Paradigm ADP surround speaker placement (1 Viewer)

[Tommy P]

Hi all
Just bought a pair of paradigms studio ADP surrounds and noticed in the manual they suggest you place the speakers on the sides of the wall, Thats not really an option for me with the way my room is configured. Do you think placing them on my back wall would really hurt sound, any advise.

Thanks
Tommy P

 

[Hank]

Not at all. I just moved into a new home and and I use Atlantic Technology 454e THX surrounds and have them mounted on the back wall. In my previous house I did have them on the side walls but my new room doesn't permit it. I was thinking of selling them and getting direct radiating surounds but I bought my Atlantic's about one year ago, they cost me $800. Mine sound very good on the back wall, try to get a couple of friends to hold them up on the back wall and see what they sound like before you go drilling holes.

 

[MikeRP]

Tommy:

I too just ordered a set of ADP's and have this question - same one as yours.

I was reading a review of the ADP's on the Paradigm site and the guy in the review formed a triangle with the ADP's and the back corners of the rear wall and said it was excellent. So you take the 90 degree part of the wall and place the speaker so the sound bounces off both walls. This is what my dealer recommended too for the situation.

I have tall stand that put them up a little above ear level.

Hope it works. It you could try it for me - let me know. I would really appreciate it! My couch is against the back wall - that's why I'm trying it like this.

Mike

Mike

 

[MikeRP]

BTW:

PM me and let me know what you paid for the ADP's if you wish. I'm hoping I paid a good price. The dealer has been very good to me thus far.

Mike

 

[MarcVH]

Mike, perchance, what stands are you using? I haven't looked too hard, but I haven't seen any stands which are that tall and able to be stable with something as heavy as the ADP.

I face a similar quandry; they'll need to go against (or near) the back wall, which has a corner on one side and is open on the other. I'll see what comes out of experimenting with placement.

 

[MikeRP]

Well:

Stands are an interesting topic. These stands definitely stand up to the test of holding the speaker. They have spikes for the bottom and rubber pads or brass small spikes on the top. I've used them for my 40's for a while.

The ones on the front are a smaller version for the 40's nd a much taller version for the rear ADP's. Wire goes in the bottom and a bendable piece of plastic covers it as it goes up to the speaker.

But, they are not the best stand. Certainly not like the ones I see selling with Paradigm a times. Dealer sellsthem for $60 a pair and there's no name associated with them. I'll ask for you.

He sells them with all his paradigm stuff.

Mike

 

[Guyza]

MarkVH,

Look at this website for a pretty large selection of stands, many of them suitable for holding 20+ lb. speakers at 40" for surround duty.

SPEAKER STANDS

I just bought some ATACAMA NEXUS from here and the service and shipping was quick and painless. Ordered Monday afternoon, received package Thursday!

Good luck,
Guy

 

[MarcVH]

Guy & Mike, thanks for the info and pointer. Some of the stands looks like they might work, although unfortunately most of them don't cite capacity. I'm not looking for the greatest stands in the world, just maybe something that won't tip over and won't look like junk.

My situation is a little different. My couch is close to the back wall, but on one side the wall has built-in shelves and on the other side there's no sidewall at all. So I'm thinking I may be best off mounting them along the back wall using the supplied mounting brackets.

Unfortunately, experimenting with placement is a pain. I don't have many friends dedicated enough to hold a 30 lb speaker up for ten minutes while I listen to various things and render an opinion. I've actually considered seeing about some scrap lumber to throw together temporary stands and see how that works.

 

[Matt Odegard]

I have ADP's on my back wall for the same reason. My couch is right up against the back wall with the ADP's 2' above my head and sound great.

 

[MarcVH]

Matt, tx for the info. When you say 2' above your head, do you mean the bottom of the speaker is 2' up, or the tweeter is 2' up?

Do you have them directly above the seating position, or off to the sides? It seems that directly above would mean one person would be sitting in the null of the speaker, while others would be sitting in an area where they might get direct radiation. Probably depends a lot on the room though.

I'll probably end up putting them on the back wall, a couple feet off to the sides, a few feet up.

