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7.1 Surround Speaker Placement Advice (Photos Included)

post #1 of 5
2/28/09 at 2:31pm
Thread Starter 
I purchased the Onkyo HT-S7100 HTIB for my first home theater system. The center speaker will be located in a console compartment below the TV and the front speakers will be on stands flanking the entertainment cabinet. It's the placement for the surround speakers I need help on. I've attached photos showing the view to the rear (opposite the TV) as well as the views to the right and left of the main seating area (the chair will be replaced by a love seat). All the advice I can get would be much appreciated. Note that the speakers are 14" tall.

The red and green dots in the rear view show potential spots for the surround sides. The green, blue, yellow, and black dots show potential spots for the surround backs. The side views show potential spots for the sides - the red dots are the same position as the red dots in the rear view. In the rear view, the top wall with the green and black dots is three feet behind the chair and the wall with the yellow and blue dots is three feet further back.

I'm not necessarily looking for answers to all the questions below - I'm including them to show some of the things I'm thinking about when trying to decide which combination to use:

1) How important is it to have the sides at 90 degrees or back a bit? The blue and green dots in the side views are forward of the main seating area.

2) How important is it to have the sides at ear level? The green dots in the side views are the only ear level locations available; I have stands I could use here or I could wall mount them.

3) How important is it to have the backs centered in the room? The black dots in the rear view photo are the only centered locations available.

4) How important is it to have the backs in back of the sides? In other words, would green sides and black backs not be an advisable combination?

5) How important is it to have the sides and backs at close to the same height?

6) Do I have a combination that would work well enough for 7.1? Should I consider just setting myself up for 5.1? If so, where do the surrounds go?

7) Can/should I low tech it? Keep the sides on stands just forward of the seating area with enough slack to pull them back when watching movies; pull out the backs only on occasion (stands for these too), hiding the wire behind the entertainment cabinet in the meantime; etc.

Thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 5
2/28/09 at 5:51pm
Greetings!
I have a 7.1 setup, and have done a bit of research.
Here is a good place to start:
link
From what I understand, it is important to have the surrounds at ear height when seated in the sweet spot.
If that is not possible, at least have the ability to point the speaker drivers at the sweetspot
It is also vitally important to have seperation between the side surrounds and the surround back to appreciate the depth of field soundstage 7.1 offers.
Rears (surround back) can be a misleading term, as they are not meant to go on the rear wall, but at about a 45 degree angle from the back of your head to the rear wall.
Looking at your pix, if you can't relocte the seating area forward a bit (for the 1st sideview green dot location), it looks like you would need to find speakermounts(for the 1st sideview red dot location) that can angle the speakers at the sweetspot.
As far as the surround backs, for your room, I would go for one corner, I think. Looking at the first pic, just to the right of the kitchen(?) pass through window, then accross that wall just to the right of the french patio(?) door.
I have about 8 feet seperating my side/back surrounds, so I think I was lucky. I was not able to mount the surround backs at ear level, but was able to find mounts that would hold a heavy speaker and allow me to angle it as well.
Here is a link to the brackets.
Best,
James W Barron
snowtrooper1966
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post #3 of 5
2/28/09 at 7:56pm
A little further clarification.
The 2nd half of my side wall is a ponywall, only waist high (starting behind the computer desk), so I could not put the surround back right low enough:






I did a bit of searching, and found the brackets I linked in the post above. They have side to side and up/down articulation, were inexpensive and hold 35lbs. They also came with a wire retention lanyard to keep the speaker off the ground in case the mounting ever fails (not likely in my case, I was lucky enough to have a wood beam to mount them to)!





As you can see by the detail pix above, I did have to mount the bracket at a slight angle to get the speaker to point at the sweet spot, but would not have if I could have mounted them at ear level on the wall.



A couple of pix to show the angle speaker is mounted at:






And one final shot to see the relation of the side / surround back:



Oh and please excuse the haphazard way the art is hung
I just moved in and was more focused on setting up system than the art. I just threw the frames up on prexisting nails.....


Hope this helps a bit.
Best,
James W Barron
snowtrooper1966
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post #4 of 5
3/1/09 at 11:07am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply. I don't think I want to move the seating area forward any more because it would then cross the face of the fireplace.

I'm starting to lean toward going low tech until I can give it some more thought. Any other votes out there? Is a ten foot high wall too tall to mount surrounds (rear or back) in the corner (green dots in rear view)?
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post #5 of 5
3/2/09 at 8:00am
I would vote for red and black, but be sure you use mounts that can swivel enough to aim those toward the listening spot.
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