Is this true about rear speaker placement?? (1 Viewer)

[JayKellen]

I recently heard that rear surround speakers should not be facing the TV but turned sideways and facing each other..also, they should not be behind your listening area but lined up with it on each side....are these true??...I have had my speakers behind me and facing towards the TV since I got my surround system, and I want to get the best possible sound experience, so what should I do?? Thanks for any information.

 

[Tim K]

according to Dolby, on the sides and slightly behind your listening position, facing towards each other is the "prefered" placement. Behind and pointing forwards (towards the tv) is an alternate position.

http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTh...0110.html#s3.2

 

[Stelios]

Of course no matter what everyone says, it's you that's going to decide what is good or bad. Why don't you try and find the position that sounds good for you.

Stelios

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Yes that's true. That is the preferred position for HT. For multichannel music, it can be different, and these are *preferred* positions. Obviously many times this is not feasible, so other positions will work better.

 

[Franco m00nyoze]

At the same time, any advice for rear placement when the sofa is against the wall? I know a lot of HT in big rooms have greater space for surrounds, but this is just my bedroom. I was thinking of moving my sofa about half a foot or more away from the wall if need be. Maybe even put a shelf above the sofa as well for placing shelf/satellite speakers. Current distance from the 32" HDTV is six feet.

 

[David Judah]

I've found that altough preferred placements are a good place to start, careful experimentation is the only way to get it right. You also have to consider the type of rear speakers being used(monopole, dipole, bipole)as they will, in some cases, dictate optimum placement.

Rear wall is tough, Franco, because if you use the traditional approach with the surrounds facing in towards the listener, you could get some wierd reflections off that back wall which can destroy rear imaging.

I was in the same boat and I had to turn the speakers out into the room a little bit away from the listening position. It didn't give me that good phantom rear center imaging I had in other rooms but it was usable. It might not work in your particular situation, but it's worth a try. Rear imaging improved even more when I added two more speakers up and off at an angle behind me for a 6.1 configuration(you can click on my website icon if you want to see pictures).

Jay,

I would try some different configurations and test it out with material that has some good rear pans. Dragonheart has that scene where the dragon flies around and either of the Star Wars movies has some good back to front and front to back fly-bys to test the rear imaging. Of course, there are alot of others as well. The last song on Alan Parson's On Air DTS CD starts at the right front speaker and slowly pans around until it ends up back at the front. It's good for ckecking how seamless the transitions are between the front and back and the surrounds also.

Good luck,

DJ