7.1 Speaker Placement in Strange Apartment layout? (floorplan included)

I'm looking for a place to put my 7.1 rear speakers. Unlike many, I have plenty of space behind the couch, but kind of a strange wall arrangement back there.

In the diagram, my TV and front speakers are on the right, and my side surround speakers are on the dryer and dining room table, just slightly behind the couch. The rear surround position I've proposed is on top of the fridge and in the bathroom (yes, I know). I've drawn lines from the rears to where I'll be sitting to show it is a straight line of sight and I've calculated it to be approximately 150 degrees as recommended, although the distance seems longer than in any of the diagrams. The length from TV to fridge is about 30 feet, and the distance from one rear speaker to the other is about 10 feet. The couch is about at the midway point between the TV and the "back wall." I should also mention that my receiver has autocalibration.

This rear placement seems to mostly fit the characteristics of all the 7.1 diagrams I've seen online, but since that space isn't a wide open space, should I do something differently?

Thanks in advance!

Thank you all for your replies, which ranged from informative to amusing.
I'm glad we all got a kick out of my ghetto-fabulous experiments in semi-lo-fi.
I think I am going to try to mount the speakers as suggested. I've been hesitant to make holes in my apartment walls, but there is always wood putty.

My Yamaha RX-V565 comes today and I'm very excited.

I will try to post pictures of my setup once it is all in place.

Thanks again everyone.

Hide the speaker wires? Didn't you hear I'm not married? j/k

I was thinking something like you suggested, but I've read surrounds should be mounted above sitting ear level and most stands I've seen aren't nearly tall enough. I was considering perhaps building something myself...

bluesfan: great idea, but i do want an unobstructed view from the kitchen; (also i too used to have a projector up on a bookstand before I got my new tv)

1brokebrother: I already have a 61" TV, in fact, let me list all my equipment so you guys have something more to laugh about:

First, as I mentioned, I have the new Yamaha RX-V565 delivered to my apartment now, just waiting to get out of work so I can go play with it

For my TV, I have a Samsung H61A750 61" LED DLP RPTV that I LOVE

For my front speakers I have a Bose Acoustimass 3 Series III that I bought about 15 years ago as a discounted floor model (I know, I know, you guys hate Bose, but I bought these forever ago, so give me a break )


For my center channel I have a cheap JVC center speaker I bought on Amazon a couple years ago (again, I know...)

For my Side Surrounds, I am currently using a Bose 4.2 Series II Direct Reflecting Speakers (if I am not mistaken, these are Dipolar, correct? They have one large speaker cone facing forward, and two smaller tweeters facing at 90 degrees away from each other)


For the rear surrounds, I have not purchased new speakers yet (as I've never had a 7.1 receiver before today) and was planning on using some AIWA boombox speakers I found in the trash (150W, 8ohms) until I get everything figured out and can purchase some new speakers.

Also have an HD DVR, a PS3, a xBox 360, a Wii, a PS2, a DVD player, and a DVD recorder

So there you have it. I hope this puts things in clear view for everyone. I don't want the best. And it doesn't have to look good (there can be wires everywhere and speakers hanging from wear places, whatev). I just want the poor man's ghetto-fabulous 7.1 setup with room for upgrading everything in the future.

Also, before anyone asks, I do have a girlfriend and she comes over every other night, and so far, she's been really really cool about this whole project.

And now that everything's out in the open, I'd like to ask a few questions and get some opinions on some of this:

1) Regarding my front speakers: I know that I have my seating area pretty far back from the screen, but that's how I like it. Should I move the front speakers closer to the seating area in order to achieve the equilateral triangle that's recommended?

2) Regarding the side speakers, yes I have those crappy Bose Direct-Reflecting things that I foolishly bought years ago. My question is, that with standard dipole speakers used as side surrounds, it is recommended that you point the speakers so that the dead-zone or null-zone envelops the user (that is to say, if you drew a "V" going out from the two drivers at 90 degree angles to each other, then the "V" would go around the user so no sound would be reaching the user directly). With these speakers I'm not sure how to do that since they have a large driver facing straight ahead and two tweeters facing at 45 degrees to the large driver and 90 degrees to each other (sorry it's hard to describe). If I point the tweeters correctly the large driver would have to face either the front corner of the room or the rear corner. These particular speakers were designed to be stereo fronts, so that's probably the source of the confusion, but any ideas on what I should do? (besides ditching them and getting good speakers, which I will do at some point, but for now I'm attempting to use what I've got).

I realize the answers to many of these kinds of questions is "use your own ears to determine what sounds best to you", but I just wanted a reasonably intelligent starting point to begin with, from your extensive knowledge on this subject.

Thanks batpig, great advice! I'll do that, and have a room layout I think will work.

Until I buy some decent fronts, I will use what I have in 5.1

Then I will switch to 7.1, and the embarrassing Bose speakers will all be behind me until I can afford to replace them too perhaps some day.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped thus far.
I'll continue to post pictures and updates as the project progresses.
This is a new hobby to me (I used to revel in building computers, but lost the heart for it) and I'm just working with what equipment I have for now and look forward to twiddling with it and changing it all the time in the future.



Still can't figure out which way to point these side speakers (link to pdf manual), should I point the giant cone towards me, or should I make it so none of them are pointing directly at me?:



P.S. My apartment office was closed when I got home and I could not retrieve the package, so no receiver till tomorrow...

I finally have some pictures of the speaker setup.
I'm still using the dumpster speakers for now, but will upgrade them soon.
I have all four rear speakers directly behind the futon (all equidistant from the listening position at 3 feet) and the fronts up by the TV (15 feet).
Pictures are posted below.
My major unanswered question on placement has to do with distance. I understand that placement depends on degrees of angles and that YPAO can to an extent overcome distance differences, but should I move the front speakers closer to the listening position (6 feet) while leaving the tv where it is (15 feet), or would that be way stupid? On the one hand, having the speakers as equidistant as possible (e.g. all 3 feet away from listener) seems like a good idea, but on the other hand, having the fronts so much closer than the TV screen seems odd.
I have made a diagram (below) with a protractor that displays the angles (30, 110, and 150 respectively) and drew lines out from the listening position. Then I made dots on the lines equidistant (1 inch, 2 inches...) and I was thinking of changing the speaker position to the one noted on the diagram (the main difference being the fronts are now right by the TV which is the rectangle to the far left). Any thoughts?
(Sorry to let everyone down, I know you all wanted to see pictures of speakers in the bathroom and other crazy places...)
Thanks. And, BTW, I love my Yamaha 565!