I need some help determining the best way to install a 7.1 setup. My question has to do with the vertical positioning of the surrounds. Please see the graphic copied below (the grid lines are on 1 foot centers). While I can easily place the side surrounds close to the Dolby specs (with freedom to position them anywhere vertically), the rear surrounds are a problem because of the windows behind the seats. If I have the side surrounds positioned slightly above ear level, would it be better to (i) put about 7 feet of space between the rear surrounds and mount them above the windows (in which case they will be 3+ feet higher than the side surrounds), or (ii) put them very close together (about 18 inches apart) but at the same height as the side surrounds? My concern about the first option is the significant disparity is speaker heights between the side and rear surrounds (i.e. will this cause the listener to detect the speaker locations?). Does is matter if I mount all of my surrounds (both sides and rears) very high off the ground (about 4 feet above ear level) and perhaps point them down towards the seating? My concern about the second option (placing the rear surrounds very close together directly behind the seating) dervices from some things I have read about how some people can interpret sounds coming from directly behind them (i.e. sometimes thinking that they are coming from in front of them). Thoughts?



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Our human hearing has a hard time determining height behind us, especially when simultaneously listening to sounds coming from other directions. Personally, I would place the rear speakers above the back windows, spreading them roughly 5 feet apart. I would put the side speakers directly to the sides of the couch: the right one would butt up against the door, the left one directly opposite.

For consistency, you can mount the side speakers at the same height as the rears, but I wouldn't worry if they ended up being a foot or two lower (you won't hear the disparity). Also, if you could move the couch a bit more forward (1 - 2 feet), that would help give you better rear-vs-side separation in the surround field. One of the side benefits of mounting the surrounds high up is that you end up getting overhead phantom imaging on some soundtracks (Master & Commander, Superman: The Movie, Star Wars: Episode 4).

Sanjay

I would put the side speakers directly to the sides of the couch: the right one would butt up against the door, the left one directly opposite.


Thanks for your thorough response. I have one clarifying question about the quotation above. Are you talking about moving the side surrounds from their current planned position along the rear walls to positions along the side walls (i.e. so the side surrounds would essentially be facing one another)? If this is what you're talking about, how much would it matter if one of these side surrounds were a few feet further away from the listener than the other? I'm thinking that the right side surround might be a bit further away. I can move the screen and front speakers a bit to the right but I might not be able to perfectly center everything. I don't know how important perfect symmetry is in speaker placement (other than satisfying some latent OCD tendencies I exhibit every so often).

Thanks again for your input!

I don't know how important perfect symmetry is in speaker placement (other than satisfying some latent OCD tendencies I exhibit every so often).You do your best to get your speakers and seating physically symmetrical, and then use electronic compensation for what couldn't be done with placement. If moving your surround speakers directly to the sides of your listening area means that they will be at slightly different distances from the sweet spot, that difference will be compensated for when you do initial calibration (set levels and distances). What's more important is that the side speakers will be at the correct angles, which is much more critical to making a 7.1 set-up effective.

Sanjay