monorailfan
02-08-09, 11:12 PM
Hi everyone,
I've researched this topic on the AVS forums and could not quite find an answer, so if this is covered elsewhere and I missed it, my apologies.
I've recently completed framing out my basement. For my home theater, my wife and I decided to not make a dedicated theater room, rather, keep the room open to the rest of the basement. The area where we plan to have the media center area has a wall in the front, to the right, and to the rear, but no wall is on the immediate left - rather, it is an open area. There IS however a soffit that runs the length of the left side that drops down about 1 foot from an 8 foot high ceiling.
My question is this: While we are fine with external speakers up front, we'd really prefer in-walls for the two surrounds (I'm thinking 5.1). But, in-walls need a wall, and I'm missing a wall on the left side of the media center area.
Instead, I'm considering putting one speaker in the right wall, and one in the left soffit. This means that while I can place both surrounds either in front of, next to, or behind the listening area, they're gonna be up high - right below the 8 foot ceiling.
I've not been able to find many comments on surround speaker placement HEIGHT other than this one from the Dolby site: 'The main left and right surrounds should be to the respective sides of the listening area, above ear level if possible (ideally 2 feet or more) at an angle of 90 to 110 degrees'.
Looking for thoughts - '2 feet or more; - does that mean right near the ceiling is OK? If I place the in-wall surrounds so high, is there a certain model that I should chose? Can I adjust an in-wall speaker as to where it points - and perhaps point it down to the listener?
Thanks in advance
I've researched this topic on the AVS forums and could not quite find an answer, so if this is covered elsewhere and I missed it, my apologies.
I've recently completed framing out my basement. For my home theater, my wife and I decided to not make a dedicated theater room, rather, keep the room open to the rest of the basement. The area where we plan to have the media center area has a wall in the front, to the right, and to the rear, but no wall is on the immediate left - rather, it is an open area. There IS however a soffit that runs the length of the left side that drops down about 1 foot from an 8 foot high ceiling.
My question is this: While we are fine with external speakers up front, we'd really prefer in-walls for the two surrounds (I'm thinking 5.1). But, in-walls need a wall, and I'm missing a wall on the left side of the media center area.
Instead, I'm considering putting one speaker in the right wall, and one in the left soffit. This means that while I can place both surrounds either in front of, next to, or behind the listening area, they're gonna be up high - right below the 8 foot ceiling.
I've not been able to find many comments on surround speaker placement HEIGHT other than this one from the Dolby site: 'The main left and right surrounds should be to the respective sides of the listening area, above ear level if possible (ideally 2 feet or more) at an angle of 90 to 110 degrees'.
Looking for thoughts - '2 feet or more; - does that mean right near the ceiling is OK? If I place the in-wall surrounds so high, is there a certain model that I should chose? Can I adjust an in-wall speaker as to where it points - and perhaps point it down to the listener?
Thanks in advance