Speaker Placement (1 Viewer)

[Allen Marshall]

room is 15x15

in a couple of weeks im gonna be getting a new reciever and/or seperates. There either gonna be 7 channel or 8 channel. I tried looking at the dolby digital site for speaker placement help and i got confused even on the 5.1 side cause there rears werent behind they were directly across from the person. Then the 7.1 picture confused me even more cause i was starting to wonder if that was really how there supposed to be.

Can anybody explain to me how 7.1 and 8.1 is supposed to be set up? were the front effects are supposed to go, where the rears should be once front effects are there?

in these pictures http://dolby.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/do...cGFnZT0x&p_li=

the rears of the 5.1 are where i thought the front effects are in 7.1? does that position act as a side in 7.1 instead of a rear like in 5.1 or does the sound comming from it still sound like its behind you?

Should i move my 5.1 rears directly across from my ears or should i keep them 4 feet behind me on an angle facing my head?

Also does 7.1 actually help or is it just for crazy people/people with large rooms? I cant really think of anywhere to put, there's no backwall behind me its just openness so right now i have my rear center sitting on the pool table and i wouldnt really have anywhere to put 2 rear centers.

 

[Ian-Fl]

There's an article in Home Theater Mag this month on surround placement. The article says it's now accepted that 5.1 surrounds should be preferably placed at ear level to the side and not behind.
The reason for this is that people do a poor job of hearing sound from behind.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Not to be the devil's advocate but my personaly choice is not to the sides for the monopole surrounds. I have tried it to the sides on the walls and on stands as Dolby suggests but each time I was distracted when the onscreen action did not follow what I was hearing, particularly when the action moved from the front over the viewer to the rear, but the sound moved from the front to the sides.

I know many people have located their speakers to the sides and if it sounds good then I would not argue that. What sounds good to you is the main factor.

Also, just as you would not place your front speakers 1ft away from you, I would use the same reasoning not to locate the surrounds so close to you as well. Speakers need room to "breathe" for lack of a better term.

 

[Brian L]

I agree with Neil....I am not a fan of speakers high up, directly to my sides. If I had me druthers, I would go for a set-up like the WSR reference theater.

While my room precludes a proper ITU set-up, I have my L/R surrounds on stands (tweeters at about ear level) to the sides of my couch but slightly behind me. The aim straight forward.

This does tend to attenuate the treble, but I find that preferable for surround speakers, and a great compromise between film and 5.1 hi-rez music.

My center surround is directly behind the couch, but on a window sill firing up (not optimum, but the best I could do). I only use it for film; never for music.

I think the Dolby suggestions would be fine for film, but I prefer the setting I have for 5.1 hi-rez music. Yet, it works OK for film as well.

I think part of the reason is that with film, you are focused on the screen, which allows you to suspend some amount of disbelief WRT to the rear sound stage.

But when I listen to surround music, there is nothing to distract me from being distracted by "in your face" surrounds. Thus my preference for the surround set-up I have now.

Of course, we all have to deal with the room we have, right? Not everyone can do a text book set-up, unless we have a dedicated room.

BGL

 

[John S]

Actually the link you provided was very informative for me.

I see on most 6.1 / 7.1 recievers with EX you do get effective 6.1 and 7.1 from 5.1 and even two channel sources.

Kind of neat I am testing it now on St. Louis -vs- Minnesota game.

There does seem to be distinct differences between all the modes.

Denon Widescreen, DTS Neo:6, and THX EX.... Interesting, though, I am going to use THX EX for the rest of the game, just because I haven't tried enough, but I think DTS NEO:6 was the best on the 2 channel dolby pro-logic standard cable signal.

 

[Allen Marshall]

just out of curosity, how do you get 6.1 from a 7.1 reciever? im looking for a new reciever but cant seem to find any with more then 120 watts to 6 channels if i want to go higher there always 7.1 recievers.

 

[John S]

Denon 4802, and I have two sets of sides (4 speakers) as I have a long room, I run them A+B on all surround modes.

6.1 the same content is sent to both 7.1 rear channels.

 

[Allen Marshall]

your positive, both those rear centers are exactly the same?

 

[Allen Marshall]

can i take one positive and one negative on both rear centers and do it like that?

 

[John S]

Hmm no need, with the Denon it knows what speakers you have, and works perfectly with 1 rear speaker. Hooked to the left rear channel only.

Denon's with 7.1 capability, perform equally well in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 configurations.

 

[Allen Marshall]

so basically if i had 8.1 what i would do is get surrounds and put them on each side of me, then get surrounds or bookshelfs and put them at the corner of each room on an angle facing my head, THEN put a rear center directly behind me right? 7.1 seems more useful then 8.1 ot 6.1, as long as for 7.1 you have surrounds directly across from your ears and on each side and rears on an angle in each corner cause i was watching gladiator on 6.1 and i could barely hear that rear center when i concentrated on it cause the sound just hits the back of my head it doesnt get to my ears to well, during movies i really get the same effect with 5.1 as i do with 6.1, maybe if the room was bigger or something but i just dont see the point, i like the side idea though, so its not such a giant jump from the fronts to the rears.

Are there plans for 7.1 discrete from DD or DTS?