johnnywoz

that is my question.

I am going to be upgrading my sound system; speakers, amps, sub, wires, etc. but not the head unit (at least not just yet going to wait a bit on this).

What I am interested in are your opinions on weather or not the rear speakers are needed/necessary, add to or subtract from the sound quality/image, etc, etc. etc.

Does this question depend on the type of upgrade, say weather going Alpine/JBL/JL/etc. versus DynAudio/Focal/etc.

Let the debate begin...

pentavolvo

oh gosh haha here we go. personally i dont run them and 90% of the vette installs I do there are no rear speakers.

I actually had one guy insist on doing them and I did for his install since its what he wanted about a year later I was doing an update on his radio and noticed they werent working said im gonna look at it he said oh no i unhooked them it sounds better without em and this wasnt high end equipment either

fej

Many many posts have been made on this forum regarding this topic. If you watch movies in your car, and need them for surround sound, then install them and wire them to be fully fadeable (IE turn them off).

Otherwise they do bad things to your stage, and your quality of sound. No one spends $300 on the fronts and $300 on the backs, everyone installs a lower quality speaker in the rear, which has a shorter pathlength to the listener, and also has to travel through the headrest (read reflections, arrival time issues etc). All bad things for sound quality and accuracy.

Basically, if you are upgrading your system, save the money for better front speakers and you will never miss the rears (provided you put some amplified power to them).

G'luck
Fej

Lancejoker

I disagree on this subject 100%. A LOT of people are going to tell you don't run rears. Here's what I'm doing with my install. I'll be running Hybrid Audio fronts on an external amp and running the rear Polk DB651 speakers off the headunit. It will give some fill but not enough to overpower the fronts(which is the issue most have when installing rear speakers considering how close they are to the listener). Tuning either way is critical.

markcz

Turn your fade **** so you're only playing out of the fronts for a while, then decide on YOUR preferences

fej

Lance,

I hear what you are saying, however:

You are putting mid level (at best) speakers behind your head (which pass through or around the headrest) with deck power (serious downgrade in amplification quality, higher THD etc etc) and asking "tuning" to help them blend in with your front stage (which is using quality power and components). Pathlength, reflection issues, and arrival times are all magnified with speakers that are behind you and obstructed. Couple that with the fact that your sound reproduction is not as accurate as your front stage will be (and with HAT, it will be far more accurate than Polk Coaxials) and you are doing your front stage a disservice.

Add in the fact that there isn't a "live" concert that I know of that has "rear" speakers, and it begs me to ask you to at least demo the system sans rear speakers prior to opening them up. Just trying to save you some money.

At the end of the day, you have to go with what sounds good to you, and a great many people are so used to having speakers behind them in the car that they feel they are "missing" something without them. That something is, well ... IMO not an accurate or quality, "thing".

G'luck man
Fej

Lancejoker

I understand what you're saying Fej and it definitely is a a question of personal preference. For me personally,I am a musician of 20 years(yes I started when I was 8),someone who has done concert audio for numerous concerts including Kenny Chesney,Rascal Flatts,Sara Evans and a few others,as well as someone who has been in and familiar with professional studio setups I prefer the rears. I have heard Vettes without rear speakers and to me the sound is empty. But that's just my opinion. As said before you should listen to each way and see for yourself.

Grzldvt1

Oh boy another of my favorite topics
On the Vettes I don't have rears. I feel the soundstage is located where I want it. However on my wife's PT Cruiser I kept them because the soundstage was too far forward and very low. I use them to subtly bring it back and up. In that car I am running an Alpine unit with timing, so I get decent controllable speaker timing and separation, plus the rears are mounted very high so there is nothing to interfere with travel and it really helps to elevate the stage much closer to ear level.

When I had my C4, I used the rears in a similar manner. Just barely on, but enough to bring the soundstage just in front of my head.

As I have said before I felt like I was onstage with the band.

johnnywoz

These are great responses and just what I was hoping for.

So it appears to boil down to this, it is an individual preference. And the recommendations on how to make the decision are very solid; listen to the system without the rears to see if you like it, and then add rears to "fill" in but only at very low levels so as not to disrupt the front stage too much.

Kale

Rear speakers:

Pro:
Louder Sound
Sound comes from all directions (If you like that)

Con:
Higher cost
Sound comes from behind you, destroying proper soundstage reproduction (If you care about soundstage.)
More chances at nasty cancellation
More chances for reflections, harshness, etc
Additional tuning required
Additional amplification required
Additional install time required