surround speaker location

[shaemus]

I'm in the process of finishing my basement room for home theatre and I'm trying to decide where to run wires and wall mount my surround speakers.

I know that Dolby recommends having the surrounds beside the listening position and not behind. However, it seems that my best option is going to be to wall mount them in the rear corners of the room which are about 3-4 feet behind the couch. Wall mounting is preferable due to children and the positions beside the couch are awkward due to a door way and some wall sconces.

My question is whether or not this position for the surrounds will be a significant compromise in the surround sound effect.

Thanks in advance

[F1]

You can change the surround effect by toe-in or tilt down surround speakers besides adjusting surround level or delay. You still can get good result.

[kexodusc]

This question is as old as the hills, and nobody's definitively answered it. When I had a 5.1 speaker setup, I liked the speakers behind the listening position, toed in to the center a bit. Some prefer the surrounds beside.
I think the key here is experimentation and personal preference. This is where I really think 7.1 adds some value. I bought another pair of bookshelfs so I can place a pair basically in both locations, and I absolutely love the effect. To me it is just way better than my experimentation than 6.1, and really fills in the "gaps" in my room for movies that were there in my 5.1 setup. It didn't come without cost though.
To be honest, many other people place their surrounds behind the viewing position because of preference, so Dolby's guidelines really are just "guidelines".
I've read in a few places that you should try to follow the speaker setup in your receiver/processor's user manual, because it was designed with that speaker setup in mind. Not sure if there's truth to that or not.
And in the end, rearranging your room is probably only going to get you into trouble with the lady of the house, and not really worth it...I've been down that road before, this is one area where compromise is best, trust me.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I'm in the process of finishing my basement room for home theatre and I'm trying to decide where to run wires and wall mount my surround speakers.

I know that Dolby recommends having the surrounds beside the listening position and not behind. However, it seems that my best option is going to be to wall mount them in the rear corners of the room which are about 3-4 feet behind the couch. Wall mounting is preferable due to children and the positions beside the couch are awkward due to a door way and some wall sconces.

My question is whether or not this position for the surrounds will be a significant compromise in the surround sound effect.

Thanks in advance

If you have them in the rear corners, yes you will have some sonic problems. Mounting speakers in corners causes them to become bass reinforced by the surfaces near the speakers. This can make the rear soundstage lack depth, out of balance, and alot more reflective than you would like. Timbre will also be effected, and there will be a definate sonic mismatch with the front speakers. Using bass management will help some, but boundary reinforcement effects can can occur well past the common crossover point of 80hz

If you can get them slightly behind the listening position, on the sidewalls(away from corners) and above the head(to break up HRT effects, you would do much better than in the corners.

[sNafu]

I have a similar problem. My listening area is relatively small such that the couch must be positioned against the back wall making it impossible to have the surrounds positioned behind it. Since the surrounds are dipoles, if I position them on the side walls to either side of the listening area then one end will be right up against the wall and probably won't sound good. Any ideas? I thought about maybe using speaker mounts and mounting them in the corners so that they reflect off the walls at a 45 degree angle. Or possibly on the rear walls? Any help would be greatly appreciated,

S

If you have them in the rear corners, yes you will have some sonic problems. Mounting speakers in corners causes them to become bass reinforced by the surfaces near the speakers. This can make the rear soundstage lack depth, out of balance, and alot more reflective than you would like. Timbre will also be effected, and there will be a definate sonic mismatch with the front speakers. Using bass management will help some, but boundary reinforcement effects can can occur well past the common crossover point of 80hz

If you can get them slightly behind the listening position, on the sidewalls(away from corners) and above the head(to break up HRT effects, you would do much better than in the corners.

[PAT.P]

I have a similar problem. My listening area is relatively small such that the couch must be positioned against the back wall making it impossible to have the surrounds positioned behind it. Since the surrounds are dipoles, if I position them on the side walls to either side of the listening area then one end will be right up against the wall and probably won't sound good. Any ideas? I thought about maybe using speaker mounts and mounting them in the corners so that they reflect off the walls at a 45 degree angle. Or possibly on the rear walls? Any help would be greatly appreciated,

S

I've position my DALQUIST QX-25RA surround speaker on each side of couch wall 3feet above head position and works well to my taste ! PAT.P

[hershon]

Before I go on, I definately recommend you do not attach speakers to your walls, they'll sound in all likelyhood like crap. I put my 2 rear satellite speakers on the left and right end tables to the sides of my couch (and put them on small stands so the sound is above the couch) and put the left, center and right satellites evenly seaced on top of my 48" HDTV so they face me.
My sub is about 2' to the left of the TV.

