Currently live in a duplex (Own not rent), so we share a wall with our neighbor. There is drywall/woodpaneling/studs on a concrete block wall that goes up into the attic between the two units. In the picture below, the top part is how the ht is setup now. I was thinking of changing it around to the what is shown in the bottom part of the picture. Will the new setup be more likely/less likely/no change in leaking sound through the common wall?

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c217/nelsonak/semisetup.gif

Obviously, two smaller squares are the mains, and the other is the sub.

No change. Speaker positioning won't affect the amount of acoustic energy in the room.

No change. Speaker positioning won't affect the amount of acoustic energy in the room.

That's what I was looking for. I wasn't too concerned as there has never been any complaints, but was just curious if speaker direction would play a part at all.

Thank you. :)

Actually, I'm going to change my answer somewhat, as I responded too hastily.

Given the two placement scenarios you provided, there should be no difference. The main reason is that the subwoofer is, in both cases, the same distance and general orientation to the adjoining wall. The subwoofer is the primary offender when it comes to sound travel through a structure.

However, positioning can make a difference to varying degrees, depending on the scenario. For instance, if you were to put all your speakers right up against the adjoining wall, firing directly into it, that wall would take a disproportionate amount of the energy and probably prompt a complaint. As a teenager, I once did this to deliberately annoy my apartment neighbor, and it worked very well. Alternatively, if you were to orient all 5 speakers the same way into the opposite wall, the adjoining wall would absorb proportionately less of the energy, thus causing your neighbor to complain less loudly.

If you were to move your subwoofer to the side of the room opposite the adjoining wall, it would probably help a little, but not by a significant amount.