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flustered whether to angle surrounds or not to

post #1 of 10
7/16/12 at 10:05pm
Thread Starter 
I thought from every diagram i usualy see the surrounds should be 2-3 ft above ear level and slightly behind pointed straight out not angled. But now im seeing diagrams and even dolby under there setup guide in tips section under angles says to angle them to ear. I actually at first had them angle down and forward pointing almost right at ears, now the sound coming from them was really good but it seemed way to directional almost blended in or couldnt tell it was coming from rear. So i put them straight out again and sounds more ambient but lost clarity. Which way is correct?
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post #2 of 10
7/17/12 at 8:58am
Whichever sounds better to you...

My pet peeve for these setups are surround speakers too loud and/or too close, such that the speaker can be easily located in space by ear. IMO, much better to have an ambient sound that fills in the space. If pointing the speaker down towards the seat makes it easy to locate the speaker, don't do that... I'd think a happy medium may be the answer - angle down but aim above the seating.

But if pointing them down is causing you to hear the effect not from the rear of the room - there's something else going on acoustically... Try angling them down and reducing the levels. What are you using to evaluate the sound? Music played through just the rears, for example, is probably not the best test for surround performance...

Jeff
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post #3 of 10
7/17/12 at 10:54am
Thread Starter 
I use Audyssey Multeq. it sound just to directional it will fool you if most sound is coming from rears and not much from front. I think I will angle them slightly forward but not down toward ear
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post #4 of 10
7/17/12 at 10:59am
But how did you evaluate the results?

I'd try turning off all RoomEQ, then listen to a surround-rich movie clip with the speakers in several positions and see which sounds better. Once you pick the aim, re-run Audyssey and see what you get.
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post #5 of 10
7/17/12 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
but it seems that dolby should have a standard that they intended for the processing. thanks for the help im tired of recalibrating i will redo it when I get new front speaker stands. my old ones are to short for tweeter to be at ear level. again thankyou

I could see someone who has there speakers in a less than desirable location having to angle them but mine are on sidewalls in small room 2ft above ear and about a foot to foot half behind ears. the left one is 5ft away and right one is 6ft from listening position
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post #6 of 10
7/17/12 at 5:38pm
Every speaker is different as to how it disperses sound.

I think 2-3' above ear level is higher than ideal, but not a killer by any stretch, and you're far enough away it probably doesn't matter much. Your speaker may radiate more above than below, which would normal for a bookshelf speaker (since your ears are usually at or above the speaker, not below).

As an experiment, if you can, try turning the speaker upside down and see what that sounds like... But to me it feels like you just need to angle them down where you say they sounded good and reduce the level. As I said before, I think many folks tend to have their surround channels too loud (relative to the rest of the setup).

Jeff
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post #7 of 10
7/17/12 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 
well I have speaker 2' above ear to middle of speaker not sure if tweeter is in center or at top. I went with pointing them straight out but very slightly angled toward listener cant go crazy about it
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post #8 of 10
7/17/12 at 7:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jb82 View Post

well I have speaker 2' above ear to middle of speaker not sure if tweeter is in center or at top. I went with pointing them straight out but very slightly angled toward listener cant go crazy about it

At your distance to the seats that sounds like a good placement...
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post #9 of 10
7/18/12 at 6:18am
is it a problem to place the speakers higher the 2-3' above the ear?

I'm going to have to do that in my setup because I'll be hanging to speakers down from the ceiling unless I put them on shelves on the back wall behind me. My screen is in the middle of a 1200 sq ft studio. (it's the only place it works, it's an old Hay loft in a carriage house)

I do notice that the speakers in a cinema are always mounted high up on the walls.
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post #10 of 10
7/18/12 at 6:33am
Thread Starter 
if thats only option then angle them down but kinda like over ur head not directly at ears.

and put them at angle towards listener also if possible not just straight out
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