Speaker placement

[Deleted User] · January 2018

OK, jeeniuses. I'm looking for some experience and expert opinions about speaker placement and room treatments. Don't sell yourselves short, you GOT this!

I'm nearing completion of my dedicated theater and listening room and I'm trying to maximize the space by placing my SRS's behind an AT screen. I've done some research on speaker placement and it sounds like placing my speakers as close to the front wall as possible is the way to go.i intend to make a built in cabinet behind the screen to frame in the Polk towers.

Has anyone tried this and if you did, what results did you get?

BTW, my source was Arqen. Google it if you're curious. This was a great source of information from a guy who backs his opinions with science.

FestYboy · January 2018

So far everything I've seen and experienced says the SRS needs to sit 5-6" off the wall and they need open space to the outside.

[Deleted User] · January 2018

That was my original assessment until I read the article on speaker placement here:
http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/

He suggests as close to the wall as possible to minimize standing waves.

FestYboy · January 2018

Here in lies the problem: SDAs aren't normal speakers and don't perform like normal speakers (in a good way). If you note in the article, the examples all have toe-in, and the SDAs don't work with toe-in. Also that article wouldn't apply to electrostatics either... Those need many feet off the wall to perform their best.

[Deleted User] · January 2018

I hear you, but actually if you read the articles and ignore the images it sounds like nearest the front wall is ideal. Basically it affects the bass characteristics more than the high frequencies. Electrostatics are a different story due to the fact that they are bidirectional and toeing in isn't really discussed. He really delves into placement of bass traps and wall treatments to make a room neutral.

I do a terrible job of explaining it. What I think I'll do is experiment with speaker placement before I finish my built-ins. I'll report back with observations.

Tony M · February 2018

There are YEARS of experienced SDA and SDA-SRS advice coming your way already.

Save yourself some time and try THEIR advice first. Please.

PSOVLSK · February 2018

I have very limited experience with SDA's, but I have enough experience to know that you don't want them against the wall if you want to maximize their potential. FWIW, my experience was with the 1C.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

I've had SDA's since 1986 so I do have some experience with them. I've owned SDA1, SDA2 and SDA SRS. I still have the 1 and the SRS. I've never played around with speaker location. I always kept them close to the wall and was generally OK with it. Polks own SDA manual actually recommends they be placed close to the wall and that's why i've always done it. The real question was about placing them in a cabinet and after reviewing the manual again, this is what i see:

It looks like the front baffle has to be 3 inches in front of the cabinet. Is it possible the manual isn't correct? I realize years of experience can teach you more than a manual.

Tony M · February 2018

Interesting ... I thought 8" is the distance you should have behind the SRS's.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

I don't know, maybe it's different for the SRS? I've used the same guidelines for all of the SDA's and I could be wrong.

I seem to remember having been wrong before but, you know, i could have been mistaken.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

i was wrong about being wrong. Nobody's perfect. This is straight from the SRS manual.

gmcman · February 2018

The speaker needs a little room to breathe. Flat against the wall or tucked into a cavity will not be ideal.

SDA's are very different than other loudspeakers. They don't always follow the same rules.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

gmcman wrote: »

The speaker needs a little room to breathe. Flat against the wall or tucked into a cavity will not be ideal.

SDA's are very different than other loudspeakers. They don't always follow the same rules.

The instructions to place them against the wall come from Polk Audio's instruction manual for the SDA SRS. The snippets i've attached are from Polks very own literature. Essentially, Polk has said 'place them against the wall' and 'not placing them against a wall is bad'

I know you don't toe them in. I never have. I know you don't put them too close to corners. I've tried to avoid this. However, I know it is factual that Polk Audio said you are supposed to put them against the wall when they wrote the manuals.

I wonder if Swauger has any input on this? Again, maybe Polk didn't know everything when they wrote the manuals for the speakers and Kenneth can get updated information from the source.

If I start placing them further from the wall it will be a different install than I've ever used for these big boys. I heard a pair of B&W 801's that sounded putrid in a listening room and i suspected it was the positioning. They were about 3 feet from the wall and all i heard was cavernous bass and no midrange.

I'll try moving mine around and i'll give an opinion on the results. It will take some time, though. I have no carpet in that room and it will sound like an echo chamber.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

I'm afraid all the people who originally wrote the SRS manuals are no longer working for Polk, so getting their input will be difficult. If I had to venture a guess I would imagine that Polk's manuals were written to instruct owners how to maximize the SDA technologies' requirement. Namely, keep the speakers parallel to the rear wall, no pointing inward (which most people did at that time) and keep them away from side walls (which was also very popular since it increases bass). These are fundamental things necessary to hear what the SDA concept was trying to do.
The placement against or away from the rear wall is really going to change the character of the speaker's bass response. Move them closer to the rear wall and the level of the bass increases, move them further away and the spectral balance changes. In all likelihood the recommendation by Polk to place them close to the rear wall was to make them appeal to what Polk imagined was their customer preference, at that time.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

Thanks for the input Ken. I think i'll have to follow through on my promise to do a listening study before locking in my room design. Maybe it is just a matter of preference.

[Deleted User] · February 2018

That is an extremely good idea, nothing beats trying a particular placement position and evaluating how it sounds. Then change it and see what the differences are. I've daydreamed about putting a subwoofer on a computer driven motorized platform (kind of like a Roomba with room analysis capability) so it would move around the room finding the best sounding spot. Maybe clean the carpet at the same time?

ZLTFUL · February 2018

The_Polkster wrote: »

I intend to make a built in cabinet behind the screen to frame in the Polk towers.

Everyone else has done a great job of addressing the placement issues. so I will defer to their knowledge there.

I will however address this...
Don't.
Unless the speakers are front ported and designed to be flush with a wall (think in wall speakers), you are going to add all kinds of baffle step issues that the crossovers are not designed to address.

I have been in several dedicated theaters with and without baffle walls and the ones with baffle walls that sounded "correct" were the baffle walls with in wall speakers.
One of my neighbors has a very nice high end theater with sound treatments designed by Nyal Mellor and the only thing I don't like about his theater is the weird dispersion effects you get from him having his box speakers built into the baffle wall.
The front sound stage just doesn't sound right, IMHO.

Speaker placement

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