rear speaker placement

[uncooked]

im seeting up a 5.1 system in my room. and i have tower fronts and centre and sub......

for the rears i have two somewhat small book shelves. the only problem is that its not a typical 5.1 set up most people have a couch in the middle of the speakers. i have a bed slid right up againts the rear wall.......

so i was wondering if it would be better to place them on the wall higher like at the ceiling and aim them downward. i just dont know how that would sound.

my bed is about 3 and a half feet tall at the back so what height would be the best to mount them. the usual set up says 6 feet but im thinking it would be lower for this. but i like the idea of tilting them down over top

any ideas?

[bikehikefish]

check this url for some alternatives

http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTheater.0110.html#s3.3

Basically, experiment with different positions unitl you find one that sounds good to you.

[uncooked]

yea i know how the average rear work. but my room is different. im right against the rear wall. so i dont think i would hear it as good if i put it on the wall. becuase it would be right above my head and all the sound would go forward.

but if i placed them above me facing down then i might be able to hear them better?

[recoveryone]

yea i know how the average rear work. but my room is different. im right against the rear wall. so i dont think i would hear it as good if i put it on the wall. becuase it would be right above my head and all the sound would go forward.

but if i placed them above me facing down then i might be able to hear them better?

My bedroom system is setup close to the same as yours (rears) I have mounted mine about 4 feet above the bed on each side wall very little tilt.
The celing in the bedroom is vaulted, so it helps all sound formats at all levels

The fronts are above a closet about 8' up along with the center and TV. I call it my traditional Dolby setup:

Bedroom:
Pioneer VSX 411
Pioneer DV 525
Phillips 19" TV
Phillips HiFi VCR
-------------------------
Fronts Optimus Pro X77's
Center Optimus C3
Rears Optimus Pro X77's
Sub KLH 120SW

[uncooked]

i have done alot of phoning around today and alot of the people i have talked to have said that mounting at the ceiling facing down would be the best. because then they are aiming at me. even though they are above..........

[F1]

i have done alot of phoning around today and alot of the people i have talked to have said that mounting at the ceiling facing down would be the best. because then they are aiming at me. even though they are above..........

I'm thinking of mounting your rear speakers on the back wall, probably 8 feet high (or around 3-4 ft above ear level) and facing each other. With surround speakers it is better to have more 'diffuse' sound rather than aiming directly to your ears. Good luck.

[poneal]

I have a similiar setup for my living room. The couch is against the back wall and I have bookshelf speakers for the surround. I placed each surround at ear level and to left and right of the couch. The hardest part was setting the level to balance the system. Since you are so close to the speakers, you do not want them to loud. Surrounds for music are supposed to blend in with fronts and only provide ambience. So I bought one of those radio shack sound level meter for $35 and set the speaker level. Guess what? When seated at the couch, I had to set the surrounds to -3db and the fronts to +2db and the center to 0db. This made the system blend well together. So, however you decide to mount the speakers, my advice would be to set the level to balance out the system.

[bikehikefish]

I seem to remember seeing some setup advice in Sound & Vision, where the room constraints were similar to yours. They suggested having the surround speakers on 30" stands and pointing them up - towards the ceiling. This avoids having a speaker pointing directly at your ears and it gives you the diffused effect that many prefer.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to follow the advice already given and use an SPL meter to set the volume. That is the single most important tweak you can do.