floor standing speakers for surrounds?


I am looking for options on using floor standing speakers for my back two channels instead of book shelfs. does a full range signal go to the surround channels? or would this be wasting my money?

thank you
bill
baranowski
"what cross over would you recommend? i am speaking for my fronts.... i was told to cross over at 80 so the rest goes to the sub.... so am i missing some good sounds from my fronts as well?"

What are your front speakers? How deep do they go? 80 hz is the standard crossover. Unless you have really big speakers, you might want to cross them over at 60hz or 80hz. My fronts will play down to 22hz(in the right room), but not at any level close to the sound pressure level you can get out of a sub. I am not now using a sub, but when I was, I was crossing my fronts over at 60 or 40hz.
Sorry i did jot put it.... b&w 804S.... front and looking at getting the same for the rear... or the older 804N... they say they go 38Hz - 22khz
OK, those 804S are rated -3db at 38hz, but they are likely only flat down to 55hz or so. So, I would definitely cross them over to sub at 60 or 80hz.
Baranowski

If you have a receiver or preamp with room correction then start with that. I've been using Anthem gear for years. The ARC system crossed over my fronts at 60 and my surrounds at 110hz. That has to do more with the room response with the speakers than anything. So, 80 is a starting point but if you don't have room correction then you need to listen to music at different crossovers and see which sounds better. That is for the fronts. For the rears, 80 is usually excellent. Remember too that if you are listening to movies you want to send the LFE signal to the sub to allow your amp to breathe and better control your speakers above crossover. I wish I could tell you that X frequency is the magic dial but it's not that simple. If you are unsure or starting out then dial in your system at 80 and listen for a month and then you can start playing. I personally don't feel that full range all around offers significant value unless your room is really huge (35x25 and larger) and therefore you need to move more air in the room.