Speaker Placement Comments Sought.... (7.2) (1 Viewer)

[GermainW]

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/germain_w...HT.jpg&.src=ph
Would like to know what you folks think of the speaker placement for our new HT...
Room size: 25' by 17' (rear of room raised by 1.5')
Front Speakers: B&W 802's
Center Speaker: B&W NHTM1
Side Surrounds: Revel S30 (Dipoles)
Rear Surrounds: B&W SCM1 (Direct-firing)
Subwoofer: Revel B15 (pair)
There will be two rows of (sofa) seating. Back row seats 7, and is on a raised platform about 1.5' high. Front (MAIN sitting area) seats 5, and is about 15' away from a 123" screen.
An A/V cabinet (height: 2") sits at the edge of the raised platform, between the two rows of sofa. (see pic)
My main concern has to do with placement of the surrounds:
1). With 2 rows of seating and with the back row on a raised platform, where and how high should the side surrounds be hung? (Since the main sitting area will be the front row, should I move the side surrounds up towards the front a little bit? I have another foot or so...)
2). Also, it concerns me that people sitting in the back row will have the rear surround directly behind/above their heads (as the back row sofa is practically against the back wall). Will this be a problem? Should there be some room between the rear speakers and the back-row seating?
3). All comments welcome... (indeed, needed).
edit: it seems that the pic is not loading... Pls. point browser to:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/germain_w...c=ph%26.view=t

 

[Scott Page]

If your back row is right under your rear surrounds, they are going to be very directional from those seats. A minimum of 3 feet in distance would be better. Place surrounds high up on the wall. The top of my surrounds are 6 feet off of the ground. That heighth should work for raised seating as well. You can have the side surrounds anywhere from a couple of feet in front to a couple of feet behind the NULL (directly to the side) position. So with two rows of seating, I would place them in the space between the front and rear. Alternatively, place them directly to the side of your "Primary" seating position for the best sound from YOUR seat (your guests won't likely know or care that they are not in the sweet spot).