Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 set up - Can I use my old Bose Acoustimass 15 series 1 just for surrounds ?

Atari2600

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My front L+R I have Monitor Audio R90 series 1.
Centre I have Monitor Audio R225 / R250 series 1 (can't remember the model)
Sub I have BK XXLS400

I was wondering can I use my old Bose Acoustimass 15 speaker set with the bass module just for the rear L+R surround and for top middle L+R

My sofa is right against the back wall so I cannot have surround speakers behind me.

The surround and ceiling speakers need to be really discrete as the games room is really small L 8.5ft X W 9.5ft X H 8.5ft
I cannot house another pair of R90 for the surrounds especially the height the speakers have to be (12"-17" from head height)

Or DO I NOT use my Monitor Audio speakers and use the Bose AM15 as a full 5.1 set up and buy a pair of KEF CI50R ceiling speakers to use as the top middle surround.

I know the sound quality from the front will not to be any way as good as my MA speakers.
This room is a games room / mini cinema room, so the TV will be the likes of a Samsung bottom end QLED model
So the sound quality doesn't have to be out of this world! but accurate Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 sound separation and a reasonable sound quality is what I'm trying to achieve

Hope you guys can help with you're knowledge
 
Doesn't the Bose have all the speakers coming from the subwoofer unit? If so then you cannot use that unit alongside the receiver. If the speakers themselves have a pair of posts for connecting wire to. If the ohm loading of those Bose speakers is 4 ohms or higher then they can be used. If you are looking for a discreet speaker for surround duties then have a look at the CA Minx 12.

 
Doesn't the Bose have all the speakers coming from the subwoofer unit? If so then you cannot use that unit alongside the receiver. If the speakers themselves have a pair of posts for connecting wire to. If the ohm loading of those Bose speakers is 4 ohms or higher then they can be used. If you are looking for a discreet speaker for surround duties then have a look at the CA Minx 12.



Hi thank you for your reply.
Yes the speakers (cube) do connect to the subwoofer (module) and the module connects to ANY AV receiver
This is not the lifestyle system which would come with its own receiver.

The cubes speakers do have speaker terminals in the back but you cannot connect these cubes directly to an amp / receiver as the crossover for mid to low bass is all done from the subwoofer (module)
Hense why the cube speakers connect to the module and the module connects to the speaker outputs on an AV receiver.

from the information I can find on the net the impedance is between 6-8 ohms

If it is possible and if these Bose speakers work perfectly for surround the way I would connect them up is,
Rather than having the front L+R+C cables from the module connected to the front L+R+C terminals of the AV receiver, I would just connect the cable to the surround terminals ?

I'm certain it would work but I guess what I really want to know is can I still achieve a good respectable sound quality and for Dolby Atmos separation truly work

Do surround speakers and above speakers have to be the same brand / frequency response as the fronts and centre ?
 
You will not be able to connect the Bose the a receiver as the decoding is done in the receiver and outputted to the individual speakers. Any sub would need to be connected via the LFE terminal which is a mono signal. I think you will have to forget trying to the any component part of the Bose. As for the speakers then the most essential combination is to have the front three from the same make and model range to preserve the timbre across the front soundstage. With the surrounds this is not so important but would be desirable. Most people use speakers that suit their needs or positional problems, that's why I suggested the CA Minx.

The Bose is a system in itself and is somewhat long in the tooth not having any HD audio and is incompatible with connection to any modern receiver.

What receiver do you intend to get?
 
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You will not be able to connect the Bose the a receiver as the decoding is done in the receiver and outputted to the individual speakers. Any sub would need to be connected via the LFE terminal which is a mono signal. I think you will have to forget trying to the any component part of the Bose. As for the speakers then the most essential combination is to have the front three from the same make and model range to preserve the timbre across the front soundstage. With the surrounds this is not so important but would be desirable. Most people use speakers that suit their needs or positional problems, that's why I suggested the CA Minx.

The Bose is a system in itself and is somewhat long in the tooth not having any HD audio and is incompatible with connection to any modern receiver.

What receiver do you intend to get?