I've position my DALQUIST QX-25RA surround speaker on each side of couch wall 3feet above head position and works well to my taste ! PAT.P

[PAT.P]

Before I go on, I definately recommend you do not attach speakers to your walls, they'll sound in all likelyhood like crap. I put my 2 rear satellite speakers on the left and right end tables to the sides of my couch (and put them on small stands so the sound is above the couch) and put the left, center and right satellites evenly seaced on top of my 48" HDTV so they face me.
My sub is about 2' to the left of the TV.

Sorry but they dont sound like crap (this are not satellite speaker they measure 11"x14"x5" they are not toys ,my 7years son has the satellite for his room) go to any high end audio shop and look on wall what do you see?Pat.p

[Woochifer]

Sorry but they dont sound like crap (this are not satellite speaker they measure 11"x14"x5" they are not toys ,my 7years son has the satellite for his room) go to any high end audio shop and look on wall what do you see?Pat.p

That would depend on the type of speaker and the port configuration. For example, any speaker with a rear firing port will have all kinds of audible problems resulting from wall mounting. Contrastly, a dipolar speaker with a sealed box or a front firing port is designed for wall mounting, and won't likely pose significant problems.

In high end audio stores, the speakers mounted onto the walls are typically dipoles. Almost all of the setups I've seen that use direct firing speakers are NOT wall mounted, but positioned using tall stands.

And I wouldn't necessarily go with high end audio store setups as gospel for a variety of reasons. First off, a lot of high end stores are very two-channel centric with a lot of expertise on the two-channel side. But, they are relatively clueless when it comes to multichannel setups. Things like positioning, delay timing, timbre matching, etc. are important considerations with multichannel setups, and in my store visits, the majority of the demo rooms I've seen are not optimally setup.

Secondly, the demo room installations that you see at a lot of dealers look a lot better than they sound. Those rooms might use in-wall speakers for the surround channels. They show you how good a setup can look, but not necessarily the optimal positioning for the best sound quality.

Thirdly, demo rooms are typically setup for quick switching between components. Some models are wall mounted because of space limitations on the floor and shelves, not necessarily because that's how you get the best sound.

[PAT.P]

That would depend on the type of speaker and the port configuration. For example, any speaker with a rear firing port will have all kinds of audible problems resulting from wall mounting. Contrastly, a dipolar speaker with a sealed box or a front firing port is designed for wall mounting, and won't likely pose significant problems.

In high end audio stores, the speakers mounted onto the walls are typically dipoles. Almost all of the setups I've seen that use direct firing speakers are NOT wall mounted, but positioned using tall stands.

And I wouldn't necessarily go with high end audio store setups as gospel for a variety of reasons. First off, a lot of high end stores are very two-channel centric with a lot of expertise on the two-channel side. But, they are relatively clueless when it comes to multichannel setups. Things like positioning, delay timing, timbre matching, etc. are important considerations with multichannel setups, and in my store visits, the majority of the demo rooms I've seen are not optimally setup.

Secondly, the demo room installations that you see at a lot of dealers look a lot better than they sound. Those rooms might use in-wall speakers for the surround channels. They show you how good a setup can look, but not necessarily the optimal positioning for the best sound quality.

Thirdly, demo rooms are typically setup for quick switching between components. Some models are wall mounted because of space limitations on the floor and shelves, not necessarily because that's how you get the best sound.

Hello my speaker are Dahlquist QX special effects speaker ,3 chamber switch-selectable .Full effect of multi-channel DOLBY DIGITAL and DOLBY PROLOGIC 11. The switch is at the bottom!Pat.P

[PAT.P]

Hello my speaker are Dahlquist QX special effects speaker ,3 chamber switch-selectable .Full effect of multi-channel DOLBY DIGITAL and DOLBY PROLOGIC 11. The switch is at the bottom!Pat.P

MORE INFO OOPS! SELECTABLE AMBIANT OR DIRECT FIRING MODES (DIPOLE FOR ProLogic or Monopole for digital surround or multi-channel music! No port hole on back.PAT.P