Speaker Placement in Dedicated HT Room?

[fountboy]

I am putting together a dedicated Home Theater room, 5.1 system with wiring for future 7.1 I am wondering about where exactly I should be placing the rear speakers, and how far apart should the fronts be.

The room is about 18ft deep by 13ft wide. I am going with a front projector and 106" screen, about 92" wide + frame. Seating will be about 13 feet back, 2 rows, with the second row raised 8 inches stasium style.

I was thinking for the side dipoles, putting them about 6 feet off the floor on the side walls even with the gap between the rows. And for the fronts, placing them aside the screen about 11 feet apart, slightly toed in.

Does all this sound about right. Let me know if I left any info out. Thanks.

[kexodusc]

Hmmm, I'd like to see the answers you get. My room is almost the exact same size. I'm constantly fighting the "lively" sound I get from having my speakers too close to the walls, and the slightly diminished soundstage from moving them in.
"Ideally" some would say you should form an equilateral triangle between your seating area and the main speakers. That probably won't do with your setup. I have mine about 14" from the side wall, and my seating area is about 10 feet back. Slight toe-in. You might not find a need for this since your a few feet back.
In my room, the best results for the rear speakers is opposite the mains. I cheat a little bit and bring them slightly forward to get closer to the ITU standards. I've been in other rooms where the old way of having the rears firing across at each other worked better.
I hope you get a chance to demo the dipoles before you buy them. Many mixed reviews on using them.
Good luck!

[fountboy]

What I am actually doing for the fronts and center is putting them in the wall. Since we are using front projection, we are building a false wall with storage space behind for the screen wall. Ill be building stands behind the wall and the speakers will fire into the room through speaker cloth from the stands behind the wall. The front of the speakers will be flush with the wall so there is no sound degradation. A friend of mine had this setup, and it looks very nice with them hidden.

Now Im a little confused on your explanation for rear placement. Can you explain that again? I have auditioned the rears I am getting, I love em.

Thanks

[Woochifer]

I posted on this topic yesterday. I linked to it below. That post also includes the ITU placement diagram. Typically, you don't want the front speakers more than 60 degrees apart, otherwise you start to hear gaps in the front imaging. (11' feet apart at a 13' distance is close to optimal, so you already got that part right)

http://forums.audioreview.com/showth...18873#poststop

Keep in mind that with dipolar speakers, you should place the speakers perpendicular to the listening position since they rely on your ear being right in the "null" position. If dipoles work the way that they're supposed to, you can't pick out where they are located by listening. I've heard mixed things about where the back surrounds should be placed, but whatever you do, if you got the sofa right up against the backwall, don't try something like angling the speakers down from the ceiling. It will just make the sound a lot worse than a properly placed 5.1 setup.

[wasch_24]

If possible you should make the second row seating 10-12 inches taller than the first.
I have heard from a few people that made their second row 8 inches taller and in hind sight have said that they wish they would have gone with 10-12 inches. If 10-12" sounds too tall make sure that you off set the seats (not one right behind the other).