Best qualified surround speakers for home theater

Not silly at all. I will make it simpler. Which surround speaker brands can anyone suggest with great dynamics with solid state amplifier.

I am running Casta Acoustics model A's across front and Axiom QS8's for surrounds with a Theta Dreadnaught 1(200x5) amp and Emotiva Pre processor. The Casta's have a custom horn with an 8 inch woofer in a sealed cabinet. Thx

In my opinion the best type of speaker for use as home theater surrounds would be a line array or some variation on that theme. Here's why:

You want the relative loudness of the left and right side surround speakers to be as uniform as possible for viewers who are well off to one side. SPL changes much more slowly over distance for a line source than for a point source, so there will be less loudness discrepancy for the viewer who is way off to one side. Of course the design still has to be executed well, but if I was tasked with designing a high-end home theater surround speaker, that's where I'd start.

Offhand I don't know of anyone making a line array speaker as a dedicated surround speaker, but Magnepan makes a wall-mounted surround speaker that is a pretty good first approximation.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

The best speakers have the best cabinets, best crossovers and best internal wiring. Best cabinets means less colouration. Best crossovers means depth and a wide stage. Most speakers even expensive ones all make poor or average crossovers. They give what we call a 2-dimensional stage. Many brands even expensive ones use simple and cheap copper internal wiring. Only a few use pure silver internal wiring. For surround ( also for stereo) you want the best respons ( timing). And speakers with a high spl so they can play loud without any stress. Hoe much money you want to spend to the whole package?

The absolute perfect timbre match would be to use a pair of Casta Acoustics model A's for your surrounds.

Tls49 wrote:

The absolute perfect timbre match would be to use a pair of Casta Acoustics model A's for your surrounds.

Amen. There are much better speakers out there but they are irrelevant and the choice is not made in a vacuum.