Does the distance you sit from the screen affect the sound from the screen?

We sit 10.5 feet from our 100" screen and sometimes(fairly often) it seems as though the sound is disconnected from the movie(mainly dialog).

I've not heard much talk about this here so I wanted to know if it's just because our room is so small and we're closer to the screen than most or if there is another issue?
It's not lip sync just so that doesn't come up as a blame.

I know an AT screen would solve this but kinda like the High Power.

Thanks for any and all input.

Oh, the room is treated.

Scott

?? What is the relationship between the speakers and the screen? Are they behind a non-AT screen? If so, it is no surprise the sound is poor.

Just below the screen. Sorry I forgot to put that.

Well, the speakers are supposed to provide a source that comes from the screen. This is sometimes ignored and sometimes accomplished by having the L/R speakers flank the screen and having the CC as close as possible. With all below, you need to get far away to the illusion that the sounds come from the screen.

Solution are an AT screen or a smaller screen or sitting farther away.

It really shouldn't if the speakers are aimed properly and the processor set properly also. All processors supply time compensation for speaker distance to the listener and obviously allow the levels to be set. Some equalization may be required if the distance is too close so that the highs don't burn your ears. Now you may have room boundary problems. Can't go into it all here but some wall treatments are in order to absorb side wall reflections which will cause a blurring of the sound. Basically, sit in your chair and have someone move a mirror along the side walls. When you see a speaker in the mirror, treat that spot. Panels are cheap and a few should really improve things. Also if the rear wall is reflective and a short distance from the screen ugh. Put some absorption or diffusion on the back wall. Move your head away from the rear wall too. Carpet on the floor too I hope.

The original post did say the room is treated, but thanks for the input. It's good to explore all.

Any more ideas, or comments about your theater?
Scott

The original post did say the room is treated, but thanks for the input. It's good to explore all.Yeah but there's treated and there's treated. The OP didn't say much about it.

Does the distance you sit from the screen affect the sound from the screen?


The speakers near the screen LCR are the easiest with regards to the distance effecting sound quality. When they have left the speaker and entered into the room it is a different story entirely.

Well in non-AT screen set ups, that is the majority of projection set ups I've seen, the sound detachment from the screen image is almost always an issue to a smaller or larger degree. That's why AT screens exist.

In general I've found that getting the L/R speakers up, not low, to the sides of the screen help as does trying to get the center channel as high as possible, and as much in line with the L/Rs as well.

But perhaps even more than that is the visual issue. I find that if I can see the speaker then my brain knows where the sound is coming from. If I can't see the speakers then my mind just seems to "map" the sound on to the screen.
It's like at the drive in (we still actually have a good drive in movie theater nearby which the kids enjoy). You get the sound coming through the car stereo, surrounding you. But the weird thing is, is how well the sound nonetheless seems to attach to the picture. Despite the actual distance of the sound to the screen being enormous. What helps, I think, is not seeing any speakers - the car speakers are out of view - and the sound is just around. My brain just attaches the sound to the image.

Following these observations I've experimented with my speakers near my screen, using black velvet. I've found that making the speakers utterly disappear visually when the movie is going really helps the sound feel like it's coming from the screen
much better. (The screen is surrounded by black, and black velvet placed on the speakers make them disappear against the black backdrop).

I can't do a good AT screen, and wouldn't necessarily want to anyway as I'm very picky about my speakers and love the sound of my L/C/Rs as they are. So this is my compromise solution, making the speakers disappear when the lights go down.

Also, having speakers that really "disappear" sonically and image well is a huge plus. My friend's Mirage Omnistat speakers map beautifully to his screen image (although I don't love their sound). Outside of AT projection screens, probably the best illusion I've ever seen of the sound coming from the screen
is actually my plasma set up. It's a 42" plasma with Spendor S3/5 bookshelf monitors. Incredible with voices and one of the best imaging/disappearing acts I've heard. I'm just using L/R channels and it just flat out seems like the phantom imaging sound is coming directly from the screen, even off axis!
You'll find some home theater enthusiasts have sworn by using only L/Rs and no center channel for this reason: they feel the center phantom image
works more convincingly than a center channel below or above the screen.

10.5 is close but not extremely close. 12.5 would be normal. Its the angle of the center. Try adjusting it a little. Could make a hugh difference. What are the speakers in the front, the three?

Does the distance you sit from the screen affect the sound from the screen?

