Stupid dipole mounting question (1 Viewer)

[Eric_E]

Okay, stupid question time. I'm considering purchasing some Paradigm ADP-170's as my rear surrounds. Do you have to wall-mount these speakers? I ask because I'm in an apartment and I'd prefer not to destroy the walls any more than I have to. Is it possible to mount these on stands?

Looking at the ADP-170's in the demo room, they didn't appear to have any hardware on the bottom... they were totally smooth, which leads me to believe that you must wall-mount them. Also, where should these speakers be positioned? I think my side walls are too far out (room is about 15' deep by 25' wide), and there's just a wall behind me. Where do you "aim" the speakers?

Finally, would using 4 dipoles like these be desirable for a 7.1 speaker setup?

So many questions... sorry to be such a n00b. Looking forward to hearing the answers....

 

[Eric_E]

Sorry for the duplicate post, it was an accident. :frowning:

 

[Eric_E]

*bump*

Come on guys, these shouldn't be difficult questions to answer. Surely someone must know. Please help!

 

[BrianWoerndle]

Sure you can set them on stands. As long as they are sitting on their securly, who cares? But . . . .

Things to consider:

Dipoles need to be mounted 1-2 feet down from the ceiling, so that means you are going to need really high stands. That is why they are wall mounted.

Dipoles are designed to work with the walls. They will not function correctly on stands in the middle of the room.

Dipoles should be even with the listener, AND at least 3 feet from the rear wall. So the couch needs to be out in the middle of the room.

As for your room, is there any option of changing the layout to the long way? That is about the only way to get dipoles on the side.
Generally, in 7.1 is is prefered to have dipoles on the side, and monopoles in the rear. That way you can select the dipoles for movies (and not use the rears, or combined for 6.1) and use the rears for music (dipoles are not the best for music). But in your room, it might work better the opposite. Since your room is very wide, the dipoles on the back wall will fill that long wall better. Then if you put monopoles on the side facing each other, you don't have to worry about the 3 feet to the rear wall. That would fill the room the best. Then I would tell the receiver to use the side monoploes for music, and run movies in 5.1 using both the side and rear together (The side and rear playing the exact same thing). I think 6.1 might sound a little off in this setup, but oh well. You win some, you lose some.

 

[Eric_E]

Thanks a lot, Brian - you have given me a lot to think about. Given what I know now, it doesn't really look like a feasible option to have dipoles. Maybe in the future. What do you think of the idea of just having four monopoles, such as the Paradigm Atoms, as my rear and side surrounds? Will this work? BTW I'll probably be using these with the HK AVR-525.

P.S. Where in Missouri are you from? I'm from Kansas City.

 

[BrianWoerndle]

4 monopoles is always an option. Dipoles are sometimes prefered because of the larger difuse sound field, but they are not necessary. I would rather have 4 monopoles that I could place in the proper place than badly placed dipoles. Dipoles are very particular about placement.

Have you looked at the Denon 3803 instead of the H/K? The Denon has a lot more inputs and features than the H/K for about the same price. (And 115w x7 too) H/K makes good receivers, but right now I feel that Denon is on top, and with the features the 3803 has for the price, it is a great deal.

I live near St. Louis. I just got my 3803 this weekend and love it. I am running Pardigm Mini Monitors / CC-370 up front and Titans in the rear. I have yet to get another pair of speakers for 7.1. The Denon drained the bank. That and I don't have a good place for 7.1 either. See my site in my sig to see my room.

 

[Mark Paquette]

Eric,
Check out this link from Paradigm's website: http://www.paradigm.ca/Support/TechF...html#Question6
I recently installed some Studio ADP's this week. Due to the shape of the room I had to put them on the back wall, above the listening position. So far I think they sound great. I've watched a couple of movies and I'm pretty happy with what my ears are hearing. The only problem I had is the reaction from my wife after haning the ADP's on the wall

 

[Javier_A]

Hi Eric,

I recently faced a similar problem when I bought the new set of Paradigms. I was very concerned about the placement of the ADP-370s, because my room has the couch against the back wall, and no wall on the right side of the room. My only options were either speaker stands or mounting them on the back wall. To make the story short, I decided to mount them high on the back wall, about 1 foot or so from the ceiling. We have watched a few movies so far, and I think the whole system sounds awesome after it was all calibrated. I would assume that the ADP-370s would sound better if I had a room with four walls and they were on the sides of the room, just because of the way dipoles work, then the sound will get reflected on the walls more efficiently. But I didn't have too much of a choice. I also looked a lot at using speaker stands, but didn't go for that because my wife and I thought that the living room would look bad if we had two very tall speaker stands with the big ADP-370s (they are big and heavy!!!) on each side of the couch. But if you don't mind the looks so much, I'd say stands are a good solution. As far as I remember, the Paradigm manual said that they only need to be placed 2 to 3 feet above ear level when placed on the side walls. I did find a few nice speaker stands, where they just come with something like small spikes on the base plate, so you don't have to drill holes on the speaker, yet it appears to hold them well. I also read around these forums about some sort of blue glue that works well for that purpose. Try to find those Sanus speaker stands, or the Premier speaker stands, which are the ones Paradigm "recommends".

Hope that helps. Trust me, I also had a similar dilemma a few weeks ago... decisions, decisions ;-)

 

[Eric_E]

Thanks again to everyone who has responded to this post for helping me out with my questions. I think I've made the determination that, given the shape of my listening/viewing room, dipoles are not really a feasible option for me at the moment.
Brian:

Have you looked at the Denon 3803 instead of the H/K? The Denon has a lot more inputs and features than the H/K for about the same price. (And 115w x7 too)

I am in the process of deciding on a receiver right now. My top three contenders are (in order) the HK AVR-525, the Sony STR-DA4ES and the Denon AVR-3803. I would be more interested in the 3803, but with Denon's tight controls over their authorized retailers, I haven't found a competitive price on it. The HK, on the other hand, I can get for $700-750 at an authorized dealer. Where did you buy your 3803 and how much did you pay? By the way there is an excellent thread on AVS Forum about receivers in this price range here.
Mark, Javier, thanks for your comments as well. I just wasn't sure about drilling into the bottom of the speakers or gluing them on to stands, or whatever it would take to get them on there securely.

 

[Brae]

BrianWoerndle:

Dipoles should be even with the listener

Are you saying there position front-to-back, elevation, or both? I ask this because if you are talking elevation or both then I would like to ask under what model (Dolby, DTS, THX, DVDA, etc.) does this correspond to?
Setting up the speakers for my theater according to THX. In the THX model, if I am interpreting it correctly, the dipoles are aligned with the primary listener/viewer along the front-back axis, but they are 18"-36" above the ear-level. This increased elevation would not place them 'even with the listener'.
Thanks for an clarification.