Hi gibbsy

Sorry for my ignorance and being dumb ! But what decoding does the Bose bass module from my Acoustimass 15 speaker system actually do ?
From my understanding all it does is separates the low frequency from the high - then sends the high frequency to the satellite speakers and it keeps the low frequency for itself and produces the bass as the tiny satellite speakers physically cannot produce any bass from those tiny drivers.

The Bose base module does also have a LFE connection input as the Bose bass module
Isn't just a "bass module" for the satellite speakers but it's also a subwoofer.

This Bose system was at my dad's house part of his home theatre setup
It was connected to a yamaha AV receiver and was used for Dolby True HD and DTS movie play back.

Forgive me if I am wrong so I apologies in advance!
but I think you are getting you're wires a little mixed up with my Bose Acoustimass 15 speaker system with a Bose lifestyle system
(2 completely different systems)

Acoustimass 15 speaker system is just a home theatre speaker package which has an active subwoofer. with no AV receiver or amp with it, it has to be connected to a separate AV receiver like an onkyo, Yamaha , pioneer AV receiver (in my dad's case he had it connected to a yamaha reciever.

Bose lifestyle system is a system that not only comes with the speakers but it also comes with a Bose slimline AV receiver (silver / black in colour I think) part of the whole package - which you would connect you're dvd / Blu-ray player directly to the Bose slimline AV receiver via an optical cable or connect you're TV into it so you can then listen to you're TV / dvds in surround sound.
The Bose slimline AV receiver is what makes up the Bose lifestyle system and without the slimline AV receiver the "lifestyle system" will not work.

See link of my Bose AM15 speaker system package and a brief picture of the instruction manual of how to wire it up - I hope this clarifies things up



once again I am so sorry and do apologies for questioning you're knowledge and doubting you.

i just cannot understand as to why my Bose AM15 home theatre speaker package wouldn't work just for surrounds if I wired them all up as surround speakers and not as front L+R+C
just like any other speakers
(Apart from the base module separating the low and high frequencies and sending the high frequency to the satellite speakers and keeping the low frequency for itself to produce ?

if this is a defo no no then I would like to make sure first and to properly understand as to why it can not work, only then I can truly start to look at alternatives - as like you explained the surround speakers to do not really need to be the same brand or models as the front , it would be ideal to do so but it is not necessary and any speakers would work for surrounds - so if these Bose work why spend unnecessary money ?

I KNOW BOSE ACOUSTAMASS SPEAKERS ARE REALLY HATED AND I AM NOT A FAN BOY OF BOSE EITHER
It's just that I have these speakers in my house and if they are more than capable of producing sound just for surrounds then why not use them ?

For the record I would never use these Bose speakers either way for anything, for my main TV downstairs LG E9 oled - certainly not good enough to be part of a proper home theatre set up, but for a games room / mini cinema room which will also not be housing a top of the range TV (something may be like a high end hisense or Samsung bottom of the range QLED TV)

so looking for speaker set up that can probably complement the picture quality
i would have in this room.

not looking for reference level but looking for good sound quality and good overall Dolby Atmos experience if hat makes sense ??

once this concern I have is resolved then i can possibly start asking other questions regarding the set up untill then I need to be certain first.

thanks again so much for you're help
Screenshot_2020-05-02-01-28-27-00_e2d5b3f32b79de1d45acd1fad96fbb0f.png
 
FWIW.... I’ve previously used cheapish computer speakers for rears (monitor audio golds for front and Center; bk for sub). I’ve now replaced with r90 at rear. Of course the sound is better with r90s but I enjoyed the films just as much with the computer cube speakers.they gave nice separation and effects. I had to cut the wire on them as they were wired to the pc sub with a connector that my amp didn’t have. If you are able to try I would.
 
My apologies it does seem I've been looking at the wrong system and having now looked at the manual you can hook it up to the receiver's individual binding posts for the receiver to do the decoding and basically use the Bose as a hub for distribution to the speakers you want to use. Because the receiver will be the decoder then you should be able to use the speakers in what ever position you need, surrounds and Atmos.

Tonal qualities will differ between the MA and the Bose and that is something you'll have to live with. My neighbour has the other Bose system and I was basing my assumptions on that.
 
