Surround Sound Speaker Placement

[ThePaladinTech]

I hope to reconfigure my home theater system ... Correctly, or at least as correct as I can make it.

Currently the layout of the living room dictates where things are... My current configuration is horrible, the center channel speaker is 80 inches off the floor and the rest are on the floor. All speakers save one are to right and in front of the viewing area, save the left surround speaker which is to the left and behind the viewing area. So needless to say anything will be an improvement right?

So with that and still having a lot of real world limitations it's my hope to move to rearrange the living room to improve our home theater.

Doors, Windows, Doorwalls, Ductwork, Pipes, and everything else it seems are conspiring against me!

The problem as I see it is the surround speakers. I have three options-

1. mount them at ear level, on speaker stands behind the viewing area (AKA couch) - speaker stands are non adjustable height.
-or-
2. they will need to be at least 87 inches high and on the back wall firing forward from a distance of 7.5 feet behind the viewing area.
-or-
3. again at least 87 inches high and mounted on the side walls either pointing at each other or angled towards the viewing area. and most probably JUST behind the viewing area or at least 6 feet behind the viewing area. oh and JUST behind means JUST behind - like an inch.

Bear in mind that none of my speaker stands allow for tilting up and down, just side to side... I may be able to make some angled blocks for the rear wall mount options though, but buying something else is pretty much out of the question.

So onto the main questions:
1. Which option would you think is best? and what impact do the others have? Option 1 would be the easist, Option 2 probably the best looking.
2. the question i am most curious about, you read about optimal placement, but the stereos have adjustment for volume level for each speaker, ask if it's large or small, etc. do these adjustments help nulify speaker mis-placement? both height and distance??

Oh and on to the equipement:

http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/rev...x-lr552-review Onkyo TX-LR552 6.1 reciever (which brings up one more question -- how much impact would adding that sixth speaker make?? I'm on a budget of nearly $0...)

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...s-10-2004.html Infinity TSS-750 speaker system - And currently two sets of infinity speaker stands.

Toshiba TIVO SD-H400
http://sagetv.com SageTV HD-100 (not in use yet... still using MVP)

[sarcasm]
and the star of the setup ...
A magnavox 27" TV circa 1985 with composite input!
[/sarcasm] - well hopefully we will be able to replace this in the next year...

Basically due to windows, doors, walkways, etc. the current layout and the proposed layout are the only options for the TV and Couch. As always any and all advice appreciated!

http://automatictoaster.com/Portals/0/photos/t1.JPG

~Jeff

[Polypro]

Distance measurements and size/type of speakers are for signal delivery times and whether or not Bass is routed to a Sub or not. The "optimal" placement for 5.1 is:

http://surroundsoundspeakerplacement...-to-dolby.html

I'd get as close to that with what you have to work with.

P

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by Polypro

I'd get as close to that with what you have to work with.

While I agree with Polypro, In your situation I would go with the higher mount in the rear even if farther back than recommended. I've been thru this before and if you watch action flicks, when those helicopters come flying in from behind you'll want them to come in from behind and overhead - not at shoulder level.

You'll be able to compensate your rear volume for the added distance.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by enzominator

1. mount them at ear level, on speaker stands behind the viewing area (AKA couch) - speaker stands are non adjustable height.
-or-
2. they will need to be at least 87 inches high and on the back wall firing forward from a distance of 7.5 feet behind the viewing area.
-or-
3. again at least 87 inches high and mounted on the side walls either pointing at each other or angled towards the viewing area. and most probably JUST behind the viewing area or at least 6 feet behind the viewing area. oh and JUST behind means JUST behind - like an inch.

I'd opt for 2 and 3, and go for a 7.1 setup. The problem with option 1 is, presumably the speakers would be right behind your seating. Surrounds really need to be a bit away from you to produce the right soundfield. When they're close you'll only hear the speaker closest to you, not the field produce by both.

Your locations described in 2 and 3 are almost perfect for a 7.1 setup, see the picture here:
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...logic_IIx.html

7.1 has the advantage of producing a larger sweetspot since it doesn't rely on phantom imaging to place sounds behind you, it also helps keep the sound field from collapsing into the surround speaker closest to you (like happens in 5.1.

If you're unwilling/unable to go 5.1, then option 2 is the best, 5.1 is designed to have the surrounds to the side but just behind and above your seating location.
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...y_digital.html

1. Which option would you think is best? and what impact do the others have? Option 1 would be the easist, Option 2 probably the best looking.

