Speaker Placement (1 Viewer)

[Barry_R]

I've read a number of different views on speaker placement, in particular the placement for the rear surrounds. A few of them say to place surrounds in the back of the room, others indicate on the side walls towards the rear of the room. From what I can tell, the side walls towards the rear is the more correct method. (I'm speaking of direct radiating speakers here).

Here's my problem: My theater room is sort of small, with the rear seating at or against the rear wall. To make matters worse, the rooms opens to a larger room on the right side, so there is no side wall on the rear right for a right surround speaker. Also, the ceiling is suspended ceiling tiles which makes hanging anything from the ceiling more difficult. Anyone else have similar room problems such as this ? What would be a good placement for the surrounds with this setup, is it possible to bank the sound from the rears off a suspended ceiling and achieve good results ? One more, Should a sub be placed towards or away from the room opening. ?

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Thanks to anyone that can help. Barry.

 

[Barry_R]

Sorry, my diagram didn't come through. But you get the idea.

Barry.

 

[Nick L]

A good solution may be getting in wall speakers or in ceiling. Rears are not supposed to be mounted at ear level anyways. Another idea is KEF makes speakers that mount in your ceiling and come down when they are in use and go back up when they are not, may be another route you could go.

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

Hello Barry,

You mentioned that your couch is up against your rear wall. I have the same configuration and the best rear channel configuration for me has been to use bipole speakers (I use Def Tech) mounted ~ three feet above the listening position. This way the speakers fire across the back wall giving me a very good diffused rear channel effect.


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The # sign represents the speakers and the arrows indicate the direction of the sound. For a better look, check out my site.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[jeff lam]

I have the same situation. I have my couch on the back wall and an open left side. I just use stands and raise them up so they sit above ear level and shoot across to each other. Dolby.com has good placement methods. Also, Jeff's dipole speaker suggestion will work but they are expensive!

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

I have a set of Def Tech BP-1s for my rear speakers. I bought them some time ago but I can't imagine that I paid more then $300 for the pair. They are small but they sound great. I'm not sure if they are made anymore, probably not. They might be available used.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[John Corbett]

I too have a similar situation. When I first setup I had the speakers on stands blasting across the couch. This was fine when I was alone in the sweet spot but not so great with guests as whoever was on the end of the couch was overwelmed by the closest surround. I then tried a suggestion I found in the owners manual for the speakers (Polk). This was to have the speakers facing forward and back as far as possible. So I rotated the speakers and put a couple of small pieces of wood (about 3" wide) behind the feet of the couch to move it out a little. A bit of calibration with the SPL meter and the surround sound was much improved for all parties.

Try it. You might find it works for you.

 

[Kelvin F]

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room is 20`x 20`

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This is a simple diagram of my bedroom-theatre. The floor is vinyl and the walls are wood panel.There is a 3x6 window behind each main speaker. I am experiencing some unwanted sound reflections while playing movies. I do have tapestry rugs hanging on the back wall and a rug between the tv and couch. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Kelvin F

 

[Barry_R]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I currently have my surrounds mounted on the rear wall about 3 feet above ear level. Seems to work OK, but was wondering if anyone had better results trying something else.

Jeff, your idea of checking out Dolby.com was a good one. For anyone that hasn't seen this site, there are some good articles and ideas there. They even address speaker placement for different room configurations. Thanks again.

Barry