Speaker placement question (1 Viewer)

[HienD]

I have a 5.1 speaker setup. Just wondering which is the best way to setup my surround speaker. They are 3 way bookshelfs that are the same as the fronts. I don't have enough room to put the rear speaker beside my couch pointing towards each other. What the next best thing.

1. Have them placed slightly behind a behind the couch and pointed sideways towards each other.

2. Have them placed slightly behind the couch and pointed toward the center of where me heads gonna be.

3. Have them placed a few feet or more, behind me, and pointed towards the front speakers.

Which one of these will give more accurate setup. I'm new to this HT stuff and can't really tell which sounds more correct. thanks

 

[Frank Zimkas]

#3 is a good choice.

Try WWW.Dolby.Com for more info on proper placement.

 

[Lee Carbray]

1 and 3 will probably give you a more diffuse environment and 2 would be more directional. It all depends on you preference. The best advice is to try it out with all three as pick the one that sounds best to YOU.

 

[Neil Joseph]

3 is most likely the best choice. I like to have many feet of breathing space between the surround speakers and the listening position, for the same reasons that you do not place your front speakers 2ft in front of the listening position. Speakers need space to "breathe". Also, I much prefer a rear location over a side location for direct radiating (monopole) surround speakers because the rear soundstage more closely matches the on-screen action than a side placed setup does.

 

[Glenn_N]

I have the same type of setup. My couch is against the back wall and there is very little room for speaker placement. I got my suggestions from the Dolby site. My speakers are placed behind the couch and are facing up at the ceiling. I placed them on 24" tall stands and they are slightly angled towards the front of the room (5-10 degrees). It was a little tricky to get the volume level set. I went to Radio Shack and bought a sound meter which really helped. It sounds great!
Good Luck.:star:

 

[Martin G]

You can also try pointing the speakers toward the ceiling with them slightly behind you. This gets a very diffuse sound as well.

 

[Neil Campbell]

I'd like to use stands for my surrounds so I have flexibility to move them in the future but most of the advice seems to be to have them well above ear level and I can't find stands that are anywhere near this high. The Dolby site suggests 2-3 feet above ear level which would put them about six feet in the air. I may just have to figure out a way to arrange things to get them on the wall.

 

[Neil Campbell]

I'd like to use stands for my surrounds so I have flexibility to move them in the future but most of the advice seems to be to have them well above ear level and I can't find stands that are anywhere near this high. The Dolby site suggests 2-3 feet above ear level which would put them about six feet in the air. I may just have to figure out a way to arrange things to get them on the wall.

 

[HienD]

I'm using DIY stands that are 4.5 feet above the ground. I have them in the #1 position right now. The feet of the stands are actually under the couch abit. I'm probably gonna move the speakers to the #3 position once I pickup a audio rack/stand and free up more speaker wire. I find music sounds better with the speaker to the back of me. I also have about 6 feet to spare behind the couch, so that helps.

 

[Neil Campbell]

I've seen some speaker stands by B-Tech (BT-10) that look pretty spindly but are supposed to extend to 46" and hold speakers up to 15 pounds. The Athena speakers I'm looking at weigh in about 6 pounds but that still seems like a lot of weight at the end of a skinny pipe 4 feet in the air.

Are there any audio issues around such a setup (rear surrounds on high stands) or is it just a physical issue (keeping them from being bumped or falling over)? If the stands are too shaky, does the speaker use some of its energy to move the stand around?