My apologies it does seem I've been looking at the wrong system and having now looked at the manual you can hook it up to the receiver's individual binding posts for the receiver to do the decoding and basically use the Bose as a hub for distribution to the speakers you want to use. Because the receiver will be the decoder then you should be able to use the speakers in what ever position you need, surrounds and Atmos.

Tonal qualities will differ between the MA and the Bose and that is something you'll have to live with. My neighbour has the other Bose system and I was basing my assumptions on that.

Hey gibbsy
No problem at all pal.

I did think you was getting confused between the two systems.

Tonal differences I understand that this will be the "side effect" of having difference brand speakers for surrounds BUT wouldn't it be the same if I was to use any other brand of speakers for the surrounds ?

I'm also assuming that fellow forum members that are also using different brand / type of speakers for surround will also be having the tonal differences ?
or would it be because I would be using these Bose speakers these would have a massive tonal difference compared to let's say the Cambridge audio you originally mentioned ??

I know this is probably a difficult question to answer. Ultimately I just don't want to be disappointed with the end results as I totally understand that it is not going to sound like a reference level system , but I do want it to sound good
 
It's because of the type of speaker and how the Bose system will effect that tonal balance. There is also the question as to how the Bose would effect the room EQ of the receiver. Would it be possible for you to just use the Bose for LFE and for it to act purely as a sub woofer and buy that pair of CAs. At the very least it would save a few speaker wires and allow the receiver to control the speakers for crossovers.
 
It's because of the type of speaker and how the Bose system will effect that tonal balance. There is also the question as to how the Bose would effect the room EQ of the receiver. Would it be possible for you to just use the Bose for LFE and for it to act purely as a sub woofer and buy that pair of CAs. At the very least it would save a few speaker wires and allow the receiver to control the speakers for crossovers.

I could use the Bose for the LFE for the subwoofer but I see this being pointless as I have my BK XXlS400 sub which I will be using.

I think as much as I wanted to use the Bose Acoustimass speakers for surround , it seems it's probably going to be more hassle than it's worth ?

One big advantage with the Bose cubes is I could twist them so 1 cube could be facing behind me and the other facing forward in an angle - this would have given me a nice spacious surround effect

I'm drawing up a room plan to show how the room is layed out so hopefully you and others could potentially recommend alternative speakers and also best placement

Hope this is ok
 
Hi Gibbsy.

Now that you have convinced me not to use my Bose speaker system as surrounds and i have taken up your suggestion of buying the cambridge Audio Minx speakers to use for surrounds.

From doing a bit of research on these tiny cube speakers - they are very highly rated and talked about, from this i have decided i will most likely buy the Cambridge Audio Minx speakers BUT i cant decide whether the single cube speaker would do the job perfectly or would i be better to buy the twin cubed speakers for the surrounds?

As for speakers for the Atmos (Top middle surround) im thinking to buy the Cambridge Audio in ceiling speakers Minx C46 Cambridge Audio Minx C46 (White)
what do you think to these ?

I guess i will also have to create a new post thread as i have drawn up my room plan with dimensions and to see where is best placement for the surrounds and also how many atmos speakers i can use in my small room and where to place
i have dm you asking where would be the best place to post my new thread

thanks for your help again
 
Just adding my experience

I used exact same bose for rear surrounds and front height atmos. They did a decent job plugged straight into the receiver ..BUT recently changed by rear surrounds to radius 45 and front height to CA minx 12....
MA are loud for the size, the CA are, for the size amazing... I tested them on 2 channel stereo before installing them... really good

As atmos, very good just needed to turn the channel level up to balance the sound.

The bose in comparison lacked the mids for me.....plus I find them out dated with the selection of small speakers on offer these days..

I have limited space in a small box bedroom.
 
I have a 20-year-old Acoustimass series 10 II, according o the manual "You can also enjoy a wide variety of stereo programming that is not surround-encoded with your Acoustimass 10 Series II speakers. Simply adjust your receiver accordingly", the subwoofer just works a recevier, I had a Harman Kardon AVR 510, but the left front channel stopped working.
 
Shouldn't see why connecting Bose sats to a AVR should be a problem, just use the highest possible crossover. I can set 250hz in mine.

I'd go for the min22 speaker instead of the smaller one.
 

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