# Corner Setup Problem



## jbear33

Hi there! Had a question about my setup. The room is 16 x 16 and the tv is in the corner. My three front speakers are 12 ft. away from the sweet spot and my surrounds are 7 ft. away and a couple of feet above us. I just cant seem to get a seamless front soundstage for some reason.I rechecked my wiring and everything is in phase.I calibrated with Avia and a Radio Shack sound meter. My speakers are all on small and my crossover is on 120 now on the sub. The sub is behind the TV because my wife doesnt want the "box" in the way. It sounds okay , but I want it to sound like one big wall of sound. The right surround is right next to the hallway entrance would that affect my sound any? If you need any more info, just let me know. Thank You in advance!


----------



## Sonnie

Soundstage can have a lot to do with the quality of speaker (dispersion characteristics) as well as your seating location vs. speaker locations. It is something you have to experiment with to accomplish the desired effect.

I am not so sure that you will be able to accomplish a good soundstage with your system in that corner location. Can you move it to the wall and then move your surrounds to the back wall or corners... centering up the couch for your sweet spot? That might help, but again, speakers will be a determining factor as well as you may need to experiment with seating distance.


----------



## eugovector

I think your speakers may be a little to close together (assuming from the diagram). How far apart are they from one another? Try scooting your chair up so that the distance between the speakers is the same as the distance from the speakers to your ears. Experiment with "toe-in" pointing them in slightly towards your ears. And if they have the frequency response for it, drop your crossover to 80hz.


----------



## Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Welcome to the Forum, Jerry!



jbear33 said:


> Hi there! Had a question about my setup. The room is 16 x 16 and the tv is in the corner. My three front speakers are 12 ft. away from the sweet spot and my surrounds are 7 ft. away and a couple of feet above us. I just cant seem to get a seamless front soundstage for some reason.
> 
> It sounds okay , but I want it to sound like one big wall of sound.


Thanks for the picture, it sure helps diagnose your problem! 

Generally speaking, corner arrangements are usually problematic. 

To see why that is, let’s first cover a few basics: What does it take to accomplish optimized surround sound in a home theater? We can look to a regular theater as our guide. How are things set up in a movie theater? The screen is up front. The seating faces the screen. Front L/R speakers spread as far apart as possible for proper imaging. The surround speakers are to the sides and behind the viewers.

Basically, a home theater is not much different. No surprise that most recommended arrangements are the same as a theater: Screen up front, seating facing the screen, surround speakers to the sides or behind the viewers. The front L/R speakers are a bit different; they should stick with the “rule of thumb” for stereo, that the distance between them should be about the same as their distance from listening position.







​

Sooo, looking at your room, what do we have? The distance between the front L/R speakers is much less than the distance they are from the seating, which means pans from left to right will be much less dramatic (see purple lines in picture below). The surround speakers are in front of the seating, not behind it (blue ). In addition, they do not face the viewers. Depending on how they are oriented, either you have one firing back at the TV and one across to the other side of the room (red arrows), or they are both firing into the rear corner (green arrows).







​

Your seating/speaker arrangement, and the problems you’re having as a result, is common with corner set-ups.

Corner set-ups _can_ work very well, if done right. For instance, the ability to put the sub in the corner behind the TV is an excellent location: out of the way, with maximized output and performance, coming from dead center of the "action" instead of from a corner off to the side or behind you. The front speakers firing at walls angled at 45˚ eliminates any chance of "slapback" reverberation, where the sound hits the back wall and bounces right back to the front (and back again).

“If done right” – that’s the key. Basically, “done right” means arranging the room as if it _wasn’t_ turned 45˚: Sofa facing the TV, just like a regular room; the TV moved far enough out from the corner to allow a good distance between the L/R speakers; the surround speakers hung on brackets to the sides or behind the viewers that allow them to be turned 45˚ towards them. _The problem is that most people won’t want to do what is necessary for a corner arrangement to work right._







​

Bottom line, Jerry - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no magic bullet: If you want your movie-viewing sound to improve - if you want sound that actually envelopes you, rather than merely all out in front of you - you’re going to have to re-arrange your room and speakers. It’s a simple as that. If not, what you have now is the best it’s going to be.

Regards,
Wayne


----------



## salvasol

I'll second Wayne's suggestion ...you can start moving the surrounds and placing the seats correctly :yes:


----------



## jbear33

Thank you everyone for helping, and thanks Wayne for all the work! It is greatly appreciated... I kind of figured that someone might say that...I'll talk with the missus and see what we can do. Ill let you know how it works out.


----------



## salvasol

jbear33 said:


> ...I'll talk with the missus and see what we can do. Ill let you know how it works out.


Maybe you can use temporary stands to hold the speakers in place and watch a movie that you already watched with the current setup, I'm sure that she'll notice the difference and will let you move the speakers permanently :yes:


----------

