7.1 Speaker placement or 5.1 - Page 2

Yeah, I would love to move the rear surrounds in closer, I agree, I'll see what I can do with that.

As for the Side surrounds and rears, higher would be better, as they are a little more out of the way, so it would benefit me for placement, but any reason you like them that high?

I read that people put them 2 feet higher then listening level, but what's the main reason?

You'd think closer to ear level would actually be "better".

Yes, well, I'm sure it sounds "good", but I think everyone's quest for good "surround sound" lies more in the Experience.

Sounds quality remains "good", but the positional effects, and the experience will change dramatically.

Well.. I think there's reasonable middle ground between putting ALL of your speakers in the front and following the Dolby specs by the exact degree.

There are some minor changes you can make to the official Dolby setup, that can affect sound in a minimal way, and that's why I'm here to ask the opinion of those that have played around with their home setup.

Thanks Man. Nice, he's an icon in the sport, a true vet.

Yeah, I agree with you, I REALLY wanted to keep the Pioneers as a 5.1 set, but there's 2 reasons why I'm not overly concered anymore.

1) I will NEVER be running 5.1 ever again (Dolby IIx)
2) Every thing I read about timbre matching surrounds, says it really doesn't matter...

If I mount my Side Surrounds about 1-2 feet higher than ear height, do you guys think it's important/essential that they point down towards the listener?

Makes sense, as they will be fairly close to the people on the edges.

Do you think it'd be bad if I just set them up 2 feet or so above ear level and had them point Straight ahead?

So, I'm taking your advice folks (that's why I'm here),

I ran my wiring last night for the Rear Right, and Surround Right, what a pain that was.. I had to run it up inside the drywall, and it's an outside wall, so it's insulated... was working on it until midnight...

Anyways, I setup the speakers at 6' height, as recommended, which is about 3' above listener ear level.

They are going to be pointed straight out, which people seem to think is fine.

Luckily my 4th wall isn't in yet (the left wall, I've attached a picture), so wiring all that will be easy.

Based on my room dimensions and the height of the speakers, let me know what everyone thinks.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...metheater.jpg/

Thanks for the pics.

Seems about the height that everyone is recommending, and the height that ended up with. I really wanted them closer to eye level, but really, they are more out of the way when they are high, and it looks better (in my opinion) and in the theaters, the speakers are above ear level...

So, just thought I'd give everyone an update.

I got my Surround speakers about 1 foot (flush mounted on the wall) above ear level (I like to be able to hear the surrounds)

And I installed my rear Surrounds about 2 feet above ear level, tilted downwards (BT77/AM40 mounts).

I have little satellite speakers for the surrounds which can just be hung off a screw, and since the side walls have more traffic I wanted smaller speakers there (and had them lying around).

For the rears I got big beefy Bookshelves on the BT77 mounts, so I'm able to tilt those down. I got a pretty good setup (better than I expected) the back wall is 12', and I have the rears 2 feet off the walls, so about 7 feet between them, tilted slightly inwards. Much better than my original Corner shelf idea.

Tested it out in 7.1 yesterday, sounds awesome.

Definitely an improvement over 5.1, the rear positioning adds a ton of depth, but obviously, this will differ based on the Soundtrack.

God of War 3 (a PS3 game which supports 7.1) sounded amazing, and added a ton of depth.

Initially I only got sound of the front soundstage, but just like Blu ray movies, the soundtrack doesn't default to 7.1, and was only set to stereo.

I'm going to run a few tests with 5.1 DTS MA tracks with Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing, to see how much of an improvement, and how well IIx uses the rears.

I'll keep you guys posted in case anyone is interested.

I've been messing around with the Dolby Pro Logic IIx (5.1 to 7.1) and I'm highly impressed.

Defintely adds to the experience, and sometimes exceeds the results from studio 7.1 tracks.

I may be biased (and I realize this isn't "true" to the vision of the producer) but I love surround immersion, and this does a great job with the tracks I've tested.

My opinion

5.1 vs 7.1 - Definitely go 7.1, without a doubt. My room is only 12'x17', which most would say is too "small" for a 7.1, but the rear speakers have added a TON of depth.
5.1 vs 5.1 with Dolby Pro Logic IIx (upmixed to 7.1) - Definitely 7.1 again. It does a great job of increasing immersion, and the way most tracks are mixed, the surrounds aren't really used for positioning, but rather ambient sounds etc., so exact studio duplication isn't as much of a factor (again, in my opinion).

To those curious, I hope this helps.