go. I am using 2 2-way 8 inch cerwin vega's as my rear speakers and seem to never be able to notice the surround effects in movies. They are deffinately working because if you get close you can hear them but not like I have heard from other freinds surround systems who are using lesser quality but smaller rear speakers.

Answer 1

Agb is correct.

Do you have a 5 channel music mode? It may be called

Party 5 or Stereo 5 Something like this? If the sound is coming out pretty equal then it is most likely lack of surround information on the movie itself. Some movies just don't have a lot of surround information. Plain old romance and comedies typically do not have much surround information really. TV is weak too, usually.

You need a good action movie or sci fi movie to really get the most.

Run the set up or test tone feature using a decibel meter(you can get one for about 30 bucks at radio shack). you may find that the level of the rears is set really low. It may also tell you if you have a problem with your receiver. It is entirely possible your receiver may be broke. Don't panic it is just something to look at. As long as you can run the test tone and get the rear volume aqual to the fronts there should not be anything wrong with the receiver itself.

Make sure your receiver is actually switched or turns to the Dolby DIgital or DTS. Some times the surround mode has to be selected manually.

As far as Cerwin Vega goes. They are notoriously efficient speakers. It does not usually take much power to drive them so I doubt there is any problem with them.

Cerwin Vegas are good speakers, don't let anyone tell you they aren't.

Answer 2

No, speakers can't be too big -- in terms of too loud/ too good sound (although they can be wasted being used as surround speakers.)

Assuming you have set the levels for all the  speakers correctly -- using a sound meter or the auto setup on your receiver -- they should be working fine.

There isn't a lot of rear channel information on many movies, so you should not be too surprised they are not obvious most of the time ... but you should get quite obvious sounds some of the time.

I'd suggest finding a couple of movies that have rear / surround sound (see reviews at the links, but some suggestions: Saving Private Ryan, U571, Batman Begins), make sure you have selected the 5.1 track and that you amp/receiver is set for 5.1 playback and test to see you are getting sound when you should.

If not you have something set wrong.