Dipolar Speaker Placement in Odd Room

[Lemmy]

Hello

I am a beginner in the HT set up and have just moved into a new house. I have Paradigm ADP 170's for my surrounds and am looking for the best fit to put them.

I cannot easily place them on the sides of the listening area (I belive this is the IDEAL placement for them). Also, the side walls are not equal distance from the listening area.

So the next choice is on the wall behind the listening area. I was thinking of putting the dipolars about 3 feet above ear level equal distance apart. I watched a movie this past weekend with the dipoles at ear level and noticed you could "tell" where sounds were coming at from times.

Does anyone have experiece or recommendations with placing dipoles on the back wall?

First time here, so if i am repeating a past discussion, I am sorry. Just point me in the right direction. And Thanks for any help!

[kexodusc]

I was thinking of putting the dipolars about 3 feet above ear level equal distance apart. I watched a movie this past weekend with the dipoles at ear level and noticed you could "tell" where sounds were coming at from times.

Well, I think you're headed in the right direction. My only concern is the equal distance spacing between the ADP-170's. You said your side walls aren't the same distance away from your listening area (your room isn't centered), depending on how far the walls are from the ADP's, this might cause some problem. I use to own dipolars as well, and had the same problems with them. I had to purposely off center one because the reflected sound created a very lob-sided surround field effect that really bugged me. I think if your walls are over 5 feet away from the speakers you should be okay, but you'll have to experiment for best results in your room.

In the end I ended up going with direct radiating rears as well, which was really convenient because they sound a bit better IMO for SACD/DVD-A multi-channel music playback (and are recommended).

One last thing, 3 feet above ear level may be a bit high as well (though you'll often see it recommended), just don't have them so low that they get too distracting or draw too much detail to individual drivers.
Just curious, what are your room dimensions and current speaker placements?

[Lemmy]

The room is 25' x 12'. I have the TV and fronts against one of 25' walls. The other 25 foot wall is where the problem is. The room looks like it used to be smaller with a front porch. When the front porch was removed (to make it a full 25 feet wide) it created this:

a 25 foot wall with a doorway (4ft), a built in hutch (4ft), 5 feet of blank wall (5ft) then the wall jutts out about 8 inches where the front porch was attached and then continues on for the remaining distance. I cant place the TV and fronts on this wall because the Monitor 11's create a problem with the TV when placed to close (i listend to the Sales Guy even though i knew Paradigm offered magnetically sheilded fronts). So... it limits where things can go and creates side walls that are not equal distance. (one side wall is approx. 10 feet away, the other approx. 7 feet.) Sorry if this is confusing. But thanks for the help.

I should add: the 12 foot wall are not options for front and TV placement because one is where the entrance is and the other is the entrance to the kitchen.

[omikey]

The room is 25' x 12'. I have the TV and fronts against one of 25' walls. The other 25 foot wall is where the problem is. The room looks like it used to be smaller with a front porch. When the front porch was removed (to make it a full 25 feet wide) it created this:

a 25 foot wall with a doorway (4ft), a built in hutch (4ft), 5 feet of blank wall (5ft) then the wall jutts out about 8 inches where the front porch was attached and then continues on for the remaining distance. I cant place the TV and fronts on this wall because the Monitor 11's create a problem with the TV when placed to close (i listend to the Sales Guy even though i knew Paradigm offered magnetically sheilded fronts). So... it limits where things can go and creates side walls that are not equal distance. (one side wall is approx. 10 feet away, the other approx. 7 feet.) Sorry if this is confusing. But thanks for the help.

I should add: the 12 foot wall are not options for front and TV placement because one is where the entrance is and the other is the entrance to the kitchen.
I have a very similar situation. One of my chairs stis about 2 or 3 feet closer to the TV than that other chair. Couple that with the fact that the closest chair has a closet behind it. So any speaker on that side wall will have a reflective surface that is closer to the front of the room than that on the other side.

My approach is going to be this. On each side wall, I will mount the speaker about 30 to 36 inches from it's respective reflective wall. This will present an equal reflective back wall to each of the chairs. The speakers will be about 7 feet 6 inches from the floor. (the room has 22 foot ceiling). The speakers have to be that high because of the opening entrance into the room.

The speakers are dipole (Boston MR-VXM50). Here is a link to their install manual. It shows several various mounting options that might help you with your decision. Nice color pictures too :-)


http://www.bostonacoustics.com/manuals/VRMXMan.pdf

Good luck .... let me know what you think .... I'm VERY interested because our setups are so much alike


Mikey