Lets hear your experiences seeing missplaced spkrs at another person house (1 Viewer)

[JasonTan]

I can't see the right of the screen relative to the picture but couldn't you clear off the top of your computer case and plop the left speaker on there? Maybe something similar with the right and then angle the center down or put it down and angle it up?

 

[LanceJ]

Wow, your monitor is really.......up there. Doesn't your neck hurt after watching an entire movie?

And the reflections from the ceiling(!) can't be helping the sound.

Do you have to locate the monitor there?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Our former neighbors had a Sony HTiB that I calibrated for them after purchase. A few years ago they moved to Beaufort, SC. We visited and stayed overnight during one of our trips to Myrtle Beach. He decided to play a new concert DVD he'd purchased (knowing I was a fan of such material). I thought something sounded odd, and noticed that the main vocals way off to the right of the TV, sounding like some disembodied voice. At first I thought he's just accidently switched the wiring on the center and right channels. Then, to my horror, I saw that the "center" speaker was sitting in the right corner of the room on the fireplace mantle, next to the right speaker.

 

[chuckg]

There's got to be some limit to the stupidity, but I have not seen it yet.

I visited a friend who has a brand new house, over$300,000 in living loveliness. the TV is in a nice open room with a fireplace and a great tall ceiling. If he put the TV on the mantle, or even on a cart in front of the (rarely used)fireplace, it would be great.

But, no. The builders of the house put the wiring in SIDEWAYS so that there are no speaker positions on the fireplace wall, the TV has to be on the side wall, there is no place for proper surrounds, and the surround channels are on a back wall and very close together, where you'd expect rear channels.

The viewer's left side is the fireplace, there is no wall at all on the viewer's right, and everything is out of kilter with any sensible plan. If the surrounds were faced outwards and sideways, you could get a reasonable surround by reflection from other walls, but those walls are more than twice as far away as the TV screen.

It's a complete and total failure of design. And he paid extra for this! I just mumbled how nice it was and went to look at something else.

 

[Jacob C]

Then there's always the guy that has his subwoofer cranked way up so it shakes everything but sounds distorted and completely unnatural. Calibration is screwed up at least as often and speaker placement. It is nice to see when people actually place their speaker somewhat near the proper location. The worst I have seen is the center and fronts on top of the TV and the surrounds below the TV.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I agree. A few times after I bring over Avia and a Radio Shack meter to calibrate a person's system, they'll say, but I can't hear the sub or the surrounds anymore. And I always say: you aren't supposed to here them that distinctly. They more support what's going on in front of the room. Most times they'll live with a few days and realize that that's how it's supposed to be. But I always say too, hey, this is a starting point and you can always adjust from there to your personal preference. But it's always good to know what a perfectly calibrated system sounds like so you can compare to what you like.