Speaker placement help (long) (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Martin]

After living for about a year with the following setup, I'm growing unsatisfied.

Surround effects, especially front/back pans stay mostly in front of the main listening position. I believe this is caused by the combination of dipole located near ceiling and lack of back reflective walls.

I'm toying with the following solutions:
- move the surround forward/activate in-ceiling speakers
- add rears
- replace surrounds with Studio 20

Any suggestion/input you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Daniel.


Notes:
- Any extra speakers need to be mounted near ceiling.
- Connecting in-ceiling (X) speakers in parallel with surrounds improves the sound field
- Calibrated with Avia & RS SPL meter
- Other equipment: Outlaw 1050/Samson/BFD
- Upgrade budget < 1000$

Room Plan:


X= 16' / Y= 35' / Z= 10' ceiling

.......|------------+.+|
.......|WF....C....F...|
.......|W..............|
.......|...............|
.......|.............**|
.......|.............**|
.......|.............**|
.......|.............**|
.......|.....*P********|
.......|S.X..*******X*S|
....._/................|-+.+-|
..._/........................+
._/...........................
/............................+
.....................|---+.+-|
.....................|
.._.................|
....................|
.....|...............|
.....|...............|
.....|......R....R...|
.....|+..+-----------|


Legend:
W: Subwoofer/20x39 SVS
F: Front/Studio 40
C: Center/Studio Center
S: Surround/Studio ADP firing parallel to Y
X: In-ceiling/JBL unused
+: door
*: seating area
P: primary seat
R: rearStudio 20 planned

 

[Yee-Ming]

it might be the dipoles. I have a somewhat similar layout, but in a smaller room 13 x 26 ft, rather than your 16 x 35. similar idea, where the seating position is less than halfway along the long length of the room.

I have the Mission Cinema 8 series, where the surrounds are bipole 78DSs. I don't seem to have the same problem you do, front to back pans work fine for me.

perhaps you shoudl try changing the dipoles with bipoles, or even monopoles?

 

[Daniel Martin]

Thanks for your reply Yee-Ming.

I must admit that I'm a bit confused about the sound differences between bipoles and dipoles. The sound is probably less difuse with 'bipoles'. However, to stay in the Paradigm line, my only option is to go with monopoles.

Let's assume I get a pair of Studio 20's.

If I go the 7 channels way, should I put them in the back or on the sides of the room? Will the dipole still weaken the soundfield in such a room ?

If I replace the ADP's with the Studio 20's, how do I install them for best effect?

Leaving them on floor is not an option. Is it better then to put them on the side facing each other at ceiling height, or in the back of the room ? Should they be pointing to my ears ?

And what type of mounting bracket do I use with back ported speakers ?

Thanks a lot for your help,
Daniel.

 

[Yee-Ming]

[Keanu voice] whoa! [/Keanu voice]
sorry, I'm not familiar with Paradigms. and I haven't experimented with mono- v. bi- v. di-poles myself, all I can say anything about is my personal experience with bipoles.
I can add that in my previous HTiB, the little surround speakers were monopoles, fixed on brackets on the wall behind the seating area (note: different flat from my current one, so different layout), and I had them angled somewhat towards the seating area and it seemed to work fine.
you could look at this
http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTh...0110.html#s3.1 for some guidance, or this
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...561#post649561 and this
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...801#post575801 and this on dipoles specifically
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...541#post527541
hope this helps.

 

[Daniel Martin]

Thanks again Yee-Ming,
I did read all the document you provided - I got the feeling that to achieve the best sound field for my room I'll have to experiment.
To do so, I'll purchase a pair of studio 20, and will start moving stuff around...
Two last questions:
- Would the move from a 5ch to 7ch be worthwhile in this setup ?
- Is it ok to connect 2 speakers in parallel for each 'rear' channel ?
Daniel.
P.s. The Keanu voice html tag was pretty funny