To tilt, or not to tilt, that is the question... (1 Viewer)

[Mike_Reznik]

...Whether it is nobler in the HT to suffer the slings and arrows of reflected sound vs direct sound.
Sorry, I got a little carried away there
In all seriousness, what is the proper directioning of the rear speakers. I always thought that the rear speakers were suposed to produce reflected sound and therefore not be pointed directly at the sweet spot or listening position. However I have seen many pics on this site where the rear speakers are pointed directly at the listening position.
Is one more correct than the other, or is it striclty a matter of personal prefference? Is one better for movies vs. the other better for 5.1 audio?
Any thought?
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[Gregg Loewen]

It depends on the enviroment and the wideness (or narrowness) desired for the sweet spot.
As part of the HTF group that recently visited the theater at Widescreen Review, Gary recommends all speakers (direct radiating) pointing in at 45 degrees with the listener being in the center. This is with all speakers also being at equal distants. However, many of our HT enviroments will not allow for this.
gregg
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[Brett DiMichele]

Mike,
If you are using this post to get a solid awnser to get
those wall mounted surround brackets, good luck getting
a clear awnser
The way I have read states as such:
Dolby Pro Logic:
The rear surrounds are monoral and therfore idealy the best
way to position is so that sound is diffused and reflected
rather than direct radiating to your ears.
Dolby Digital,DTS,THX,DTS-ES:
Rear Surround is in stereo and optimal positioning is aimed
directely at the seating position.
With the B-Tech brackets I showed you (or any bracket that
allows positioning) you can easily re-adjust the aiming of
the surrounds at a moments notice to suit your tastes. And
this keeps the speakers up out of the way!
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Brett DiMichele
My Home Theater Site!
[email protected]

 

[Jerome Grate]

It depends on how high your speakers are. I found that my raar center channel needed to be tilted towards the listening area simply because it was a little higher than the left and righ surrounds. This helped a great deal since now the center sound intersected the left and right surround. I think it sounds better, if your speaker are high and you can't toe them towards the sweet spot, then maybe tilting them will at least the direct the sound downward.
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[Mike_Reznik]

My rears are higher than my main and center channels. I have them mounted about 6-feed off the ground. That is where the wires were run when my room was built.
Brett,
I think touched upon what I was confused about. I read that the rear speakers should be defused, but that was for pro logic. So for Dolby Digital,DTS,THX,DTS-ES, etc. the speakers should be pointed directly at the listening pos.
I think I will need to pick up a pair of those mounting brackets that you mentioned... or just tilt my speakers in towards my listening position.
Thanks!
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[Jeff D]

Pointed direct at, but from which direction? Behind or from the side?

 

[Sean Conklin]

Pointed direct at, but from which direction? Behind or from the side?

According to the DD 5.1 speaker placement guide you want them 2-4 ft. above the listening position and at the SIDES of the listening position, directed at the listener.
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Sean
"I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said.......I drank what?"

 

[Pete Jennings]

If the question is to tilt or not to tilt, then one most definitely should tilt!

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

We had the opportunity to tour a number of mixing stages while in LA last month. Time and time again these professional environments were using direct radiators at either side of the seating position (or very slightly behind) and pointed at the listener. Dolby Labs' theater had surrounds placed lateral to every row, and again tilted down. Gregg references WSR's lab, where all speakers are on the floor pointed (not tilted) to converge at a single point in space.
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--Jay
"No one can hear when you're screaming in digital."
My Home Theatre Pictures...
"You're no messiah. You're, you're a movie of the week. You're a ... t-shirt, at best."

 

[Rick Radford]

I have a small room with DR surrounds on stands that put them 39" high and angled in about 45 degrees and positioned either side of the couch. This seems to work pretty well... but I haven't experimented with wall mounts yet.
I'm curious about putting the speakers up high and then aiming them back down to the seated position. Is the reason for this so that the sound is not blocked by listeners from one side to the other (as it may well be in my HT setup)?
Due to possible furniture changes in the room, I may have to wall mount them to get them out of the way. Are there suggested wall brackets that let you angle and tilt the speakers?
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--RR

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I have my direct-radiating surrounds slightly behind the listening position, but quite a bit higher than recommended due to door clearance. For this reason, I do have them pointing down toward the couch a bit, but not forward.
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