# Speaker Placement Issue



## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm building new HT in basement. 15'W (screen side) x 16'L x 8.5'H ceiling. First row seats 10' from screen, back row (on 7" riser) about 15'. Using the Dolby recommendations for 7.2 speaker placement, I am attempting to locate the speakers as follows:


Left and right fronts at 28 degrees (Klipsch RF-3)
Center at 0 degrees (Klipsch RC-52)
Left and right surrounds at 90 degrees (Klipsch RS-42)
Left and right rear surrounds at 140 degrees (Klipsch RS-42)
All 3 speakers along front will be at ear level. Per Klipsch recommendations for the RS's (5-7' mounting), I want to place the surrounds all at 6'. Problem is that for the left side surround, this puts the speaker in a door opening that cannot be relocated. So, I can either move the surrounds up higher (~7' AFF to bottom of speaker - _with 8.5' ceiling_), or keep at 6' and move the sides back which would put them at ~120 degrees (further behind than recommended and also only a few feet from the rear wall). Which option should be the least of two evils?

Also if I move the sides back, should I also move the rears back (i.e., closer together) to maintain separation between the sides and rears?

Thanks everyone for your input.

Regards,
sga2


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## Matteo (Jul 12, 2006)

When you are talking about 90 degrees for your surrounds, is that 90 degrees from the front row or second row? Also, when you say 7' to bottom of speaker, where does that place the top of your speaker and in relation to the ceiling? I am guessing you are talking about putting the surrounds at the rear seats, because it sounds like they will be near the rear wall if you move them back. Just want to make sure I am visualizing this correctly. How close will the left and right seats be to the side speakers? Thanks.

Matteo


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Matteo said:


> When you are talking about 90 degrees for your surrounds, is that 90 degrees from the front row or second row? Also, when you say 7' to bottom of speaker, where does that place the top of your speaker and in relation to the ceiling? I am guessing you are talking about putting the surrounds at the rear seats, because it sounds like they will be near the rear wall if you move them back. Just want to make sure I am visualizing this correctly. How close will the left and right seats be to the side speakers? Thanks.
> 
> Matteo


Sorry, in my original draft I had much more info. Then I thought I was rambling too much so I hacked away...

The prime seating position will be the middle seat of the front row. All of the placements listed are in relation to this seating position.

The surrounds are ~10" tall. So, 7' mounting will put the top of the speaker at 7'10", or 8" below the ceiling. At 90 degrees WRT prime seat, the side surrounds are 5' from the rear wall. I'd need to move them ~2' back (putting them at ~115 degrees) to miss the door.

Also, for what it is worth, the door will swing outward from the room so I don't need to worry about the door hitting the speaker.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I would try and keep them at the correct angle and distance back from the front seats..
If that places one of them in the doorway, then I would mount them in the higher position and angle them down a little...


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Prof. said:


> I would try and keep them at the correct angle and distance back from the front seats..
> If that places one of them in the doorway, then I would mount them in the higher position and angle them down a little...


Would you do this for all four surrounds (move up and angle down) so that they match? Or only move the one? I am more concerned about acoustics than aesthetics.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

I would have both your side surrounds at the same height and perhaps the rears could be a little lower..Should still give a good balance..

Add to that...Angle down all four speakers so they are just firing above your head when seated..


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

It's actually better to have surrounds up and angled down. I suggest flipping it to have the tweeter at the bottom. This configuration tends to give better coverage of the seating area. After all theaters have them up and angled down.:T


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Prof. & lsiberian - Thanks for your input!


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## Matteo (Jul 12, 2006)

Good advice. I don't disagree with either of you, but taking into account room dynamics, rear position, and other variables, here is what I would do, if it were me. I have a similar setup. First row 11 feet, second row 15-16 feet, but my room is about 22 feet long. I wired for multiple locations. My main listening position is the same as yours, front row middle. I ended up compromising a little and put my side surrounds almost to the back row for a few reasons. When I had the speakers 90 degrees of the front row, my rear seating positions in the extremes right and left were not "great" places to sit. I had too much surround coming from in front of me for the rear seats. The front sounded great, but the rears were not good. As I moved the speakers more to the rear I still kept good great surround for the front, but now the rears are also very good. This was a little work. I would move them a foot at a time, listen, move, and listen. I even tried greater than 90 degrees from the rear wall, just to experiment. 
So in short, yes, there are established recommendations of what should sound best. It may work great sticking with what you are planning, but if you have the option to experiment, that is what I would do. Do you sounds best to you. If you are never going to be in the back row, or that is your mother-in-law row, then don't worry about it. Keep the 90 degree. Good luck. Let us know what you do.
Matteo


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## sga2 (Nov 14, 2009)

Matteo said:


> Do you sounds best to you. If you are never going to be in the back row, or that is your mother-in-law row, then don't worry about it. Keep the 90 degree. Good luck. Let us know what you do.
> Matteo


Thanks. I might just cheat the speakers back a little to kill two birds with one stone - (1) avoid the door and keep at reasonable height and (2) improve performance for rear row. I am thinking that the design of the RS-42's lend themselves to this application as well.

I'll post pictures of everything once everything is finished. Thanks again, everyone, for your advice.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

Matteo said:


> So in short, yes, there are established recommendations of what should sound best. It may work great sticking with what you are planning, but if you have the option to experiment, that is what I would do. Do you sounds best to you. If you are never going to be in the back row, or that is your mother-in-law row, then don't worry about it. Keep the 90 degree. Good luck. Let us know what you do.
> Matteo


Yes..I agree..If you can experiment with different positions, all the better..
It will also depend on what type of surround speakers you use..
Monopoles, Di-poles, Ti-poles and Quad-poles will all exhibit different characteristics and will not necessarily all work to their best advantage when placed in exactly the same position..

I found with my Tri-pole surrounds that just moving them a few inches either forward or back, changes the surround sound effectiveness..


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