I have noticed in a lot of DVD authoring suites, they have _both_ types of speakers on the wall, and can switch back and forth. Typically, it seems to settle down to most people liking direct radiators for multi channel _music_, with dipoles for movies. There are speakers that have switches so you can choose between both modes. I have addressed this issue by my room using the 'live end / dead end' technique. I use direct radiators for the side surrounds and the backs, but the back of the room is more 'live' than the front, and that disperses the sound nicely, while the front is 'dead' so the front imaging is not messed with. It isn't terribly difficult to do this, but you would need at least a living room sized room.

For the back surround, I would say that it really boils down to how much you would enjoy / dislike the sound of something or an instrument coming distinctly from your back.



[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited October 29, 2002).]