We sit 10.5 feet from our 100" screen and sometimes(fairly often) it seems as though the sound is disconnected from the movie(mainly dialog).

I've not heard much talk about this here so I wanted to know if it's just because our room is so small and we're closer to the screen than most or if there is another issue?
It's not lip sync just so that doesn't come up as a blame.

I know an AT screen would solve this but kinda like the High Power.

Thanks for any and all input.

Oh, the room is treated.

Scott

Hi Scott. I think for the best advice, you could list more details, such as speaker models, pictures, other things. I might advise cross posting in the Audio Theory Setup Chat subforum as well.

Your speakers are . . . sitting on a cabinet or shelf? On the floor? Cabinets and shelves will resonate, and perhaps decoupling them somehow might help a bit.

I suffer somewhat similarly at times. I went gargantuan with HP. The problem with a center so close to the floor is that the boosts in midbass will mask dialogue. As for "locking" the dialogue, often these midbass boosts are localizable from the point on the floor. Mine is sitting on an acoustical panel, which helped, with nearby floor treated as well. I also applied Audyssey MultEQ XT (affordable midlevel receiver) which also helped a lot. Pulled speaker away further from front wall, angled.

I think pics are in order. JMO. Any kind of EQ engaged? What are your speakers? Good luck!

Good advice.

I find angling a center channel upward, toward the viewer rather than just firing straight horizontally, often aids the sense of the sound coming from the screen. It sort of somehow moves the sound "up" somewhat.

10.5 is close but not extremely close. 12.5 would be normal. Its the angle of the center. Try adjusting it a little. Could make a hugh difference. What are the speakers in the front, the three?

Atlantic Technology 4400 using wall mounts.

http://www.atlantictechnology.com/default.asp?NodeId=149

You have a THX set up. That means you need to deal with side wall reflections because THX means wide horizontal dispersion. vertical dispersion is narrow making vertical angles very important. Also how far vertically from say the center of the center channel speaker to the acoustical center of the side speakers. One ought to keep this distance withing two feet if possible. Something with an Audessy feature would probably fix you up. My personal system is well designed but using an processor that had Audessy really improved the integrated and seamless blending of the sound.

Thanks, Mark.

It's not so much the blending of the sound as much as it is the voices directionally coming from the speaker as opposed to coming from the screen. I'll try suggested items today and see if I can improve on the illusion.
Any more comments are still welcome as I work on this project.

scott

I also have small room, a big screen (124") and sit close (11"). My center channel is on the floor, as the bottom of the screen is only a foot from the floor. The L/R speakers are on pedestals. The room is completely black, and the speakers are small black cubes and cannot be seen. I never get the sense that the dialog is coming from the speaker. It seems to be coming from the screen. (While writing this I realized that they are cube pairs, and are not pointed directly back at the viewer. Maybe that helps the sound.)

Art

What do you mean by "cube pairs"?

Scott has on wall mounts, correct? That is part of the problem. Not that good results can`t be achieved but most on walls are put where they look good, changing locations of the LR with on walls can merkedly affect the sound. Likewise for the center. There is really no reason in a single row theater that good results cannot be achieved without a acoustically transparent design objective screen. no material is truly acoustically transparent and no such screen does not degrade the image somewhat. The real need for AT screens is for multi row set ups. You do not want the front row people to block the sound which happens with center channels mounted near the floor. With multi row and non AT screens, the solution is to mount the center above the screen aiming mid rows. The solution is far from perfect but it beats ,ounting low and blocking by the front row.

What do you mean by "cube pairs"?

My L/C/R speakers are Bose cubes. They are positioned one on top of the other, and can be turned in different directions. Basically, each front speaker is actually 2 speakers. ( I know Bose is looked down upon by audiophiles, but they sound very good to me. :) )

Art

We sit 11' from a 100" screen in a room that's 14' X 19'. The front LCRs are a pair of KEF 104/2s and a KEF 200C that sits on an 11" riser -- the 200C has an upward tilt, so it fires directly at us. The three speakers are a bit less than 4' (1/5th of 19) from the wall behind them. A Velodyne HGS-15 sits near the corner, crossed at 80 Hz. When I replaced a LCD monitor with the projector, I completely ignored the audio setup. Then I began to notice, much to my pleasant surprise, that the acoustic image melded nicely with the video image, much better than with the 40" LCD image. Just luck, I guess.

db