I am close to the point where I have to decide where to put my speakers. I was all set for 7.1 but I fear the back seats being up against the wall and the room size may make 5.1 a better choice.

Room Size: 10' 10" x 15' 9" x 8ft high

Speakers will be mounted below a soffit that is 9" lower than ceiling. First row of seats approx 9' from screen.

http://www.blue2noise.com/ht/overhead.jpg

Do i need better clearance for 7.1 than what I have? In a 7.1 configuration the two rear surrounds would be almost above the back row's head.

Thanks for your input!

Do i need better clearance for 7.1 than what I have?No, you're fine. I would place the side speakers directly to the sides of the first row and place the rear speakers on the back wall, spread roughly 7 feet apart. That will give excellent rear-vs-side separation and wrap-around envelopment in the surround field. Difficult to do that with only 2 surround speakers.

Normally I'd be concerned that the rear speakers would be distracting to the listeners in the back row, due to the close proximity. But since all 4 surrounds are going to be mounted pretty high up, the rears will fire above/past those listeners rather than at them.

Use the attached diagram as a starting point for your 7.1-speaker layout.

Good Luck,
Sanjay

No, you're fine. I would place the side speakers directly to the sides of the first row and place the rear speakers on the back wall, spread roughly 7 feet apart. That will give excellent rear-vs-side separation and wrap-around envelopment in the surround field. Difficult to do that with only 2 surround speakers.

Normally I'd be concerned that the rear speakers would be distracting to the listeners in the back row, due to the close proximity. But since all 4 surrounds are going to be mounted pretty high up, the rears will fire above/past those listeners rather than at them.

Use the attached diagram as a starting point for your 7.1-speaker layout.

Good Luck,
Sanjay

Thank you.

The back row will be on a 1' riser and the speakers will be mounted under the soffit. so you are looking at losing about 2' in addition to the 6" of the speaker itself. This will not be a problem for the people seated in the rear?

You'll be fine.

My seats are also pretty much against the back wall and are also on a 1' riser. My wall height there is also 8'. Now, I don't have a soffit, so the speakers are about 4" below the height of the wall. Even if they were another 6" lower, it wouldn't be a problem.

http://www.kevinstewart.com/gallery/albun05/back

This will not be a problem for the people seated in the rear?Shouldn't be, unless you aim those speakers straight down at their heads. Like holding a speaker 2-3 feet above your head, pointing away from you.

Sanjay

I think you should be fine also, I'm doing a similar setup and but my room is a little longer and slightly wider. I had things temporarily setup and my surround was great and enveloping. I moved my listening position around a bit to make sure it was good throughout and I was quite pleased.

I have Klipsch synergy speakers
http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/s-2.aspx
which use 2 tweeters, one pointing to each row so I have the speakers positioned right in between both rows. It states that it covers a 180 degreed arc with Wide Dispersion Technology and from what I can tell it does a wonderful job of it.

I was wondering based on your diagram above what seating you were planning on using? My room is about 11'5" wide and squeezing in a 4 seat configuration in the back row is gonna be tough.

The sound in your back row of seats is not going to be very good in any case. The minor distraction of the rear speakers to the back row is not going to be relevant; but, the rear speakers will enhance the experience in your front row...so go for it.

The sound in your back row of seats is not going to be very good in any case. The minor distraction of the rear speakers to the back row is not going to be relevant; but, the rear speakers will enhance the experience in your front row...so go for it.

Is that a reprecussion of my specific layout or because that's notoriously the deal with the second row of seats in these types of layouts?

I think you should be fine also, I'm doing a similar setup and but my room is a little longer and slightly wider. I had things temporarily setup and my surround was great and enveloping. I moved my listening position around a bit to make sure it was good throughout and I was quite pleased.

I have Klipsch synergy speakers
http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/s-2.aspx
which use 2 tweeters, one pointing to each row so I have the speakers positioned right in between both rows. It states that it covers a 180 degreed arc with Wide Dispersion Technology and from what I can tell it does a wonderful job of it.

I was wondering based on your diagram above what seating you were planning on using? My room is about 11'5" wide and squeezing in a 4 seat configuration in the back row is gonna be tough.

Thanks!

I am going with the Berkline 088's. They are well suited for smaller width rooms and my wife and I arent over 6' so there are no problems there. For surrounds I am going with the Axioms.

I've read good things about the axioms and I think you'll be quite pleased. They were on my list of speaker considerations, but with a tight budget, finding a good deal, and actually checking out their performance at the store I ended up with Klipsch's; for the money I couldn't be happier though.

The Axioms have a similar side tweeter configuration so I would also place them in between the 2 rows of seating. Ideally if we had more space we would want the back row to be about 2 or so feet away from the back wall to enjoy the rear surrounds a little better, but hey you can only work with what you have and it wont be that bad I think. With the axioms having a downfiring woofer it will probably work out ok.

Is that a reprecussion of my specific layout or because that's notoriously the deal with the second row of seats in these types of layouts?Unavoidable: you can't have proper speaker delays and levels for every seat, just like both rows can't be at the ideal viewing distance from the screen. Since you'll have to choose a single location to calibrate distances and levels from, this is also the seat I would base my speaker placement around. The other seats will have to fall where they may. Which doesn't mean they'll sound bad, just that they won't (can't) all be in the optimal spot.

Sanjay

In a larger room you can have consistent response across a broad range of seating locations. That being said, any seat that is within about 4' of a boundary will have significant response problems simply by virtue of the seat's proximity to the boundry.

In a larger room you can have consistent response across a broad range of seating locations. That being said, any seat that is within about 4' of a boundary will have significant response problems simply by virtue of the seat's proximity to the boundry.

If anything inside of 4 feet of a wall will have issues that leaves me only a 2 foot x 3 foot seating area. Tight.

If the OP went with a 5.1 system would that improve the sound for the front, rear or both rows? or would it not improve anything?

Which axioms are you considering? I have a similarly sized room (15'6" x 12') and when I spoke with the axiom people, even though I had been considering a more expensive model and 7.1 system, they suggested I go with a 5.1 book shelf system (M22 l/c/f and QS8 for surrounds). However, I cannot shake this nagging feeling that if I go 5.1 I will regret it.

In a larger room you can have consistent response across a broad range of seating locations. That being said, any seat that is within about 4' of a boundary will have significant response problems simply by virtue of the seat's proximity to the boundry.

Dennis has forgotten more about theaters than I'll ever know, so I won't argue the point.

I will say, however, that I was fully aware of this fact when I built my theater, but due to the size and compromises I needed to make, I put my rear row against the back wall anyway (front row would be the prime seats anyway). After completion and over the last 3 years, while I mainly sit in the front row, I've sat in the back several times and I have not been able to notice any difference in sound (with movies and 7.1). I'm sure if I used a sound meter or some other measuring device, the differences would be there, but to my ears (and everyone elses who's been in my theater), I can't detect the difference.

Oh, and you'll love the Axioms.