Help with 7.1 set up - Blu-ray Forum

johnopyro · 02-09-2009, 05:16 PM

hi everyone i need help i just got a 7.1 surround system my trouble is speaker placement. attached is my room layout. i was going to place the side and back speakers up high faceing down. the side two in line with seats and the back two over the window. the center and front two leavel with ear when seating down do you think this will work or should i get stands and try hide the wire the best i can. thanks for your time and help with this one.

phansson · 02-09-2009, 05:22 PM

What kind of tv do you have?

I think that a better placment plan would be mounting the tv above the fireplace or on the wall opposite of the door. It is going to be hard to get any kind of uniformity with the placement that you have chosen.

tlmaclennan · 02-09-2009, 05:27 PM

I am not a good source for information, nor do I know anything about proper speaker placement and home theater setup, but I'm not sure it's setup correctly.

It's odd that the Fronts and Center speakers are at an angle to the seating area, but the Surrounds are directly behind and too the side of you. Also, seems like the front left and right speakers are too close to each other. My suggestion would be to move the TV above the fireplace and spread out the fronts.

If that's not possible, then maybe try and angle your seating area and surrounds to be aligned with the TV, back in the corner opposite the corner your TV is in.

tilallr1 · 02-09-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phansson

What kind of tv do you have?

I think that a better placment plan would be mounting the tv above the fireplace or on the wall opposite of the door. It is going to be hard to get any kind of uniformity with the placement that you have chosen.

Completely agree with what your saying. Your TV has to move, otherwise it will never sound right. My suggestion is you go with the TV on the wall opposite the door. Place your seating more towards the middle back of the room and mount the speakers in the proper industry supported placement.

mreilly611 · 02-09-2009, 07:05 PM

I would move your right speaker to the other side of the fireplace and move your center to the right of tv as much as you can. The center speaker does not need to be in the center of tv it can be a foot or two to the right. Then your room should get a much fuller sound with the better separation of speakers. I think the TV above fireplace would be much to high. Tv needs to be at eye level when seated.

phansson · 02-09-2009, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tilallr1

Completely agree with what your saying. Your TV has to move, otherwise it will never sound right. My suggestion is you go with the TV on the wall opposite the door.

Great minds think alike.

Above the fireplace or on the wall opposite the door is the BEST option for that particular room shape.

Hammie · 02-09-2009, 07:26 PM

What are the dimensions of your room?

phansson · 02-09-2009, 07:38 PM

It should be about 15' x 15' if scale was done properly.

johnopyro · 02-09-2009, 08:38 PM

thanks for the ideas lads the room is 10 x 15. i would not like to put the tv over the fire place as you would be looking up all the time as for the wall opposite the door there is a rad on that wall so the heat would not help the tv. would the speakers be better on a stand or mount high on the wall ?

tlmaclennan · 02-09-2009, 08:52 PM

I would do what crazyBLUE did with his setup, at least for the rear and side speakers. Of course he has a 9.1 system but you can get the idea. Mount the rears on the wall facing down and the side speakers to the side of your seating area.

I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe you could put the center speaker over the fireplace and the front right speaker just on the other side of the fireplace. Maybe that will balance the speakers a bit better for your sitting situation, but I feel that it will make the audio seem as though it's coming from the fireplace and not the TV.

johnopyro · 02-09-2009, 09:14 PM

thanks for that. ya if i put the center speaker over the fire place it will reck my head looking left at tv an sound coming from right.

phansson · 02-09-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmaclennan

I would do what crazyBLUE did with his setup, at least for the rear and side speakers.

Crazyblues setup has speakers that are "equidistant" from the seating area. example: L/R are the same distance. That is VERY important to speaker placement.

Quote:

I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe you could put the center speaker over the fireplace and the front right speaker just on the other side of the fireplace. Maybe that will balance the speakers a bit better for your sitting situation, but I feel that it will make the audio seem as though it's coming from the fireplace and not the TV.

