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Question about surrounds hidden in columns

4K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  SierraMikeBravo 
#1 ·
Building a new house and 2nd theater. The house is currently having the sheetrock finished.

I've just built several volt 10lx surround and rear boxes. They're angled and will fit in my columns (2 surrounds per side and 2 rears). I'm going the duct liner for first reflections hidden behind GOM route. The columns will have MDF panels on the lower half and GOM on the top half.

I'm not sure how to frame out the section containing the surrounds and not interfere with the side dispersion of the Volts. They are angled so the top will be almost flush but the bottom will be a few inches inset into the column. I could keep the sides open and wrap the grill material from one side across the front to the other side but it seems like a square piece of MDF at the corners needed to keep the lines of the column would still interfere acoustically.

I see similar columns on here frequently but haven't been able to see any photos addressing this. Thanks for any info guys!
 
#2 ·
The new 3D surround sound formats are calling for surrounds to be near ear level not high and angled down. As such you should have built your volts with horizontal fronts not angled. A good example is in the White Oaks project thread.

In my Bacon Race project we built columns with one inch iron pipe (filled with sand) as the front edge for the fabric, pictures in that thread, You need something to hold the edge, the smallest rigid material you can find. It is a compromise you have to make for hiding the speaker in a column.
 
#4 ·
I did see those columns with the metal pipe, I follow you're builds pretty close, just didn't know if there were other options.

Making the boxes was no big deal and I can easily mount the baffles straight and flush to the face of the column. I wasn't aware of the surrounds and rears being moved down, I 'm guessing this is because of ATMOS.

I will have 4 IB style Volt 10lx in the ceiling for ATMOS. I have a 16" riser for the back row.

This brings up a few more questions.

#1 Should I raise the rears up a little to make sure to hit both rows and angle down a tad, how high up if so?

#2 Going with the ears level setup... how would I position the dual paralleled surrounds? The rows are 16" different in height. Both at ear level with the back row? each at ear level with it's own row (thinking that may sound wierd when sitting in the back row)
 
#6 ·
I just had some Volt 10-LX's built into columns as well. I put them about 50" from the floor. They are about 12" above hear height. I have a 12" riser and mounted those on the same plain as the front wide's that are not on the riser. All 6 surrounds are the same distance from the floor.



 
#14 · (Edited)
I just had some Volt 10-LX's built into columns as well. I put them about 50" from the floor. They are about 12" above hear height. I have a 12" riser and mounted those on the same plain as the front wide's that are not on the riser. All 6 surrounds are the same distance from the floor. .



Really Nice Theater! I'm curious how you like the Volts 10lx as surrounds. I'm currently demoing a pair in 2 channel in the living room. You're a good bit ahead of me in the build.
 
#15 ·
I thought the side and back rears should be at a slightly different height, regardless of distance like half way up the wall? Fronts at ear level, side rears slightly higher, back rears even higher. For THX speakers or dipoles the drivers are horizontally planar dispersion as to not smear with each other. This gives a better directional separation of something moving from channel to channel. Or am I missing something with that theory? And yes I agree, do not angle them for very similar reasons. I am wondering how Dolby Atmos and DTS:X is going to change all of this.
 
#11 ·
The back riser has 9 feet of ceiling height. I guess I'll put both rows surrounds (2 parallel surrounds per side) even in height about a foot above ear level when seated in the 2nd row aimed straight with no angle. The rears 12-18"above ears when seated (no higher than halfway up the wall) slightly angled to shoot across both rows.

Sound about right?
 
#13 · (Edited)
I'm using QSC 2150 mains. It's a large 3 way cinema speaker, similar to in size to the JBL 4722. The tweeters CD will be what I would measure from I guess, although the mid horn is 6 inches below it (basically everything from 500hz up is coming out of a 17" tall area). Either way they'll be lifted up so the bottom row doesn't block anything. The surrounds should actually be on the same plane as the tweeter/mid section of the mains. Of course the back row is where I'll sit so I don't want to make any mistakes that would mess up the sound back there.

http://qsc.com/products/Loudspeakers/Dcs_Series/SC-2150/
 
#19 · (Edited)
What does that mean? If you mean "vertical" dispersion, THX speakers often limited vertical dispersion to 30 degrees to avoid ceiling reflections...often with some sort of waveguide. So, in that sense, it's always been generally limited. Perhaps that is the answer to your question?
 
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