[seanmcdougall]

Hi there


If you had to choose between placing three wall-mounted satellite speakers under your projection screen (but with reach of a toddler) or above the screen (out of reach, but perhaps compromising the sound), which would you go for?


We are about to move into a new house and the builders are going to re-plaster all the wall surfaces. We therefore have a chance to channel in the speaker cables but I won't be able to experiment with speaker placement before the wires are locked in. So I just have to choose - above or below. Advice would be MUCH appreciated!


The room is approx 4 metres wide and 5 deep. It will have two settees, one facing the other. We will sit in one to watch movies projected over the top of the other. At other points in the day the system will be used to play music. Aesthetics is the primary concern for my wife; music for me; and we both enjoy watching movies through the projector. The manufacturer says that the optimum height for the front speakers is between 0.4 and 1.2 metres but "if you have to go higher you can tilt the speaker slightly".


I'll be posting a separate note on bridging between wall plates and PCs/ speakers elsewhere on AVS. Thanks for any advice you can offer.


Sean


Setup:

HTPC with high def audio (Realtek ALC 883)

Teufel Motiv 5PC/Multimedia/Home Cinema System (white)

Optoma HD65 projector

Planning to use Van Damme Professional Blue Series 2x2.5 speaker cable

(unable to provide URLs as I am a new member)

 

[schan1269]

Why not do an AT and put them right where they are supposed to be???

 

[seanmcdougall]

Thanks for your suggestion. Much as I'd like to have an AT (acoustically transparent) screen in place, with the speakers hiding behind it, the room is really not suitable for installation of a permanent screen. And a drop-down one would only hide the speakers when in use.


Any other suggestions on whether placing them up high will affect the listening experience, or whether it's better to take the 'aesthetic hit' and risk the toddler grabbing them?

 

[schan1269]

First time I've EVER heard anybody say an AT can't be done.


Do you realize you can get motorized AT? I have one...


The Screen Research ClearPix 2 in grey. (Stewart has a much less expensive version. The ClearPix might catch your checkbook on fire)

 

[seanmcdougall]

Like I said, a motorized AT would only hide the speakers when it was down... it would be my preferred option if the speakers were in-wall and/or the wife didn't mind having three speakers dotted across the wall in the daytime ;-)

 

[Tulpa]

High or low is going to have some sound compromises as opposed to locating them centrally. Tilting will help compensate for this. Might as well put them high, assuming they won't be twenty feet off the ground.


It's more critical that the speakers are roughly at the same latitude. That way panning sounds don't seem to dip as they go across all three speakers.

 

[benareeno]

or...a speaker on either side of the screen with no center speaker. Don't rule it out...unless your front 3 speakers are identical it might well sound better with no center channel.


In the past, my testing of three identicals performed better and made a more realistic soundstage with the center speaker above the screen and angled down. This allows the voices to travel over the image vs eminating from below the image...it was harder to localize the speaker when it was above the image.