I don't think it would work. Your front soundstage would be shifted way, way to the right.

phansson · 02-09-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnopyro

thanks for that. ya if i put the center speaker over the fire place it will reck my head looking left at tv an sound coming from right.

could you move the couch diagonally and face it toward the tv? That would fix some of your problems. I don't think you are going to have room though.

I would still look at fireplace mounting or that other wall.

henry_the_horse · 02-09-2009, 09:30 PM

This might be out of the question for you but if I had to have my TV where yours is then I would rearrange the seating to be as parallel as possible to it. Move that far right seat closer to the door, move the middle seat diagonally rather than against the wall, etc. That will also give you some room behind your seating for the sixth and seventh speakers (surround backs). Place those as far back as possible without one being further than the other, aligned with the space between your first and second seats and your second and third seats, directly facing your TV. Then place your normal surrounds right next to your far left seat and far right seat with the speakers turned inward so they're pointed at the viewers ears. Your fronts look fine, they're supposed to be placed in front of the TV. However optimally you're supposed to turn your front left and right speakers 30 degrees inward toward the center seat.

tlmaclennan · 02-09-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phansson

Crazyblues setup has speakers that are "equidistant" from the seating area. example: L/R are the same distance. That is VERY important to speaker placement.

I don't think it would work. Your front soundstage would be shifted way, way to the right.

Yea, that's what I thought.

It just seems like the OP would like to keep the room setup the way it is. I wasn't sure if the speakers could be placed and angled in a certain way to make the best of his room setup.

How do you sit on the couch? It doesn't look comfortable that you have to turn to see the TV.

johnopyro · 02-09-2009, 10:12 PM

yes the plan would be to try let the room as it is more space, to close to the fire seating around and takes up a lot of space.
"How do you sit on the couch? It doesn't look comfortable that you have to turn to see the TV." well you get use to it, most of the time i just lay across it. i think unless i put the tv up over the fire or move the rad on the other wall and go from there i am not going to get the best sound. would you all agree. i have tried every site on the net to get an answere to this question. everyone has helped me a lot thanks very much. but i am out off luck i think with the room shap and seating of it.

DonRSD · 02-10-2009, 02:32 PM

caddy-corner the main couch to the tv and move the chairs on the edges of the main couch

itll open up a ton of room as-well to the left/right of the main couch for surround sound sides on the wall up high

if that doesnt work then mount

but with a room that size, you need to "open it up" and caddy corner that couch

make sure the couch is in the "angle" of the corner directly and if need be......adjust the tv as-well to face directly at the center of the couch.

liquidice · 02-12-2009, 03:06 PM

doesn't THX show rear surround speakers being almost right next to each other?

02-09-2009, 07:05 PM	#5
mreilly611 Special Member Member since:Jan 2009 Location:4th Planet from the Sun Home Theater Gallery:37 Blu-ray collection:154	I would move your right speaker to the other side of the fireplace and move your center to the right of tv as much as you can. The center speaker does not need to be in the center of tv it can be a foot or two to the right. Then your room should get a much fuller sound with the better separation of speakers. I think the TV above fireplace would be much to high. Tv needs to be at eye level when seated. Last edited by mreilly611; 02-09-2009 at 07:36 PM.

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02-09-2009, 05:22 PM	#2
phansson Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Arkansas Home Theater Gallery:22 Blu-ray collection:643 Blu-ray reviews:1	What kind of tv do you have? I think that a better placment plan would be mounting the tv above the fireplace or on the wall opposite of the door. It is going to be hard to get any kind of uniformity with the placement that you have chosen.

02-09-2009, 05:27 PM	#3
tlmaclennan Senior Member Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Garden Grove, CA Home Theater Gallery:21 Blu-ray collection:121 Trading Score:1	I am not a good source for information, nor do I know anything about proper speaker placement and home theater setup, but I'm not sure it's setup correctly. It's odd that the Fronts and Center speakers are at an angle to the seating area, but the Surrounds are directly behind and too the side of you. Also, seems like the front left and right speakers are too close to each other. My suggestion would be to move the TV above the fireplace and spread out the fronts. If that's not possible, then maybe try and angle your seating area and surrounds to be aligned with the TV, back in the corner opposite the corner your TV is in.

