Direction of Surround Speakers and other placement

[saurabh]

hi,

Pls see my room layout attchd with dimensions. The height of my room is 9.5 ft and I cannot change the layout much except for bringing the TV to the left slightly so that its more in line of sight with the Sofa. I will leave 20%(as suggested by an acoustic engineer) of the total length from the ceiling (2 ft) and fix the surround speakers there(i.e. 7.5 above the floor level). I will use wall mounts on the sofa back wall (opposite the TV)and then can direct the speakers either towards the TV or towards each other. The surround speakers are monopole/direct radiating. My questions now are :

a) In which direction should I point the surround speakers (red or green).

b) Any other speaker placement suggestions ????

[David Meek]

Green. If the speakers are direct-radiators then the sound should broadcast directly at the listening position. If they are di-poles the face should still point at the listening position with the drivers firing sideways. This creates the "null" that the listeners should be sitting in. The null increases the listeners' sense of immersion in the surround sound field.

The only other suggestion I'd make is that if you are using di-poles, pull the speakers at least 24" away from the wall behind the couch. Otherwise, the sound firing from the one side of the di-pole will be compromised by the closeness of that driver to the wall, causing at least a partial collapse of the surround sound field.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

[Andrew Pratt]

David's right the green arrows are correct. As for the mounting height most people recomend 2 feet above your head when seated which might be a little lower then what you were thinking...still if they're on stands and can be aimed down a bit it likely won't matter. Also given the non symetrical layout make sure your distances are inputted properly into the receiver.

[Burke Strickland]

Actually, getting your seats away from the walls and more like out into the room facing the set the would make it a lot more likely that you will get an effective surround sound experience. Having the the L-shaped arrangement face the TV instead of the way it is drawn with the long sofa perpendiular to the set along the side wall would probably make the viewing experience a lot better for more people too (unless you typically lie down on the long couch with your head at the end furthest away from the set while watching), although the "decor police" :>) may object to having the furniture placed out in the room for optimum viewing and listening.

[saurabh]

thanks for the comments, but very true the decor police is very strict :M and sometimes I have to fight it out :wink: