Speaker Placement?

[dvdwatcher]

What do you guys think about this scenario..I'm looking into getting a full set of Polk Speakers, Monitor 70's for the fronts, cs2 for the center, Monitor 40's for the rear surrounds and Monitor 30's for the surrounds or whatever model is equivalent at time of purchase.

Now two scenario's one would be mounting the 30's and 40's from the ceiling?

Or mounting the 40's from the rear wall and the 30's on the side but in the ceiling?

Do you guys think either of these configurations would work nicely? I know ideally the surrounds should be about what 2 feet above ear level but the configuration of the room is making it hard to mount the sides to the wall itself. I will also be having floor to almost ceiling(about 6.5 feet high) dvd shelving I'm building along each side that's why the side surrounds would be mounted from the ceiling instead.

Also for anyone with the 30's when mounted what is your clearance from ceiling to bottom of speaker? Will I have enough room for those speakers above the 6.5 foot shelf?

Greatly appreciated!!

[tbizzle]

Sorry, I can't really help with the placement, but just wanna say that you will be happy with that setup. I have the same but a 5.1 setup and it kicks ass!

[jomari]

welcome to the foray dvdwatcher, as much as id like to go ahead and assist further, more information would be greatly appreciated as well.

how big is the room? dimensions?
how high is the ceiling? vaulted?
is this a 'living space' or a dedicated home theater room?

im no polk enthusiast, but im assuming you are getting bookshelves for rears. am i correct? have you auditioned any of them by chance? ever considered bipoles or dipoles? polks also make some very hefty and great surrounds too.

come back to us on that note.

im going to eat dinner. im sure BD's working right now too on this...

[Fors*]

Besides providing answers for your room as jomari asked, I just want to throw this out there.....you would be better served using the 40's as surrounds and the 30's as rear surrounds.....but of course, this may depend on a certain space issue. The 40's are beasts and you would get more mileage out of them as surrounds due to the few 7.1 blu's out there that would use them as rear surrounds.

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Besides providing answers for your room as jomari asked, I just want to throw this out there.....you would be better served using the 40's as surrounds and the 30's as rear surrounds.....but of course, this may depend on a certain space issue. The 40's are beasts and you would get more mileage out of them as surrounds due to the few 7.1 blu's out there that would use them as rear surrounds.

Well Im not totally up to date on the difference between the two, so would the 40's be adequate for the rear surrounds? That will be the setup for sometime until I can afford the second pair, and receiver. In a 5.1 setup isn't that considered rear surrounds? I was assuming at least on 5.1 setup the 40's would be better suited because "they are beasts" and when I upgrade my receiver and second pair to achieve 7.1 the 30's would be good for side surrounds, because the 40's would still push most of the audio.

I just did a search and see now in a 5.1 setup what would be my rear surrounds move to the side in a 7.1 setup and the rear surrounds would be new and really only for MORE ambiance right? So you want all the power in the side surrounds in a 7.1 setup.

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by jomari

welcome to the foray dvdwatcher, as much as id like to go ahead and assist further, more information would be greatly appreciated as well.

how big is the room? dimensions?
how high is the ceiling? vaulted?
is this a 'living space' or a dedicated home theater room?

im no polk enthusiast, but im assuming you are getting bookshelves for rears. am i correct? have you auditioned any of them by chance? ever considered bipoles or dipoles? polks also make some very hefty and great surrounds too.

come back to us on that note.

im going to eat dinner. im sure BD's working right now too on this...

I think the room is about 15'*11', vaulted ceiling and it will be didicated but may have a closet still. I havent really auditioned any except the Polk's but I really like them and have read really good reviews, plus budget. As I said before they will be bookshelve speakers but may be mounted in the ceiling facing down instead.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by dvdwatcher

Well Im not totally up to date on the difference between the two, so would the 40's be adequate for the rear surrounds? That will be the setup for sometime until I can afford the second pair, and receiver. In a 5.1 setup isn't that considered rear surrounds? I was assuming at least on 5.1 setup the 40's would be better suited because "they are beasts" and when I upgrade my receiver and second pair to achieve 7.1 the 30's would be good for side surrounds, because the 40's would still push most of the audio.

I just did a search and see now in a 5.1 setup what would be my rear surrounds move to the side in a 7.1 setup and the rear surrounds would be new and really only for MORE ambiance right? So you want all the power in the side surrounds in a 7.1 setup.

A 5.1 set-up is your fronts, a center speaker and 2 side surrounds. Adding rear surrounds is what makes it a 7.1 set-up. So, I would move the 40's to the side for now, as you would want them to be used as often as possible with any 5.1 soundtrack. If you are interested in getting another set of surrounds speakers, have you thought about bipoles/dipoles?

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

A 5.1 set-up is your fronts, a center speaker and 2 side surrounds. Adding rear surrounds is what makes it a 7.1 set-up. So, I would move the 40's to the side for now, as you would want them to be used as often as possible with any 5.1 soundtrack. If you are interested in getting another set of surrounds speakers, have you thought about bipoles/dipoles?

I have but as always price is a factor, besides Im going to prewire the speakers but the surrounds will come later.

[jomari]

considering the amount of space you have, plus that its a vaulted ceiling, i think it might be a tad too small for a 7.1 (with bookshelves as your surrounds) dont you think?

as fosberg mentioned, try checking out dipoles/bipoles. most of them arent as expensive as you'd think my friend. theres always amazon as a price point check, and if ever, id bet you'd get a steal on certain models.

at work, cant focus on this right now.

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by jomari

considering the amount of space you have, plus that its a vaulted ceiling, i think it might be a tad too small for a 7.1 (with bookshelves as your surrounds) dont you think?

as fosberg mentioned, try checking out dipoles/bipoles. most of them arent as expensive as you'd think my friend. theres always amazon as a price point check, and if ever, id bet you'd get a steal on certain models.

at work, cant focus on this right now.

Are suggesting no 7.1 at all or just using dipoles for both sets of surrounds?

[jomari]

Originally Posted by dvdwatcher

Are suggesting no 7.1 at all or just using dipoles for both sets of surrounds?

im suggesting to use dipoles for your surrounds.

about the 7.1, well, lets put it this way, a greatly setup 5.1 can throw down a mediocre 7.1 anyday. id go ahead and consider 5.1 for the room space tho, but this is upon your preference. you can go 7.1, but i think it would be overdone at this point. put that money towards another sub or a better soundstage.

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by jomari

im suggesting to use dipoles for your surrounds.

about the 7.1, well, lets put it this way, a greatly setup 5.1 can throw down a mediocre 7.1 anyday. id go ahead and consider 5.1 for the room space tho, but this is upon your preference. you can go 7.1, but i think it would be overdone at this point. put that money towards another sub or a better soundstage.

What size room would be adequate for a 7.1 setup? I didnt really think size of room mattered for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

[Clark Kent]

More information and theory about speaker positioning than you ever wanted...

http://www.audiophysic.de/aufstellung/index_e.html#top