Rear speaker wall mount height

Mike*Williams · 12-10-2003, 08:18 AM

Hello,

Just wondering people's thoughts on the best height for speaker mounting on the wall for rears. This is a pretty standard living room setup with a couch and a couple of armchairs (nothing with realy high backs). I've always "heard" that the rears are best just above ear level (ear level when seated), but I'm wondering what people's experiences are. I'm thinking around 6' up but even considering up to 7' so that people don't bump their head if they walk by/under it. I don't want to go much higher than 7' as then the speakers will have to angled so far down I think it'll ruin things.

TIA,
Mike W.

ChadLB · 12-10-2003, 11:34 AM

http://www.dolbydigital.com/ht/Guide....html#chapter3

Mike*Williams · 12-10-2003, 02:59 PM

Thanks for the link!

Mike W.

John Doh · 12-12-2003, 02:29 PM

Dolby Surround says 2-3 feet above your head, it has a diagram that shows it.

Mike*Williams · 12-12-2003, 02:31 PM

Yeah.... I'm assuming that's 2-3 feet above ear height when sitting.

I think I'm all setup...... now I just have to get the wiring people to come and run the wires for the rears (I would do myself, but it's a long story)

Mike W.

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John Doh · 12-12-2003, 03:19 PM

Yea, it's sitting. I just used this guide to install my JBL surrounds two nights ago. They really sound great up there. I have the JBL S36II's which are roughly 10" tall, and I mounted the bottom of the speaker exactly 70" off the floor, so they centerline of the speaker is right at 75".

Mike*Williams · 12-13-2003, 12:52 PM

Did you mount your speakers on the rear wall or on the side walls as the Dolby link above shows? I'm in a position where I have to mount them on the rear wall. If you mounted yours on the rear wall, did you rotate/tilt your speakers towards the sweet spot or did you leave them facing straight out (perpendicular to the rear wall) or pointing at each other?

Mike W.

John Doh · 12-13-2003, 10:08 PM

I actually have mine on the side walls facing each other with no angle. If you have to mount to the rear wall and depending on what size the speakers are, I would go to Radio Shack and pickup a pair of the wall mounts. I had these in my old house and they were large enough for the surround speakers to make a 90 degree angle to where they were facing each other. However, my surrounds back then were from an RCA HTIB system and were much smaller than these JBL's. Hope this helps!

Mike*Williams · 12-14-2003, 04:17 PM

I actually have a pair of B-Tech BT33 wall mounts. They'll allow up to 90 degrees as (from perpendicular), so I could aim the speakers at each other. I'm going to try that as well as some other things and see what I think sounds best.

Mike W.

John Doh · 12-15-2003, 07:18 AM

Cool beans. Until I read the dolby guide, I didn't know to face the speakers at each other. Since I have, I can definitely tell a difference in sound quality. At my old house, I had the rears on the rear wall with the brackets I mentioned making the speaker somewhat face each other but with a downward angle to the couch. With this setup, you could definitely tell where the sound was coming from opposed to that equal sound field thing where you shouldn't be able to point at the speaker sitting in the optimal location. Good luck!