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7.1 Setup Question (1 Viewer)

Chris Huber

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2003
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I have the Pioneer VSX-D811S with 6.1 amps/channels and 7.1 connectivity. This picture is of my current 5.1 setup. The room is 14Wx30L. The front couch is in the middle and is the sweet spot. The red marks are where I am going to put the new speakers in the SR and SL position. There is about 9-10 feet from SRs to SBs. To the left of the closet, the room goes back 2 feet, then over to the wall.

Question: Should I leave my rears in this position for the 7.1(6.1)? I'd rather not drill more holes. I can if need be.

Going by the Dolby EX picture here
http://dolby.com/consumer/home_enter...oomlayout.html
The current SBs should be in the 150-135 degree placement.

What are your observations?



Here is a shot of the front:
 

John S

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Should be ok.. I like them a little more towards center. But I don't see anything really worng with having them there. The difference probably wouldn't be worth the change in all honesty.
 

Chris Huber

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2003
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416
Thanks guys.

Anybody else have input? Who has messed around with 2 SB positions and what where your findings?
 

John S

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Man, I have installed them every which way to sunday...

What findings are you looking for???


I find the best in longer rooms....

Is to have the SB's spaced the same as the fronts, and two sets of SR's / SL's, 4 speakers spaced as sides for forward and rear seating positions.


I'm getting ready to move all my speakers to the same rear plain. Not ideal, but I have decided to free up some space in my current living room setup.

I have set others up like this, because there was no other way with decent results, so I am going to give it a shot.

Your proposed setup is way close to ideal really, so close I would not move the SB's as I posted before, the difference would be very slight.
 

Chris Huber

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2003
Messages
416
Thats what I was looking for! Just wanted some clarification on SB placement in a long room like I have.

You say you have a longer room like mine with a 7.1 setup? How did you go through the process of speaker placement? Are they on stands? It would be difficult to mount them on the wall every time you wanted to test them out!

As it stands now, If you drew a line straight back from the front speakers, all the speakers would fall on that line. F, SR, SB all in a row on easch side. I can see where ina square room it wouldnt work, but hopefully in a long room it will.
 

Rob.melone

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Feb 20, 2003
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Chris:

You have a lot of space between your sweet-spot and your sb's. This will make them work harder to get the correct balance of sound to your listening position. Locate your sl & r speakers parallel with your ears, firing at you. You can then try your sb's where the sl & r are positioned now. But your gain will most likely be higher with them. If they are good speakers, this shouldn’t be an issue. Since the sr signal is mono, I would position the two sr's together. More localized sound that way and less reflection. Even better would be to mount them together on your ceiling aprox. five feet behind your sweet spot. This approach may be problematic with wiring, but if you can manage it, it will be worth your effort.

Rob
 

Chris Huber

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2003
Messages
416
Alright, guys. Look at this picture:


I moved my SBs in closer to each other and the sound was better. Right now I found these 2 CD towers I wasn't using and put them on top of it for testing:) Works pretty well.
Anyway, Check what is in the rear, middle of my room. There is a ledge that goes back 2.5 feet and then over. If I mounted them on the wall, then they would be 2.5 feet apart from each other. Would this work out at all?

What do you suggest doing?
 

Rob.melone

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Feb 20, 2003
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The odd shape of your room is not making this easy. You may be better served with buying stands and positioning the sb's together, like you are doing with the cd racks, only closer together. I'll tell you what I would do. You see that ledge on your ceiling that goes down the center of your room? I would "right mount" a single speaker on that ledge approx. five feet back from your couch and point the speaker down towards your sweet-spot. And then, reset your reciever to 6.1. Like I said before sr sound is mono so a single speaker will do the trick and if the speaker is placed in this position you will be amazed at the sounds coming from behind you, especially with EX recorded material.
 

Chris Huber

Second Unit
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Jan 2, 2003
Messages
416
Thanks for the idea rob. Thats a good one on the ledge idea. Did you mean put the bracket on the white ceiling part or the green ledge part? This bracket won't aim at a total 90 degree, so the green part is out. I assume you mean ceiling...

Anyway, if I keep the 7.1 stand idea, the speakers are already in-line with the edges of my 53 inch TV. If I move them any closer, I might get some front/back imaging problems...
 

Rob.melone

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Feb 20, 2003
Messages
91
Chris, The green part on the ceiling looks like it would get the sb closer to center, firing at you. This would be ideal! But, if you can't find a bracket to accommodate this, you may want to stick with your speaker stand idea. Of course, you can also try a single speaker on a high stand centered behind your couch, as long as the wire does not become a hazard. I would think that this would yield better localized rear sound then your current setup. Good luck and remember what to look for in a room the next time you move. Rob
 

John S

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Nov 4, 2003
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I just moved all mine, 2 on stands, 2 on a credenza sort of thing all to the back most wall, same plain.

Turned my SB's so they point straight up closer to each other in the center of the wall, recalibrated. And man, I swear it is really great / better than it was when I had my Sides on the side. What it really did, was drastically help the seating not in the sweet spot and the sweet spot still seemms well.. sweet!!! :)
 

John S

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Nov 4, 2003
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I will post some. I have not posted any of my system to date, but recently spent 7 hours cleaning it up some.

I use a living room environment currently though. A full time Theater is still a year or two away for me when I relocate to my observatory in New Mexico.
 

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