# Speaker placement advice



## Soundguy4545 (Nov 17, 2014)

I am new to home theater and have been picking up components slowly, when I can find a good deal on a decent product. I have enough now to put in the av unit, the speakers, still looking for a sub-woofer. 
Although this is not a dedicated theater room, I think this is the right forum to ask about speaker placement.
The room is 18'8" deep. 14'6" wide. 
So, I have a couple questions:
1. Should the 4 main speakers, (front/rear) be the same height from the ground?
2. Do they all need to be in the same relative positions, to each other? Somethng else?
3. Sub-woofer in the front, rear or both?
4. Should the four speakers be on stands, or can they be on floating shelves?

|=speaker
*open space
------------------- () ------------------- 
|\ ................../| () |......|.......|.....| 
|.....................| () |.....................|
|.....................| () |.....................|
|.....................| () |.....................|
|.....................| () |.....................| 
*.....................| () *.....................|
*.....................| () *.....................|
*....| ----- |.......| () *....| ----- |......|
----------------*** () --------------***

thx.
~John


----------



## vidiot33 (Dec 12, 2013)

Soundguy4545 said:


> I am new to home theater and have been picking up components slowly, when I can find a good deal on a decent product. I have enough now to put in the av unit, the speakers, still looking for a sub-woofer. Although this is not a dedicated theater room, I think this is the right forum to ask about speaker placement. The room is 18'8" deep. 14'6" wide. So, I have a couple questions: 1. Should the 4 main speakers, (front/rear) be the same height from the ground? 2. Do they all need to be in the same relative positions, to each other? Somethng else? 3. Sub-woofer in the front, rear or both? 4. Should the four speakers be on stands, or can they be on floating shelves? |=speaker *open space ------------------- () ------------------- |\ ................../| () |......|.......|.....| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| *.....................| () *.....................| *.....................| () *.....................| *....| ----- |.......| () *....| ----- |......| ----------------*** () --------------*** thx. ~John


1)The fronts should be positioned so that the tweeters are at ear level when seated. The rears should be positioned slightly behind the listening position, with the tweeters at war level when STANDING.
2) not sure what you mean by same relative position, but they should be as far apart from each other as they are to the listening position, and the surrounds fronts should be 90 degrees from the listening position.
3) sub position is very room dependent. Front left corner is a good starting point. 2-4 subs are optimal. Other good sub positions are the middle of the front or back wall or the mid point of the side walls. You can place your sub in the listening position and "crawl" around the room until you find


----------



## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Soundguy4545 said:


> 1. Should the 4 main speakers, (front/rear) be the same height from the ground?
> 2. Do they all need to be in the same relative positions, to each other? Somethng else?
> 3. Sub-woofer in the front, rear or both?
> 4. Should the four speakers be on stands, or can they be on floating shelves?


1. Ideally the tweeters on your front speakers should be around the height of your ears when seated. That is recommended for rear the speakers too, but it's ok if the rear speakers are higher.
2. Not completely sure what you mean by this, but the best case is a symmetrical setup with screen, speakers, and seating.
3. Depends a lot on your room, but one front and one rear is generally a good arrangement for dual subs. In this case, it's best to choose subs with variable phase.
4. Either is fine.

looks like Vidiot beat me to it but we pretty much agree.


----------



## vidiot33 (Dec 12, 2013)

Soundguy4545 said:


> I am new to home theater and have been picking up components slowly, when I can find a good deal on a decent product. I have enough now to put in the av unit, the speakers, still looking for a sub-woofer. Although this is not a dedicated theater room, I think this is the right forum to ask about speaker placement. The room is 18'8" deep. 14'6" wide. So, I have a couple questions: 1. Should the 4 main speakers, (front/rear) be the same height from the ground? 2. Do they all need to be in the same relative positions, to each other? Somethng else? 3. Sub-woofer in the front, rear or both? 4. Should the four speakers be on stands, or can they be on floating shelves? |=speaker *open space ------------------- () ------------------- |\ ................../| () |......|.......|.....| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| |.....................| () |.....................| *.....................| () *.....................| *.....................| () *.....................| *....| ----- |.......| () *....| ----- |......| ----------------*** () --------------*** thx. ~John


(Continued) find a spot where the bass sounds best and move the sub there.
4) speakers can be on shelves provided they're not dipoles or bipoles (which radiated front and back).


----------



## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Pretty much agree with vidiot here. Here's an overhead visual to help. Subs are very particular, and will certainly find the least WAF where performance is best! Sub crawl is a good place to start.


----------



## Soundguy4545 (Nov 17, 2014)

Thanks vidiot33 and Peter, for the responses.
This room size 18' deep x 14, I won't have space for surround left/right, just the surround back.
I see that the speakers are basically aimed at the middle of the listening position.
I thought my textual drawing would help with that question Peter, the picture answers it.
I hope the avr gets here soon, I am stoked to have something other than the tv for sound.

~John


----------



## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Soundguy4545 said:


> I am stoked to have something other than the tv for sound.


Glad to help! You will LOVE the upgrade from the TV speakers.


----------



## Audiodreamer (Jan 11, 2009)

Hello all, and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope I am not intruding! I have a question similar in nature. Ideally I would think a symmetrical setup in regards to speaker setup would be best. My LP is slightly off center in my room. My mains are of course centered on LP. At this moment my surrounds I know are not properly placed. They are on ceiling equally spaced off of LP about 12' apart. The question would be that if I were to place them where recommended at about 2' feet above seated ear level @ 90 to 110 degrees from LP, I would have one speaker closer to LP than another. ( more of a statement ) The question is does this present a problem, or is this fine as long as system is calibrated?
Thanks Mike


----------



## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

How much closer? I would say it's not that big a deal. Btw, it's not intruding, if nobody checks! Happy thanksgiving.


----------



## vidiot33 (Dec 12, 2013)

It should be fine. You can compensate for the slight difference in position in your setup menu as well as the minor difference in volume between the 2. It will superior to ceiling mounted speakers. Best of luck and happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## Rob514 (Nov 26, 2014)

I follow the instructions and plug in the YAPO mic for setting


----------