02-09-2009, 07:26 PM	#7
Hammie Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:May 2008 Location:Washington, DC Metro Home Theater Gallery:53 Blu-ray collection:545 DVD collection:12 Trading Score:12	What are the dimensions of your room?

02-09-2009, 07:38 PM	#8
phansson Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Arkansas Home Theater Gallery:22 Blu-ray collection:643 Blu-ray reviews:1	It should be about 15' x 15' if scale was done properly.

02-09-2009, 08:38 PM	#9
johnopyro New Member Member since:Feb 2009	thanks for the ideas lads the room is 10 x 15. i would not like to put the tv over the fire place as you would be looking up all the time as for the wall opposite the door there is a rad on that wall so the heat would not help the tv. would the speakers be better on a stand or mount high on the wall ?

02-09-2009, 08:52 PM	#10
tlmaclennan Senior Member Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Garden Grove, CA Home Theater Gallery:21 Blu-ray collection:121 Trading Score:1	I would do what crazyBLUE did with his setup, at least for the rear and side speakers. Of course he has a 9.1 system but you can get the idea. Mount the rears on the wall facing down and the side speakers to the side of your seating area. I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe you could put the center speaker over the fireplace and the front right speaker just on the other side of the fireplace. Maybe that will balance the speakers a bit better for your sitting situation, but I feel that it will make the audio seem as though it's coming from the fireplace and not the TV.

02-09-2009, 09:14 PM	#11
johnopyro New Member Member since:Feb 2009	thanks for that. ya if i put the center speaker over the fire place it will reck my head looking left at tv an sound coming from right.

02-09-2009, 09:30 PM	#14
henry_the_horse Member Member since:Aug 2008	This might be out of the question for you but if I had to have my TV where yours is then I would rearrange the seating to be as parallel as possible to it. Move that far right seat closer to the door, move the middle seat diagonally rather than against the wall, etc. That will also give you some room behind your seating for the sixth and seventh speakers (surround backs). Place those as far back as possible without one being further than the other, aligned with the space between your first and second seats and your second and third seats, directly facing your TV. Then place your normal surrounds right next to your far left seat and far right seat with the speakers turned inward so they're pointed at the viewers ears. Your fronts look fine, they're supposed to be placed in front of the TV. However optimally you're supposed to turn your front left and right speakers 30 degrees inward toward the center seat.

02-09-2009, 10:12 PM	#16
johnopyro New Member Member since:Feb 2009	yes the plan would be to try let the room as it is more space, to close to the fire seating around and takes up a lot of space. "How do you sit on the couch? It doesn't look comfortable that you have to turn to see the TV." well you get use to it, most of the time i just lay across it. i think unless i put the tv up over the fire or move the rad on the other wall and go from there i am not going to get the best sound. would you all agree. i have tried every site on the net to get an answere to this question. everyone has helped me a lot thanks very much. but i am out off luck i think with the room shap and seating of it.

02-10-2009, 02:32 PM	#17
DonRSD Blu-ray Knight Member since:Jan 2009 Location:South Florida Home Theater Gallery:24 Blu-ray collection:254 Blu-ray reviews: 3 Trading Score:129	caddy-corner the main couch to the tv and move the chairs on the edges of the main couch itll open up a ton of room as-well to the left/right of the main couch for surround sound sides on the wall up high if that doesnt work then mount but with a room that size, you need to "open it up" and caddy corner that couch make sure the couch is in the "angle" of the corner directly and if need be......adjust the tv as-well to face directly at the center of the couch.

02-12-2009, 03:06 PM	#18
liquidice Mad Scientist Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jun 2008 Location:Milwaukee Home Theater Gallery:43 Blu-ray collection:384 Blu-ray reviews:6	doesn't THX show rear surround speakers being almost right next to each other?

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