The most common mistake installers and users made is chosen the wrong type of speaker for their surround sound. Many has neglected the surround thinking it isn't as important as long as it's providing the surround effect; who cares about how the sound quality as long as there is sound effect from the Front to the rear speakers.
My visit to many houses have proven the above fact accurate (neglected the importance of matching sound with the LCR). Choosing the right surround is important yet the positioning of the mounting point is even more crucial. Many has installed surround at ceiling corners because they were trying to hide the speakers. When installed at an improper height or position; while watching a race car scene, you can hear the race car passes you and fly towards the sky, how hilarous!
With many surround speakers in the market, which is the best? If you were to ask me, I would say STARKE Sound SR3 as value for money vs performance! WHY? Believe it or not, with the same amout of money spent, you can get better performance when comparing to other surround out there. By utilizing floor stand or bookshelf speakers for surround, you would think it is so much better than a bipole; but you will change your decision once you have heard SR3.
I've intentionally setup SR3 by placing it above a pair of my floorstand speaker (same price range or even slightly higher price range of the SR3). Almost all customers who audited the setup thinks the sound is being produced by the floor stander rather than the small SR3 bipole speakers (turning their heads during the audition because the rear soundstage is so wide that they can't resist but to check out what's going on back there!) But they are amazed on how wide the staging is. This is due to the unique designed by carefully aligning the high and mid range driver on the SR3. When properly done, you can get the SR3 to beat any speakers within the same price range and yet give you much better staging and definition. Calibration is important here to get the subwoofers to properly blend in so that you feel the punch coming from all directions and even from the back. The crossover between the LCR and rear with the subwoofers has to be properly calibrated or EQ to get the best out of the whole setup.
Comparing bookshelf speakers, floorstand speakers and bipole, SR3 gives you the Best Bang for the BUCK! Stay tune for more review on these amazing product from STARKE SOUND HALO Series - A Class of its Own !
