7.1 Surround with 4 rear speakers

[Carmien]

Originally Posted by moviefan

If you google "7.1 surround sound" there is a wealth of information on speaker placement.

Although there is not much 7.1 material out there yet, your 5300ES is the perfect receiver th take advantage of it (I have the 5200ES ).

Even on 5.1 soundtracks your receiver will produce surround sound from the rear 2 speakers.

Not knowing the dimensions of your theater, I suggest:

Front L&R positioned wide and angled slightly inward.
Center as close to the screen as possible above or below.
Surround sides Above ear level, even with primary seating position
Rear surrounds Ceiling or high wall mounted behnd seating area.

I'm glad to hear this. My big challenge is the 2 rear speaker placement for 7.1.

Due to the shape of the room placing the rear speakers would have left them some 20 feet behind. That just seemed too far.

So, I then opted to go with ceiling placement. I'm using the x1.2 factor in terms of how far apart they are. And since I'm getting the basement done I'm going to have them angled at 30 degrees (as opposed to flat in the ceiling) and facing slightly inward toward the primary seating position (aka MY seat). In other words, in spite of them being in the ceiling they'll be pointed at my head.

It's a bit of a gamble. I concur with the advice - I googled 7.1 speakers and got a ton of info. That's where I got the 1.2 factor advice for rear speaker separation from.

I've also opted to place the front L and R speakers even with the seating position at ear level.

The good news, this is still being built. So if I'm doing something horrifically wrong now's the time!