[Management]



Picture above is what the back wall of my space looks like from the vantage point of standing in front of the TV and looking at the back wall.


It is a brick wall that runs the entire length of the outer rectangle. Where it says "TV Wall Ends: is where the front wall where the TV is mount wall ends not the back wall. There is no obstruction of the right surround speaker.


What I want help with is advice on if it is beneficial to add surround back direct radiating speakers on the back wall for a complete 7.1 setup? The couch is 2 ft front the back wall.


If I was to add two direct radiating speakers where would I place them? Balance the back wall or place them within the range of the couch. I have no idea.

The current surrounds are bi-poles and are on the side walls point inward and denoted by the arrow. There are 3 faces to the bi-pole. A woofer in the center with a tweeter on each side. Athena Technologies AS-R1.2. I would use Athena Point S.5 series bookshelf speakers for the surround rears.


Thanks for the help.

 

[Management]

No one?

 

[filecat13]

Off-center applications are always iffy to comment on without seeing and hearing the space.


The general rule of thumb is to have the rears 60 degrees apart on the back wall, but this assumes more or less central positioning of the seating. This allows equal distribution of the sound and equal diffraction from the sidewalls.


If I were doing this, I'd try it both ways to see which works better: offset according to the room's center line, then offset according to your seating center line. Each will require a different calibration, so it's not quite as simple as moving speakers only, but the calibration differences are not as challenging for those channels as for the fronts.


The other issue is speaker height. It may only be two feet to the rear wall, but it could be three feet or more to the speakers, depending on how high you put them. Of course your head is still on your body, not on the back of the couch, so you've got a little more room there as well. So you've got a little more room than you think.


Many of us have our speakers at six or seven feet in the surrounds, and even in close quarters this works well. (Some folks invert their speakers at that height so that the tweeter is closer to ear height. My surrounds are designed that way, so no inverting is needed.)

 

[hd_newbie]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Management /forum/post/18240551


No one?

I wouldn't with only 2 feet distance. You want to have at least 3 feet and ideally more than 6 for rear speakers.

 

[sdurani]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Management /forum/post/18236508


The couch is 2 ft front the back wall.

With the couch so close to the back wall, you're not going to get any meaningful separation between the side and rear speakers of a 7.1 layout. Better instead to optimize your current 5.1-speaker set-up.


Speaker-wise, I would stick with the Athena bipoles (good envelopment), but mount them so that they're stradling the back corners of the room. This way, both tweeters are pointing along walls, instead of one of them pointing into a nearby wall.


Any way to move the couch so that it is more centered between the side walls?

 

[rhcorolla]

Management,


Your case is somewhat similar to mine (our recliners are 3 ft. from back wall, & nearest side wall is 2' to closest recliner).


I opted for 6.1 channel w/ 1 surround back; but I had extra Paradigm Cinema speakers handy to experiment with my Denon avr-1909 7.1 channel.


Because left side wall was so close , I used regular speakers for side surrounds, & dipole speaker for surround back.


If you can, experimentation is the name of the game...

Also, if your avr has Audyssey or other calibration/ EQ features; then your avr will adjust accordingly & you can tweak on your own for better results.