Rear speaker placement in a 5.1 setup

I've been fooling around with placing my rear speakers for over a week now. I use my system about 50/50 for HT and 5.1 audio. I do believe that the ITU setup for 5.1 channel music is ideal, but I'm just curious as to what the best compromise is for Home Theater AND 5.1 audio. Does anyone have any ideas. I've spent hours looking for that ideal compromise with no luck. Any good web articles out there that might be able to help me? My rears are mounted on stands about 2.5 feet over my head. Thanks.

Dolby's speaker placement recommendations specify having the surround speakers at least 2' above ear level and pointing directly at one another. That combined with the ITU configuration is what I do at home and it's the best one I've tried with a 5.1 setup. The compromise that I make is that I have the speakers about 1' above ear level rather than the higher height that Dolby suggests. It has just enough diffusion for the ambient cues, but still retains much of the directionality that's mixed into 5.1 music and even a lot of movie soundtracks. Here's the link to Dolby's site

http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTh....html#chapter3

Thanks for the tip Woochifer, I guess to be more specific, I'm wondering how close the rears should be my sitting area. Right beside it shooting at each other, back a few feet as in the ITU setup, or the same distance from me as the center, and mains as sooooo many other sources suggest? Each has its advantages.

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Originally Posted by kexodusc

Thanks for the tip Woochifer, I guess to be more specific, I'm wondering how close the rears should be my sitting area. Right beside it shooting at each other, back a few feet as in the ITU setup, or the same distance from me as the center, and mains as sooooo many other sources suggest? Each has its advantages.

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Answer is both. The ITU standard specifies that the speakers be arranged equidistant from the listening position (they're 110 degrees offset, but still at the same distance as the mains/center speaker), so it's no different from what others have suggested.

If you find that you need to place the surrounds closer to the listening position than the mains, then you increase the delay timing to make the speakers seem like they're further away from you. (the typical formula is 1ms for ever 1' that the surrounds are close to you than the mains; some newer receivers just ask for the distance)