# My room size and placement



## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

I am doing new construction on my basement and setting up a room for HT:
The room is (give or take a lil) 11W x 18L x 8H
My listen center is 8' from the front (10' from the back wall)

My T.V. and center channel are in the middle of the front wall...center channel is the same height as my fromt standing speakers, but below the T.V.

My side surrounds are on stands which make them within inches of ear level.

My rear surrounds are going to be (center of speaker) 7' off the floor...due to the fact they we behind my bar and dont want anyone knock'n their heads on em and making them fall.

So what I am trying to figure out is the distance, backwards, from the seating position to my side surrounds, and the distance from each side wall for my rear surrounds.

This 7.1 speaker placement and any other placement is making my head spin....everything talks about 90-100 degrees from listen center, 120-130 degrees...etc...how in the do I measure this....lol Why cant there be anything with measurements, etc....for placing speakers. I googled, yahooed, etc...could not find anything "degrees'

I appreciate any help, tips, and insight that anyone sends my way. I am talking pictures of the process, just need to load em on the computer and post them....they will be soon hopefully.

Thanks a mill,
Jeff


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Think of looking straight ahead as 0 degrees. Directly to your left and right is 90 degrees. Behind you is 180. You'll have the speakers pretty much against the boundaries. Distance isn't as important since you can compensate in the processor for that distance. 

Bryan


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

So think of 90 degrees as "to the side," 100 degrees is basically to the side but also slightly behind... 150 would be behind but slightly to the side...


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks again everyone...I am in the process of getting the picture to post. My rear surrounds are going to be (on the back wall) two feet from each side wall. Does anyone think that I should go closer to the sidewalls?


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## spartanstew (May 7, 2009)

Without seeing a picture, I can determine a couple of things based on your description:

Your display is WAY too high.
Your side speakers are too low.

Also, if you're building a theater in that room, why a TV?

Will you have two rows of seating? Riser?

I'd place your side speakers about 1' behind the first row of seating (and 6' high).


And to answer your last question, 2' from the side walls should be fine, but I'd opt for 3'


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

I wouldn't go any closer together on the rears. 2' from the side walls in an 11' wide room only puts them 7' apart.


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

it really not going to be a "HT" room...my lil home theater room...again I am dumb to this, but why should my side be 6'....everywhere i look i see ear level, and the rear should be 1'-3' from listening position.


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

Where have you looked? A lot of places give you rules that make it simple, for one reason or another. Better to get you interested than to scare you away. 
One major reson we say higher than ear level (personally I believe anywhere between 2' above your ears to 2' below the ceiling is ok) is to make the rear soundfield more diffuse, and less distracting from the action on the screen, or the story. Much as I love surround sound, I hate when an effect stands out so much that before I know what's happening I turn around to see what happened... Advice for multichannel music may be very different however. And people do disagree with my feelings here with discrete surround channels.

THX certainly recommends higher than ear level. 
http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/surround-sound-speaker-set-up/


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

how far apart should the rears be? My sides are going to about 90 degrees from the listen position


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

If it were my system, I'd put'em just where Bryan said!:T
I think rule of thumb is 150 degrees.


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

So Bryan and Glaufman..you are saying basically 3' off the wall would be "50 degree" 

Again I am dumb, but wouldn't being farther apart give more of a 'wider' sound?


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

glaufman said:


> If it were my system, I'd put'em just where Bryan said!:T
> I think rule of thumb is 150 degrees.


So what you and Bryan are saying is that they should be 3' off the wall? If so why....again I am dumb to this, but I would think that farther away from each other would give a "wider" sound


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

Ultimatley, the distance between the walls, the way the walls are treated or not, is going to place an upper limit on how wide the sound can, well, sound... This is not necessarily to say that limit is the distance itself. But I digress...

Wider is not necessarily better. Ultimately it comes down to what you like, because it's your system. But what many of us "like" is "accuracy." To some extent, all this source material you're listening to is mixed assuming certain speaker locations. Changing those locations will change the imaging of the sound reproduced. So within the confines of how our rooms are constructed etc, we try to adhere to these placements as close as possible. 

You don't necessarily need distance in the rear speakers to achieve a wide soundstage. Those speakers will work with the side speakers to widen the rear stage, and to give depth to the side stage. Yes, you don't want them too close together, but too close to the wall will start to affect their response, and other things. 

Remember, your sonic acuity in the rear is somewhat limited to begin with. Most sound coming from the rears is intended to be diffuse ambience for mood setting. Both of these lessen the importance of setting these speakers up precisely, after the guidelines are met.


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## eurovw89 (Feb 25, 2010)

Here are the pictures finally:

The back wall where the rear surrounds are going…you can see the speaker wire hanging down. I pulled wires for 6.1 and 7.1, just incase I don’t have my two rear surrounds by the time this is finished









The front right of the wall where T.V. is going









Front wall center









Rear right wall









Another picture of back wall









Left side of front wall….the reason there is insulation is cuz the furnace is on the other side, and “trying” keep the sound down a lil









Right side of front wall…..there was a wall there, but decided it would be to “closed” if I didn’t open it up….to turned into a lil countertop. When I have poker games in the other room, everyone and talk without walking up to the “door”. I have it roughed in for a door, so when the time comes to sell I can throw up some studs, doors, and make it an extra bedroom









Another straight on of rear wall









Rear again









Front wall again


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