Speaker Placement and boundary problems

[Goldensuitcase]

So my Polk 30's, if I place them in the corner, hyow much room should be let inbetween the wall and the speaker? And should I mount them i the upper corner or should they b e a little lower in the front and rear areas?

[Twitch9]

Originally Posted by Goldensuitcase

So my Polk 30's, if I place them in the corner, hyow much room should be let inbetween the wall and the speaker? And should I mount them i the upper corner or should they b e a little lower in the front and rear areas?

If they are your fronts a good rule of thumb is 1 foot on either side from any wall, if they are your surrounds i would mount them 2 feet above ear level is recommended. For the fronts the tweeter should be at ear level when seated.

[Riff Magnum]

Does the same rule of keeping your speakers away from the wall apply to rear and side surrounds? Whether i go with 5.1, 7.1, bi-poles, di-poles, or bookshelves, my surrounds will have to be wall mounted. Would simply buying some arm mounts that give a few inches of separation from the wall be enough, or will mounting directly to the wall suffice?

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Does the same rule of keeping your speakers away from the wall apply to rear and side surrounds? Whether i go with 5.1, 7.1, bi-poles, di-poles, or bookshelves, my surrounds will have to be wall mounted. Would simply buying some arm mounts that give a few inches of separation from the wall be enough, or will mounting directly to the wall suffice?

No, they do not need to be a foot or so from the wall. Most side surrounds, monopoles, dipoles, bipoles, etc... are designed to be hung on the wall, and that is without any arm mounts too. I'm not exactly sure of the reason as to why to keep them a foot or so away from the wall, but perhaps it is because the fronts are able to handle lower frequencies than the surrounds, and by being too close to the wall, they would create a "boomy" sound....

[Riff Magnum]

Gotcha. One of my side surrounds will probably need an arm mount anyways, so i might eventually mount them all so they look uniform. Hard to explain, but basically the right side of my living room opens up into my dining room, so there's no wall to mount it to, and instead i would have to mount it down from the ceiling.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Gotcha. One of my side surrounds will probably need an arm mount anyways, so i might eventually mount them all so they look uniform. Hard to explain, but basically the right side of my living room opens up into my dining room, so there's no wall to mount it to, and instead i would have to mount it down from the ceiling.

If you look at my set-up and from the TV back to my couch, you'll see I have the same issue on the left side of the pic (the right side surround speaker as there is the stairs to go up from the basement), so I understand. I would need to use the ceiling too, but my ceiling is only 7 feet tall, so that would not work for me, as I would hit my head on the darn thing all the time = ouch!

[Riff Magnum]

Yeah, unless your building a dedicated HT every room will have compromises. At the moment i have my tv and front towers in a corner, simply because that's where all the outlets and cords are and it provides a great view of the tv from the dining room table. Problem is my fronts aren't spread out as far as i'd like in that corner, and i know it's just gonna get worse when i add my center and sub and it's gonna make setting up my surrounds very difficult, since placing the tv in the corner kinda "unsquares" my room, if you know what i mean. So basically, i've decided to re-arrange my entire living room in order to get better sound. Cool thing is i'll have probably 4-5' of space from my main viewing spot to the back surrounds and at least that much room to the side surrounds. I think it will be better in the long run, even if i have to do more work to "hide" the wires and it will take away my ability to eat dinner and watch tv. Oh well, i'd rather have better sound and a cleaner, more spread out look.

[Fors*]

I understand sacrifices for sound. However, my wife only allows one TV in the whole house, and its my HT! So I have to share it with the kids all the time = very little time to watch movies loud (my kids are 4 1/2 years and 6 months old). Plus its in the basement, so there is no TV anywhere else. I know my kids will want one in their room when they get older, and i told my wife she is on her own there. I think they should have a TV in their room...but no computer.....to many cruel kids and freaks out there.

[Riff Magnum]

Basements are such a great refuge. Perfect for a HT, gameroom, bar, etc.
Wish i had one, but the soils down here won't accept them. That's definitely one thing i miss about the midwest. Basements were such a huge part of my upbringing. Very nostalgic.

[kareface]

I know this thread is a little quite, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents. Another problem I've noticed in a lot of galleries is that people who have their couches butted right up against the walls still use 7.1 setups. In a situation where you have a 7.1 system but you don't have room to place the rear 2 speakers a few feet (at least) behind your listening position, you're likely better off not using the speakers at all. Most amplifiers will distribute the unused power to the other speakers, and in most cases this will help improve the quality of the sound they produce. On top of the fact that most content doesn't have discrete rear channels. The best you get is matrixing which adds additional load to the AVR. 7.1 systems can be nice, but if you aren't in a situation to use them effectively then you're not losing much by letting your mains have a little more juice.

[Saturnas]

Hello everyone, I need help with speaker placement. I have two options:

place speakers at the bottom of the screen
http://img210.imageshack.us/i/dsc02653ne.jpg/

Place speakers at the top of the screen
http://img801.imageshack.us/i/dsc02658q.jpg/

which option would be better?

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Saturnas

Hello everyone, I need help with speaker placement. I have two options:

place speakers at the bottom of the screen
http://img210.imageshack.us/i/dsc02653ne.jpg/

Place speakers at the top of the screen
http://img801.imageshack.us/i/dsc02658q.jpg/

which option would be better?

I would think that if you could raise the screen up & then put your speakers on stands , That would be best . Big Daddy says the tweeters should be at ear level on your front three speakers

[Saturnas]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

I would think that if you could raise the screen up & then put your speakers on stands , That would be best . Big Daddy says the tweeters should be at ear level on your front three speakers

Thanks for suggestion, but it's not possible due to pj offset.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Saturnas

Thanks for suggestion, but it's not possible due to pj offset.

Then I would put your front L/R speakers on either side of the screen so the tweeters are at ear level & leave the center under the screen but pointed slightly upward towards the listening position you sit in .

[Saturnas]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

Then I would put your front L/R speakers on either side of the screen so the tweeters are at ear level & leave the center under the screen but pointed slightly upward towards the listening position you sit in .

Unfortunately there isn't enough space, they wouldn't cover the screen, only the black material, but still they would be very close to the wall, and I have read that it's bad.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Saturnas

Unfortunately there isn't enough space, they wouldn't cover the screen, only the black material, but still they would be very close to the wall, and I have read that it's bad.

Then I would say you need to listen to them both on top & on bottom to see what sounds best to you .

[Saturnas]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

Then I would say you need to listen to them both on top & on bottom to see what sounds best to you .

Yes that would be great. But maybe you know how to put them on top by not buying speaker holders and drilling the holes in the wall?

And on what I should put them? Because I don't want just leave them on the carpet... And how could I point them slightly upward towards the listening position?

[rayray8]

just buy more speakers and fit as many as possible in a 12'x15' room. then buy an emotiva amplifier for each speaker and you are good to go!

[Saturnas]

Originally Posted by rayray8

just buy more speakers and fit as many as possible in a 12'x15' room. then buy an emotiva amplifier for each speaker and you are good to go!

Thanks for suggestion, but I didn't really understand it. Sorry, I'm still learning english



After a lot of thinking, I decided that I will put speakers in the bottom of the screan, because I could't figure out how to test them in the top of the screen...

But still I need your help guys. I can't figure out on what should I put them and how could I point them slightly upward towards the listening position?


Any help and suggestions are appreciated.

[JJ]

This thread was a hell of a read, especially Sir Terrence's comments. I'm trying to perfect stuff like that out, especially clarification of bi-/dipole surround placements.

And again, I didnt even realize I was being called out on the OPENING post of this - but it is all for aesthetics, the columns! No mirror method used...