 

[Matt Odegard]

They are 2' feet from the bottom. It still sounds great and about 3.6' feet apart on the inside. My girlfriend and I can sit between them and hear them both fine. I have the 20's on 42" stands slightly ahead of us and pointed slightly towards us. My living room is 13.6'*12.6' and half of that opens into the dining kitchen wich is why the ADP's are on the back wall instead of the sides. So I don't have alot of room to work with configurations. I could take a picture when I get home. It does its purpose, I hear stuff fly'n by my head and to the front of the sound stage just great!

 

[MikeRP]

Guys:

I've been asking questions on this placement thing. I have a new pair of ADP's coming. The dealer recommended them over another pair of 40's because my loveseat and recliner sits on the back wall directly against the wall. I have a couch on the left of the loveseat 90 degrees from the loveseat.

On paradigms review site, the reviewer on the ADPs placed the speakers so that they formed a triangle with the back wall and the side wall. He said the sound was fabulous this way. Anyone tried this? Anyway, I bought stands that will place the speakers slightly above my head and in the corners. The null of the speaker will be pointed at the listener in the recliner and the other null will just be between the counch and loveseat.

Anyway, I'm interested in any feed back.

Thanks

Mike

 

[MarcVH]

Matt, OK, it sounds like you're using the ADPs as rear surrounds and have other speakers for the left and right surrounds. That's not my case; the ADPs are the only surrounds, so it makes sense that I'd want them spread further apart.

Sigh, maybe my next living room will offer reasonable placement options for a 7.1 setup.

 

[MarcVH]

Speaking of the ADPs, they are sold in pairs which are labeled "left" and "right." I didn't even notice these labels at first, since they're on the underside of the pocket where the binding posts are placed, but by luck I put the left and right correctly.

My guess is that the "left" and "right" labels are placed such that, when mounted on side walls, the drivers that fire toward the front are the ones that are in-phase, so that they blend better with the front soundstage, while the rear-firing drivers are out-of-phase. Can anybody confirm this? The owner's manual doesn't say anything about it, alas.

This also seems to suggest that, if you were using two pairs of ADPs for side and rear surrounds, you should put the rears backwards (with the speaker labeled "left" on the right) so as to give proper blending between the side surrounds and the rear surrounds.

(Additional tip: if you're trying to use the Paradigm-supplied mounting brackets to mount into a stud, and you use #6 x 2" screws, they'll shear off when you try to tighten them, or at least that's what they do for me.)

 

[MikeRP]

I'm confused - I may not be when I get these things this week. So if its left and right, then if your facing the left side wall - does the right go to the front?

And if your facing the right side wall does the left go to the front?

This may be a stupid question........But, there are only dumb questions, I'm waiting on a great answer!

Thanks Marc!

Mike

 

[MarcVH]

Mike,

When you get your ADPs, presumably you're getting a pair (since that's how they're packaged and sold.) When you take them out, you'll find that each speaker is labeled either "LEFT" or "RIGHT" with a small sticker above the binding posts. If you're like me, you won't notice these stickers right way, since they aren't very conspicuous. So when I say "left" and "right" I mean the two speakers, not the two sides of drivers on each individual speaker.

Presumably this means that the two speakers are different, and that they label one "LEFT" in order to indicate that this speaker would be best used as the left surround speaker (i.e. on the left side of the room when facing front, hooked up to the left surround output of your receiver.) This makes sense, but I don't know why this should be so, and Paradigm's manual and the support section of their web site don't provide any hints.

Called my dealer said that it's a difference in dispersion patterns and a relatively new addition, but I still don't quite get the technical nitty-gritty. My guess is that it's a phasing issue.

 

[MikeRP]

Thanks Marc!

 

[Matt Odegard]

I have the ADP 170's and there is more of an angle on one side than on the other. I guess I don't know about Studio ADP's, but I know thats why mine are labeled L/R.

 

[Ken Custodio]

I just bought a pair of Studio ADPs, and since they are much larger than my previous surround speakers I had to rearrange my speaker placement / room. It took awhile but I got the surround speakers off of my back wall and I moved them to the sidewall. All I can say is If you can do it put the ADP's on the sidewall of your seating area! It made such a big difference, now I can't localize where the surround sound is coming from. When I had my old surrounds on the back wall I had one end of the speakers pointing towards the seating area and the other end away from the seating area and it just didn't work that well. So if you can, move them to the sidewalls, it will make a big difference. Atleast it did in my room layout.
Just my $0.02.

 

[MikeRP]

Thanks Ken!

I'll try both.

Mike