# Surround speaker type and placement help?



## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

I've been an avid follower of this forum for quite sometime, figured it was time to become an offical member.

I'm about to start working on my first dedicated HT and a have a few questions about what type of surround speakers to get and where to place them with the layout i have. I plan on doing a 5.1 system.

I understand the different types of speakers; ie: monopole, dipole and bipole, and the basics about speaker placement. But i'm having a tough time trying to figure out what will work with my current layout.

What i have, shown in the pic is a 13x18 room that is open in the rear to a game room. The left side of the room has slanted ceiling that starts about 5ft up from the floor. The left side seating will be close to the wall.

Not sure which route to go.

Monopoles on the side: might be too loud; too close the listener
Dipoles on the side: worried about the lack of no rear wall rendering them useless
Dipoles rear ceiling mounted: ?
Bipoles rear ceiling mounted: ?
Bipoles sided mounted: ?

I'm kind of stuck; just looking to get the best possibly sound without wasting money on speakers that dont work with the room layout.
Any help would be greatly appreciated


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Firstly.. I would be inclined to change your seating arrangement..if possible..
I would have two rows of seating, with 2 in the front and 3 in the rear..or viceversa..
That way you have more space between the seats and the sidewalls..

There looks to be enough length of the sidewalls to be able to use dipole speakers, which would be just behind the first row..and mounted at the 5' height..
That would be my choice, but others may have other ideas..


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

Thanks for the advice.

I wanted to do 2 rows from the beginning but the wife said she would rather have a row of 4 with a loveseat in the middle...who knows...i may talk her into it.

I was kind of leaning towards the dipoles but i was worried that the lack of a rear wall wouldnt allow for the sound to reflect back into the room.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

How far back do the sidewalls extend past the back of the seats in their present position?


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

about 3-3.5 ft.


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

Whats your take on the Polk Audio F/XiA4s? They say you can use them as either bipole or dipole. That would allow me to play with the placement of them and figure which sounds better with the layout.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

That's borderline for dipoles!..
Depending on what size screen you're using, I would suggest moving your seating a bit closer to the screen, to give you a couple of extra feet at the back..and reducing the screen size a little if needed..
Also I would suggest (if budget permits) that you look at tripole or quad pole surrounds, to give a bit more reinforcement for surround sounds..


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Personally I don't like bipoles..I use tripoles myself..


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

I'm looking to go with a 106" fixed mount screen. Tripoles or Quadpoles just might be out of my price range....i'm looking to spend around 1700 for decent 5.1 system.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I presume you're talking about a 16:9 106" screen?
I'm using a 106" CIH 2.39 AT screen and I can sit as close as 9'6"!

In the width of the your room, you could go even bigger if you use a CIH screen and still have comfortable viewing from 12'! Then dipole surrounds won't be a problem..


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

Have you thought about used speakers? They can really stretch a budget. Accessories 4 Less has some great deals on Avr's as well. As far as surrounds go I have Klipsch rs-62's, they have what they call wide dispersion The sound shoots out of the two sides of a triangular speaker they also have keyhole hangers to mount.


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

Yeah i have been to that site, i'm actually going to purchase my A/V reciever from them. Would those work given my room layout not having a rear wall. I just worry that they wont sound that great because the sound will project out of the room. Maybe im just over thinking it.


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## stilesn (Jul 8, 2013)

Anybody have thoughts on the Aperion Intimus 4BP surrounds? From what i have been reading about Aperion the make a pretty good system, eveybody i heard raves about them and they are decently priced.


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