7.1 Speaker Placement (1 Viewer)

[Robert Fellows]

I looked at the Dolby site that shows the positioning of the 4 back speakers. They show the side speakers at 90 to 110 degrees (directly at the side to back 20 deg). They show the rears at 30 to 45 degrees from straight back.

It seems that several people advise placing the sides at 90 deg or slightly forward.

I plan to listen with them in various positions, but any advice or experience would be appreciated.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

A lot of times it depends on your room. If you have the chance to listen to them slightly back, straight out, and slightly forward, see which *you* prefer and go with that.

 

[Eric D Wong]

I'll comment on the rear speakers, I found them to be a better effect when they were closer together then wider apart. I have dipole surrounds to the sides and slightly to the front sides of the listening area. I'm still tweaking and moving speakers around. Infact, I built myself a moveable surround sound stand (a long 2x4 thats vertical with the base sheet of plywood with stones on it for weight) so I can move around the surrounds and play with the height without drilling 300 holes into the wall. I recommend you also building something similar to experiment.
BTW, I tried 6.1, didnt like the effect, the center back was too pronounced and localizable. I definately recommend 7.1 over 6.1.

 

[Eddie Horton]

The Dolby guidelines are a good starting off point, but everyone's room, speakers, and tastes are different. Put them where they sound best to you. If you're a few degrees off from "perfect", don't sweat it.

 

[Robert Fellows]

Thanks. My surrounds for 5.1 are curently located at about the 110 degrees location, using Dolby's orientation method.

And according to their website, I may be able to keep them there, but I will probably have to move them forward some.

A hassle due to having already run the wires behind the sheetrock a couple of years ago for the 5.1 setup.

The idea of a movable temporary support is good, thanks.

If anyone else has any experience they'd like to share, I'd appreciate it.

Thx,

Bob