I just bought a HDTV and a THX receiver (Pioneer), and now need to upgrade my speakers to complete my 5.1 system. I will need a good movie system obviously, but to be honest I primarily listen to music... and the den is about 15' X 15'. I was looking at a 533VAC for center, 533 Towers for the L/R channels and using my Infinity bookshelf speakers for rear. Two concerns that hopefully you guys and gals can allay: 1. Do I really need a sub? I think the towers will give me enough base for a relatively small room, and it's a condo so I also don't relaly want to ostracize myself with big BOOMS during Sci Fi movies... Will the towers be ok for me? 2. Will my current Infinity bookshelf speakers serve adequately as rear channels? They are pretty good sounding speakers, perfect condition, but they are about 8 years old... Thanks in advance, can't wait to decide on the set up so that I can get my early Christmas present to myself!

Hi Dale,

The towers are going to work great without a standalone sub. You are going to have plenty of volume and by having dual subs you eliminate placement problems. The towers play down to 30Hz so the only thing you will be missing is the lower 5-10 Hz that come from special effects in action movies. To get that, you would need a 10" or 12" sub which would probably overwhelm your room both visually and audibly. I am very sure your condo neighbors wouldn't appreciate it. With just the two towers, you are going to need to host a couple movie nights to keep them happy. For music, the towers are going to give you all the bass you need.

Your current bookshelf speakers will probably work fine as surrounds for movies. They will have a different timbre but it probably won't be distracting in a home theater setup. If you want to listen to multichannel music, I would suggest a matched system but you can always upgrade down the road.

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Cheers,

John Wanderscheid

Thanks very much for the quick replay John! Yeah, I thought I could get by without the sub at least until I move into a bigger place where I can really turn it up anyway. The back speakers are a conundrum for me... for movies, I think the 2 way Infinities are going to be ok, btu I would like to listen to music in surround mode to... If I decide to get rear channel speakers, which one's would you suggest? The Bipole-Dipole will sound weasome in THX for movies, but are there any drawbacks for these when listening to music? Thanks!

Hi Dale,

The rear surrounds should be direct radiating and the side surrounds can be either direct radiating or dipole. If you go with the dipole/bipole, you can use them in dipole mode for movies and switch them to bipole mode when listening to multichannel movies. We designed them to be switchable so you could use them for both applications. You could get a pair of dipole/bipoles and use your Infinity's as back surrounds.

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Cheers,

John Wanderscheid

Awesome, thanks again for the information!

Placed this order today... 2 Intimus 533-PT Powered Tower Speaker (695) High Gloss Black-Ships 12/16 $599.00 $1,198.00 1 Intimus 533-VAC Center Channel Speaker (735) High Gloss Black-Ships 1/12 $280.00 $280.00 2 Intimus 532-LR Bookshelf Speaker (635) High Gloss Black $180.00 $360.00 I decided to get matched surrond speakers, not the bi-dipole ones though, and I think it will sound just fine for me. I simply cannot WAIT to hear them with my new setup! Thanks to John and others with the helpful answers

Congrats, Dale!

Please keep us informed on how great they look and sound, and post some pics.

 

Thanks, I definitely will! I can't wait to hear them through my new Pioneer receiver My new system will be overkill with the 56" Samsung DLP TV in my smallish living room, but I really bought for the future as I plan to buy a house in the next 6 months. Did I mention I can't wait to get these speakers? lol

UPDATE - I'm still awaiting the VAC center speaker, but have my PTs and back speakers hooked up, and WOW, let's just say my neighbors really hate me now They sound spectacular! I wowed my guests too on NYE, and the lack of a dedicated subwoofer with the PTs is not even noticeable. Will update again on listening to a movie once I get the VAC. Kudos Aperion!