2+3

[QUOTE]2. the question i am most curious about, you read about optimal placement, but the stereos have adjustment for volume level for each speaker, ask if it's large or small, etc. do these adjustments help nulify speaker mis-placement? both height and distance??[QUOTE]

They won't do anything for height, and they won't do anything to help if the speakers are way too close. Some background might help understand the purpose of those controls:

For Speaker distance, multichannel audio systems are designed to have all speakers equidistant from the listener. However in real world rooms, that's usually impossible. Thus the distance controls compensate for this (to a degree) by delaying the sound to the close speakers by the difference in time it takes it to arrive from the far speakers.

Speaker volume is a similar idea, in an ideal system all the speakers would produce the same sound from the same signal, but that's not the case in the real world, so speaker volume controls are there to account for the small differences in the performance and acoustics of the room making all the speakers sound the same level.

Speaker size is just to enable redirecting of bass/low frequencies speakers can't reproduce to the subwoofer.

http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/review/3100/onkyo-tx-lr552-review

Onkyo TX-LR552 6.1 reciever (which brings up one more question -- how much impact would adding that sixth speaker make?? I'm on a budget of nearly $0...)

If you're going to go > 5.1, use 7 speakers, regardless of whether you feed the two surround back speakers different signals or not, the sound field will be better with two. But with that AVR, I think it's probably not worthwhile getting the 6th speaker.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...s-10-2004.html Infinity TSS-750 speaker system - And currently two sets of infinity speaker stands.

I've got to ask, do you have the AVR/Speakers already?

If you do, your best bet is to go 5.1 and place the surrounds on the side walls, just like you describe in 3.

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

While I agree with Polypro, In your situation I would go with the higher mount in the rear even if farther back than recommended. I've been thru this before and if you watch action flicks, when those helicopters come flying in from behind you'll want them to come in from behind and overhead - not at shoulder level.

You'll be able to compensate your rear volume for the added distance.

Thanks this is what I was really wondering about!

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I've got to ask, do you have the AVR/Speakers already?

Didn't see you're reply right away- Umm yeah, I've had the speakers brand new, unused for 2 years now, and the receiver for 3. At the time of purchase I was, and still am, very limited by the armour that the TV and AV Receiver *must* fit in.

I've been looking quite a bit at options on the web and it seems there are many opinions as to where to put the speakers. but in answer to your question about the rear speaker stands, they would either be RIGHT behind the couch... or they could be against the back wall on the stands. they could not go in the corners however, the one rear corner is a doorway... but one speaker could be against the back wall aligned with the left side of couch, and the other aligned with right side.

I'm also thinking about the possibility of putting bookshelfs on that back wall, then the speakers could sit on the shelves, and that would give me the ability to put them at a standing earlevel.

looking at many of the diagrams with the circle around the primary viewing area - well I can do that. the couch will be nearly center front to back. so the only issue there is height, and I am gathering that are two camps:
1. older recordings used the rears only for ambient sounds and that for this reason the higher placement is better. but new recordings use them for "specific" audio and all tweeters should be at the same height - thus all speakers on stands at about seated ear level is great for 'today's' recordings
-or-
2. if you don't mount them high they will drown out and muddy the surround sound experience.

Argh well looks like I will just have to try it both ways. In any event it sounds like i'll be keeping all four stands. cuz if at some point I can go 7.1 they will be handy for that.

[davephan]

Are there any more opinions on the 7.1 satellite speaker height issue? I need to figure out how high to install the speakers in an eight foot room. Physically, the speakers would be out of the way if they were closer to the ceiling. Maybe the left/right surround and two rear speakers could be closer to the ceiling and the center, left and right front speakers could be lower in height.

Are there more opinions about the speaker height issue? It's going to be a hassle to try to get the wires inside the walls, so I don't want to move them around after I install them!

I have Klipsch model 1000 5.1 speaker system, plus two extra satellite speakers for the two rear speakers. The satellite speakers will be mounted to the walls with brackets that allow the speakers to be positioned in different angles.

Dave

[stanger89]

The fronts really should be as close to the center of the screen as possible. The surrounds I think are usually a bit above your head, mine are about a foot down, and the backs, probably not huge, I think ideally they're about head height, but i doubt it will make much difference back there.