# Speaker placement in difficult room



## Matteo (Jul 12, 2006)

I know this picture may be hard to read, but I don't know CAD or how to computer generate the image. Please bare with me.
I have a pretty simple room, but on the outside wall, across from the door, you can see the wall jogs out several feet. I can' t figure out the best place to put my surrounds. The Boxes marked with an "S" are the seats. Behind the front row is riser with my 4- 15" IB system. Here is the problem. If I put the surrounds where the red triangles are, by the number "one" circles, the person sitting on the riser in the back row will have a surround speaker directly in front of the, due to the jog in the foundation, where the asterics are. The front row would have good surround, but that back row would have a two surrounds in front of them about 4-5 feet. Now, if I put the surrounds on the back row, where the blue half-ovals are, I have a few problems there too. My HVAC (not shown) runs the length of the room by the door (upper picture). I have a window on the other side. So if I put the speakers there, one will be above the window, near the ceiling, the other would be about 18" lower right under the HVAC, but still 6- 7 feet above the floor. Good height, but both positions close to the ceiling. I thought the blue might be the best, but wondered also about putting some in-walls in the number one/red position AND some surrounds in the number two blue position as well. So a 9. system. The in-walls in red, number one position would keep the left rear from being so much in front of the left rear seat. At least it wouldn't block the view of the screen too. I know this is a lot to try and sift through, so I appreciate any ideas. Thanks so much.

Roly


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

In the pic below you can see where I use to have my surrounds on the sides. The speaker outlets are still there. When optimizing the speaker setup for the front row... if I sat on the back row I could hear the surrounds before I hear the front stage. It was awful. I moved the surrounds to the back corners and no longer have any problems when sitting on the back row.


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## jerome (Apr 24, 2007)

If I remember well, placement for unipolar and dipole speakers are not equal.
Unipolar speakers play directly 'into your ears' while dipole speakers uses reflection against the walls.

What kind of speakers do you have?


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

On dipole/bipole, one of the drivers could still be facing the listening area, while the other is usually facing the rear. Sometimes they face forward and rear with a null in the center. With the latter dipole/bipole design you can usually face the null directly to the side of the listener, but if you have multiple rows, there will be problems for the rear rows if you mount them to the side of the front row. The sound from the surrounds arrives to the rear seat listeners prior the the front LCR. 

If your surrounds are dipole/bipole front/rear facing, you could mount them directly to the side of the rear row and it should work fairly well. If they are direct radiating speakers (monopole) or dipole/bipole with one side firing into the listening area, you will probably want to mount them slightly behind the rear row of listeners. Of course, experimentation is encouraged. I found my best bet was the rear corners, being the design of my room.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

rolyasm said:


> ... If I put the surrounds where the red triangles are, by the number "one" circles, the person sitting on the riser in the back row will have a surround speaker directly in front of the, due to the jog in the foundation,...


Will this affect their view??? ... if not, I don't worry about it (you can see I have something similar, but they don't obstruc the view)  



> ... Good height, but both positions close to the ceiling. I thought the blue might be the best, but wondered also about putting some in-walls in the number one/red position AND some surrounds in the number two blue position as well. So a 9. system. The in-walls in red, number one position would keep the left rear from being so much in front of the left rear seat. At least it wouldn't block the view of the screen too...


I don't think there is a problem if the speakers are close to the ceiling (mine are 1' from ceiling) :yes: ... if you want to use a 9.1 system, I think is okay too; or if you want to get a bipole/dipole speaker and use it between rows I think it will be okay too. I use to have this speakers between my two rows (http://fluance.com/fluanbipsurs.html), the sound was good to me, but I remove them because their lowest frequency response was 130Hz and i wanted to use a speaker with a lower response :yes: 



I don't know what speaker system you have, but there is some bipole/dipole speakers to choose from to complement any system 

http://www.hometheatershack.com/electronics-retailer/index.php?c=speakers&k=bipole&s=pr&p=1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6644982&type=product&id=1151658129996


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