I've posted a similar question on the avsforum and not a single person had anything to say about Tannoy speakers for home theater. I hope to get some helpful information here.

For a dedicated home theater, with a Meridian 861V4 processor and 3 DSP 5500 speakers for the front, Im looking for speakers for the side channels and it was recommended that I use speakers for the rear and side channels with a diffusive sound field. Meridian does not make dipole speakers.

Tannoy does not appear to be a well known or widely used by custom installers in the United States whereas Triad is much more common. I would suspect that in UK and Scotland the reverse would be the case.

The ideal speakers would play loud, react quickly and accurately and give a high level of detail for both music and movies. They will be powered by 200 watt per channel 2 channel Meridian 557 reference amplifiers.

How should I expect the Tannoy IW 60 EFX (a switchable dipole/point source in wall) to compare to the Triad Gold in Walls?

Any recommendations?

To be honest, I'm not sure I'd be *overly* concerned with getting dipole speakers for the rear, especially if you're setting up a 7.1 system. It can help (and if you have the choice do go with that), but the effect isn't *so* great that you would be horribly disappointed without that.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with Tannoy.

It's generally recommended to use dipoles for your rears if you have seating close to the rear wall. Once you start moving away, the preference moves to direct radiating. I've heard good things about both brands. I have Triads Gold Surrounds in my theater and love them.

CJ

At CEDIA I saw some amazing looking speakers from Bowers and Wilkins made to match their CT700 (great HT speakers). I believe they will be available beginning of the next year.

check it out looks promising:
[Link: news.ecoustics.com]

PS Ci700 second part of article keep scrolling down ;)

Tannoy is so familiar overseas that occasionally, in a British new item or radio play, you'll hear PA speakers referred to generically as tannoys.

I've not needed to budge from the opinion I formed more than ten years ago, that I'd rather have point source speakers than dipoles.

In the front, you use point source speakers and the brain interprets left, right, center, and in between. If you were to use dipoles in the front, there would never be any imaging at all, and the sound would appear smooshed across the front.

Why woul the rear be any different? The producer has chosen where he wants the sounds to be placed, and has added echo and other effects to his taste. Point source speakers allow the brain to receive this information and reassemble it as a mental picture. To me, dipoles take a distinct sound stage mental photograph and smear it into an out of focus blob of sound.

I understand what you are saying and lacking other opinions would totally agree with you. However, the advice I gave was based on what was told to me by some of the top people in the field (Dennis Erskine [formerly of Design Cinema Privee and now Erskine Group] and Paul Scarpelli [Triad Speakers]).

CJ

I have disagreed with some real experts, then, and I still don't like the way those systems sound.