How far out should the satillites be?

Laverda · 02-06-2007, 09:24 PM

OK, I'm still fretting over the placement of my satillites. My left wall is too close to the seats and the right wall is too far away... How close can I place the satillites to the seats? Meaning really, how close can that left one be to the person sitting in the left seat? Is it better for the satillites to be in front of the seats a bit, or behind them a bit? How bout ceiling mounted behind the seats? This room is far from perfect, but its all I got...

Ed
Loveland, CO.

JohnRice · 02-07-2007, 09:49 AM

Ed, I would lean toward slightly behind the seats, but it also depends on so many factors. Typically, it is better if the surrounds are further away. Surrounds aren't really supposed to be extremely direct, like the front speakers. They are supposed to create a more diffuse sound to wrap around the listener.

BTW, I am in Ft. Collins.

John Garcia · 02-07-2007, 12:29 PM

I agree with John. If you are up against the wall, I would try above the listener either pointed toward each other or down toward the center of the listening area.

Laverda · 02-08-2007, 06:00 PM

OK, so behind nd above as in hanging from the ceiling? This was my first thought but I just wasnt sure. I would think then that going to a 7.1 setup wouldnt give much of an improvement as it would just add two more speakers behind the seats, where my satillites already are. True?

Thanks a lot,

Ed
Loveland, CO.

John Garcia · 02-08-2007, 06:02 PM

No, in a 7.1 setup, you would have 2 to the sides and 2 behind - if you can't do that, then 7.1 may not be for you.

Yes, hanging from the ceiling or on walls, or on stands, whatever works for your particular room situation. Above and firing down and toward each other worked well for me in a previous setup.

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JohnRice · 02-08-2007, 06:19 PM

Ed, try moving away from the thought of the surrounds the same as the front speakers. Take a shot at actually aiming the surrounds up and bouncing the sound off the ceiling/walls. You'll have to increase their volume to compensate for the sound level loss. I'd had an HT for years before getting some bipolar surrounds (in a dedicated room), and the effect was so much more effective, when I set up a new, secondary system in the living room, I aimed the surrounds straight up from the rear corners, and they are more effective in producing the proper surround effect.

Through the years, I have learned the surround channels are best when you can't specifically locate the surround speakers. This is the whole concept behind bipolar surrounds, which produce essentially no audible sound directly from them, but the sound just kind of "appears" as it moves away from the speakers. The surround channels are supposed to be just that, "surrounding" the side and rear of the viewer. I know people will come in and disagree, but after years of doing it the other (more common) way, I have found this works much better.

John Garcia · 02-08-2007, 06:26 PM

I agree, surrounds should be diffused, but it ends up being more of a personal preference than anything. I personally prefer monopole surrounds and I tweak them so that they don't draw your attention directly (I tend to drop them a dB or two from ref calibration), but make their presence known. The main reason why I prefer monopoles is because I listen to a lot of multichannel music and bipoles don't give me exactly what I want for that purpose. I also use 5 identical speakers in my setup too though. For movies, I think bipoles are a great choice, however...

*With bipoles and dipoles, your room also has to support them - if you don't have a wall on one side to bounce the sound off of, you end up with a bit of a hole or sort of a "suck out" on that side, which can make calibration difficult. Obviously if you have no wall to mount the speaker on, well that is an issue too...

It isn't so much that one way is right or better, just that you may have a preference for one or the other.

JohnRice · 02-08-2007, 06:30 PM

Yes, bipolar surrounds absolutely require very specific room conditions. that is why most people don't, or shouldn't use them. John's music comment is also probably valid. Since I never listen to music in surround (except concert videos, which are really a "movie" type situation) that is not a problem for me. Many, many things to consider with this stuff.