JBL S38's as ceiling mounted surrounds... (1 Viewer)

[DavidHuguet]

I've seen some of the threads where people have talked about ceiling mounting speakers as surrounds, and would like to post a layout of my proposed HT arrangement in my basement great room and get Wayne, Phil and any others who would like to chime in...

The room is ~25' x 13', with half of it designated for the TV and surround sound setup. We have a huge conversational section sofa that's shaped as shown, it's about 12' long and curved so everyone on it faces the screen. there are 2 ottomans too, in case it looks confusing on the drawing.

I have 1 JBL S-center, 6 JBL s38II's (28lbs) and a SVS pci2531 sub. I'd love to still do a 7.1 in this room, but if I can't figure out a way to do the back surrounds, I can do a remote setup with my HK AVR325, maybe in the adjacent room (the master bedroom).

the problem is that since we have such a big sofa, it has to along the wall as shown, and pushed against the wall basically...leaving no room behind the sofa for the surrounds...the best I've come up with is to mount these massive beasts on the ceiling angled downward. The back surrounds I thought about pointing backwards and bouncing the sound off the back wall. The side surrounds I was thinking of just angling them down towards the sofa at equal lengths away. The SVS sub you see would actually be tucked in the corner, not out there, it just looks confusing otherwise in the drawing...

the picture is located here (could someone convert it for me?

img villagephotos com/p/2005-3/964549/layout1.gif

Does anyone have any other ideas how I might use these big guys for surrounds? Eventually in our next house I plan to have a room big enough to properly situate everything, but for the time being I have to make do.

Dave

 

[John S]

I have been wanting to mount my S38's at cieling level on the walls. But man, I'm a afraid, because they seem so heavy. I love the concept, let me know what you come up with on it please.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

If the speakers are 6' off the floor, no need to angle them, just have them face each other across the room.

If they're 8' high, just a slight angle down. You want the sound to be about 2' to 3' above the seated person's ear height. The JBL EOS waveguide wide dispersion will work fine @ these locations.

Phil

 

[DavidHuguet]

the link address should be with dots instead of spaces...

img (dot) villagephotos(dot) com/p/2005-3/964549/layout1.gif

i can't post the direct link, if someone could convert it and post it for me as an IMG, that would great...

 

[DavidHuguet]

Phil,

I was thinking of hanging all the surround speakers from the ceiling, close to it, which would place the centerline of the speaker about 80" off the ground.

not sure I understand what you said here:



are you referring to my idea for the back surrounds? Pointing them away from the screen, down steeply towards the back wall, so the sounds hits the listeners ears from above and behind?

dave

 

[DavidHuguet]

John S,

I have 2 designs in mind that I think would work...if you want, I could email/post a scan of the design for you...and we could talk through the concept...

dave

 

[John S]

Excellent David...

[email protected]

email would probably work best for this.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

OK, ... I recommend that you position the Side Surrounds away from the back wall, move it forward to be in-line or slightly in front of the front edge of your couch, equal distance from your 'sweet spot', facing each other with no angle since it's approx. 6-1/2' off the floor.

The Rear Center Channel Surrounds location in your drawing looks good, just angle down the S38's approx. 30 to 45-degree's towards the TV screen.

Phil

 

[DavidHuguet]

Ok, so you think the back surrounds won't sound good bouncing off the back wall...putting them pointed forward, angled down 30-45 deg, means they'd be directly above our heads on the couch...

the side surrounds, you're recommending putting them in front of where we sit? I thought they're supposed to be slightly behind the seating position, to the sides...

I'll try both when I get the room together and see how it sounds...
dave

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Again, your room & couch location dictates that the side's surround should be moved forward, allowing the effects to be away from the rear center effects.

In my 5.1 setup @ my vacation house, the couch is against the back wall and my side surrounds** are in-line or slightly in front of my couch front edge, and it works gloriously!

**Right side surround on the banister / Left side surround in the bookshelf, both above our seated ear levels and facing each other.

Phil

 

[MikeyWeitz]

Move your sectional up about 1-1.5' from rear wall. MOunt the S38's on stands, about couch level, firing up towards the ceiling. Slightly position your sides to be equal or about 6"-1' from sweet spot facing each other.

This setup is working for me with my Eseries