Selecting Rear Surrounds for 5.1 system

Hi OP:

The ideal surrounds have a lot to do with the character of the fronts.  If the fronts are very neutral it makes it very easy to pick among neutral surrounds, but B&W have their own sound characteristics.  I find that these traits are not usually damped by room correction so you should stick to B&W in general here to get the most immersive experience possible.

Best,

E

Thank you very much to everyone.  You've all given me much to study and investigate. This is going to be an early 2025 splurge :-)  

Happy holidays and Happy new year to everyone. 

This YT video was very technical for those who like such depth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPDXy78auBA

Its 1hr presentation on spectral decay of 18 speakers.

I use floorstanders for both side and rear surrounds.  Big sound if your spouse supports it.

For my AV 5.2 (separate from my 2 channel system) I'm using a set of Bowers and Wilkens towers (683 S2s) center channel HTM6, surrounds (607s) and 2 subwoofers (ASW8s).

I think having the matched set of towers and center channel gives the same tonal quality to voice, music and action sounds.  The rears mostly play only ambient sounds in the 5.2 set up and I haven't noticed much difference if I switch them out with a non B&W option.

BTW the 607s are good enough to use in a bookshelf or bedroom set up as stand alone 2 channel set up.  So probably not taxing their capability much with 5.2 use.

AV amp is a Marantz 5.2  Model 1510