Please help with rear speaker placement (diagram attached) (1 Viewer)

[Ben Gillenwater]

Hopefully this diagram gives a somewhat clear representation of what I'm working with in my bedroom. My speakers are listed in my signature below. I am mainly curious as to whether I should point my rear speakers straight forward so that they directly face the front speakers, face them angled towards my position on the bed, or face them towards each other. I don't know the room's dimensions off hand, but the bed is a queen size and the front speakers are about 2 feet from the foot of the bed, so maybe that will give you an idea of the size of the area that I will be listening in.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Darren Mortensen]

Toe in the rear speakers, as well as the front mains towards your main listening area.

 

[Ben Gillenwater]

That's what I was kinda thinking, just wanted to make sure that is an effective setup. I'll go get myself some cheapie Omnimounts for the rears (Fry's has 'em for $10) so that I can mount them on the wall and still change the angle that they are facing relative to the wall. And since the fronts will be on stands that will easy enough to point them wherever I want.
Thanks Darren!

 

[Ted Lee]

ben -
i recommend you experiment before deciding on a final position. it's not going to do you any harm and you may be surprised at how varied the sound can be.
you may also want to consider having your speakers shoot straight up. i just recently took my speakers off the shelf above my head (my couch is to the wall) and put them besides me firing upwards. i'm *much* happier with this setup.
anyway, just experiment and find what sounds best to you.
good luck and have fun!
ted
[edit] check out this link on speaker placement from the dolby website too.
http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTh....html#chapter3

 

[Neil Joseph]

I would also experiment. With the rear speakers that close to your head, you may not want to aim them directly to you and may want to disperse them a bit by aiming somewhere else. My initial thoughts would be to aim straight forward but the final test would be to try out the different scenarios and decide for yourself.

As for aiming the rear speakers at the listening position, I usually advocate this only when there is a few feet of breathing space between the rear speakers and the listening position.

 

[Ben Gillenwater]

Great info guys! I will try and experiment as much as possible. I am going to borrow my friend's SPL meter, so if I can hang on to it long enough to try a bunch of different speaker positions then I will. So I'll start off trying straight forward, then pointed towards me, then straight up (I hope the omnimounts will let me do that).
I'll go check out that Dolby site too.
Keep em coming guys, this is great!

 

[Ted Lee]

oh yeah...keep in mind that generally speaking you don't want your rear signal to "pull your attention" from the front of the screen.
that's the idea behind diffusing the rear-signal. you're looking for more of an ambient effect.
of course, this is also personal preference. i setup a friend's system and he wanted me to cook his rear-channels levels. i gave him my sagely advice and he told me to fly a kite - he liked to hear his rear channels!
go figure...

 

[Ben Gillenwater]

BTW, great Dolby website! That's exactly the kind of site I've been looking for.