Recommendations for filling voids and immersion (1 Viewer)

[manders8855]

Hello

Quick story... Built a HT in my basement. Started with 5.2.2. Later changed to 7.2.4. All speakers are in wall. So the rear surrounds are in the back corners and fronts in front corners. Added rear backs behind seats 1/2, and 3/4. Atmos are in front and rear of seating by about 2-3 feet.

I sometimes feel like there is a focus on the rear surrounds and a disconnect from front to back. I performed the audyssey set up a few times and tried adjusting gains.

Would adding additional speakers in between with a separate amp and lower gains help bridge the void? What about maybe adding a second set of rear surrounds at 90 degrees from the seating position to improve the gap and lower the in wall rear surrounds gains? How about for fun adding front heights and use the front Atmos signals to kick that up and prevent sound focus? How about adding a set at front wide position at a lower gain? I don't think the room is large enough to get into DSP audio modifications with delay. Anything here worth doing?

 

[JohnRice]

I hate to tell you this, but from what you describe, none of your speakers are located properly. That's why it's not immersive and there are large holes. More speakers won't solve the problem, but correct placement of the ones you have will. Unfortunately I don't have time at this moment to spell out the correct placement, but I'll come back in a while, when I have more time.

When you say your "fronts (are) in front corners, what are you referring to? Are those supposed to be surround speakers, or are they the front L&R speakers?

 

[manders8855]

Speakers were placed based on the recommended 5 placement. The fronts are front l/r in the corners. Tweeters are moveable and are aimed. Same goes for rear surrounds. In fact, all speakers have aimable tweeters, if that helps but yes I too feel that when shifting to 7 I may have shot myself in the foot with having permanent placements.

 

[JohnRice]

The recommendation was wrong. Don't take it personally. It happens all the time. What are the dimensions of the room?

General placement goes this way for surround speakers. 5.1 has surrounds on the side, roughly perpendicular to the listening position. A 7.1 system adds speakers on the rear wall, not in the corners, but not in the center. Atmos speakers go overhead, such as in or on the ceiling, spaced about the same distance apart as the rear surrounds in a 7.1. In a 5.1.2 setup, the Atmos speakers are 35-45 degrees in front of the viewing position (again, in or on the ceiling, not on a wall) and in 7.1.4 you add a second pair about 35-45 degrees behind the viewing position. The front speaker really shouldn't be in the corners, regardless of if the tweeters are directable. What's important is where the sound is coming from. Aiming it doesn't change where it's coming from.

You can use reflecting Atmos (Atmos enabled) speakers if in/on ceiling isn't feasible, but it's not nearly as effective.

 

[JohnRice]

BTW, I realize compromises almost always have to be made, but the goal is to understand the ideal placement first, then decide what compromises have to be made. The problem comes when the initial info is wrong, and you have no chance to get it right in the first place.

 

[JohnRice]

Look at THIS PAGE from Dolby for basic 7.1.4 layout.

 

[manders8855]

The room is 16x16.

I think I may be mislabeling speakers... So there are 7 in the wall and 4 in the ceiling. Center is as it should be. Front left and front right are in the front corners. Surround left and right are in the back corners, literally. Surround backs are placed on the back wall behind where seats 1 and 2 meet and where seats 3 and 4 meet.

The Atmos in the ceiling is ok except I think it would have been better if they were more forward but that's the least of my worries. It's that gap between front and rear but not back. I'm pretty sure it's the rear surrounds (corners) that's issue and I agree I think they should be perpendicular to seating. So I can add a set, not in wall type, recalibrate, and see how that goes. There really isn't much room on the end seats to the side walls. The surrounds would most likely be up higher and pointed down so those on the end seats are not overwhelmed or blocking.

 

[manders8855]

Look at THIS PAGE from Dolby for basic 7.1.4 layout.

That's exactly the place I used for speaker placement for 5.1.2.

So take Dolby's 5.1.2, leave all speakers in place and then add those required for 7.1.4. That's where things probably aren't working right. I hoped Audyssey would compensate. I was looking to make up for the loss rather than spend the weekend doing drywall repair and painting.

 

[JohnRice]

That's exactly the place I used for speaker placement for 5.1.2.

You said the surrounds are in the back corners and back wall. That is not what the diagram shows. Or, I misunderstood your original post.

So the rear surrounds are in the back corners and fronts in front corners. Added rear backs behind seats 1/2, and 3/4

 

[manders8855]

My explanation isn't that great. Simply put, this was my original setup:

Then later I upgraded to an 11 channel receiver and did this:

However I couldn't move the original placement, or I didn't feel like it because of opening new holes and patching old holes puts me in a bad mood. As you can see the front Atmos speakers appear to shift forward from 5.1.2 to 7.1.4. The L/R surrounds move to the sides.

So taking this into consideration, I'd be fine with adding and changing gains, or even disabling but I'd hate to leave dead speakers if I could repurpose them. And also take into account the 4 seat recliners go from wall to wall.

 

[JohnRice]

Well, the description you gave of the speaker layout bears virtually no resemblance to the 7.1.4 diagram. I can only provide suggestions based on the info I'm given.