For my HT what would be better for rear speakers..


I am undecided between Paradigm ADP 170 and Atoms??? Room is 12 x 15 with the couch almost against the back wall?? Bipole/dipole vs, direct firing??? Any help is appreciated
aniesen
What main and center speakers are you using? You should stick with the same manufacture if at all possible.
If you do have Paradigms up front, I suggest the MUCH MORE LISTENABLE ADP's! At the end of the day, no matter what people say, it's going to be much more easy to integrate the dipoles usually than the monopoles! If you sit closer to the dirrect firing rear speakers, they're going to DOMINATE THE SOUNDSTAGE, AND PULL YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF THE MOVIE!...basically they'll likely be distracting. You could set them up high in the room, but still they'll draw more attention than Dipoles properly placed.
IF the Dipoles are well designed, they should sound excellent placed to your sides or on the ceiling, and, in general, more pleasing for movie watching night after night!
That's my suggestion....
Not to confuse the matter further for you, but I suggest you also consider the tripole speakers made by M&K. My room setup is similar to yours (13'x17', with the main couch about 5' below and in front of the rear surround speakers) , and I've been very pleased with the M&K SS-150 THX tripole surrounds I am using. The SS-150's are a good deal more money than the Paradigms you are considering, but M&K has a new tripole model, the K-4, which for $450 (MSRP).

The advantage to the tripole design is that you will get both direct and dispersed sound, which is very helpful when your listening spot is close to the rear speakers. My SS-150's sit atop a tall bookshelf at the back of the room, and their tripole design provides a very nice amount of lateral fill while also providing directional aural clues.

By the way, I have previously tried dipoles, then direct-radiating bookshelf speakers, but eventually settled on the tripole design which I think is an excellent compromise in a surround speaker for room setups like ours.

Here is the link to the web page for M&K's surround speakers if you want to look at their various models:
http://www.mksound.com/surround_speakers.html