First time installation

[lawman]

Hey all,

I'm back to trouble you with more requests for advice!

After checking out reviews etc. on this site and elsewhere I went ahead and ordered the Fluance SX-HTB+ to go with my Yamaha HTR 5560. Also ordered some 12 gauge wire (25ft) and some banana plugs.

Happy to say I got half of my shipment today. Got the wire, the plugs, the Center and the Two surrounds. The Mains are coming on Monday.

Before I start installing the speakers, however, I was hoping you guys could give me some advice?

First, should I wait for the mains to come before installing the rest? Needless to say, I'm pretty excited, and I have two Yamaha bookshelves which I can use as my mains for now. Would there be any harm to installing the center and the surrounds first?

Second, any advice on common mistakes I should watch out for?

Finally, this may be a stupid question but do I need stands for my surrounds or can I just plonk them on the floor? They come with a nifty base, but some sites have suggested stands.

Thanks,
Lawman

[Rich-n-Texas]

Jump right in lawman! No harm in using the Yamaha bookshelves as long as they're impedance matched to the receiver (4 ohm - 8 ohm). As far as the surrounds, I have a problem with my tower rears in that the sofa blocks their output somewhat so I may eventually find a way to lift them up a few feet using stands of some kind. It's best to have the rear speakers at the same level as your ears.

[Slippers On]

Hi Lawman,

Only one thing I can add here....when placing speakers, either for stereo or surround, you should aim to have the height of the tweeter in line with your ears when in your seating position.

The tweeter is highly directional and so has only a narrow 'beam'. If you position them off axis you will loose some of that upper band. If you look at (or measure) floorstanders you will see that more often than not the tweeter is around 37" off the ground. This measurement was originally conceived on the average height of comfy furniture. For larger than life floorstanders you might see the upper part of the speakers tilted down, and maybe even tilt-adjustable so that you still get the tweeter pointing at your lugs.

When you have finally set up your speakers just have a look at where the tweeters are pointing. You don't want your sofa soaking up all that good high level sound.

Good luck with your new gear.

Slippers On

[L.J.]

It's best to have the rear speakers at the same level as your ears.

I've always followed 1 - 2 ft above ear level as suggested by Dolby. I guess it doesn't hurt to experiment though. I believe a few others here have their surrounds at ear level. Didn't sound right to me though.

In my current setup, I have no choice but to have my surrounds 6ft from the listening position. I would love to move them back a bit but I don't have the room.

"Ideally, your front speakers, high-frequency drivers, or tweeters should be positioned at ear level (when you're seated). Our recommended height for the surrounds is above ear level, as soundtracks are likely to be optimized for that location."

[lawman]

Thanks all for your advice! That was helpful.

I haven't started setting up yet but will probably do so over the weekend! Based on what you're saying might wait until I get stands though...don't want to measure my cable out wrong and have to add more cable on so the speakers sit on the stands properly!

Any advice on speaker set up (as in setting bass etc. on Large, Small...) My AVR has a "test" option for the speakers but I'm not sure exactly how to use it (the manual sucks).

Also, I bought some banana plugs when I bought the speakers but I miscounted. I only bought 5 pairs of plugs, so enough to plug into the system but not enough to plug the cable into the speakers. Does that make any difference? Do banana plugs make any difference to the sound or are they just about convenience? They look kind of cool.

Cheers,

Lawman

[Luvin Da Blues]

I only bought 5 pairs of plugs, so enough to plug into the system but not enough to plug the cable into the speakers.

I never quite understood why they sell these in pairs when you need 4 per cable. :confused5:

[codecougar]

I always heard that surrounds should go higher than ear level as well. I tried mine on speaker stands at ear level and they were a bit overpowering and just didn't create the sound field I was looking for. I then put them about 2 feet above ear level and further back from the listening position and they sound much better, but definitety experiment because there are a lot of factors involved and not everyone has the same room, gear, ears, etc...

Another thought is this...

I always had my center channel maxed out or close to it thinking I needed to have it very loud to hear the dialogue. The a friend asked me to drop it from like +9 to -2 and the sound field just sort of "popped" and came alive. I am not saying that you need to go that low, but just experiment and don't think you need to have your center blasting.

[lawman]

Luvin Da Blues - yeah seriously what's up with that? Silly me thought that when they said 5 "pairs" it meant 20 plugs in total.

codecougar - thanks that's interesting. Will muck around and see what I can come up with.

Only sucky part is that next week is finals week (I'm a grad student) and I won't get to play with my new toys too much!