Need help/suggestions for speaker placement in a difficult room (pics inside)

stangjason
stangjason Posts: 341
edited January 2011 in Speakers
Please ignore the clutter as I have a 2 year old and a 3 month old and the house is shrinking :smile:

I'm considering the purchase of some floating shelves to place the right rear speaker near the entry way up next to the motion sensor and the left rear speaker which up near the ceiling on the slim piece of wall.

Oh yeah as you can see now the speakers are on furniture pieces converted to speaker stands. It's probably hard to tell but the speakers sit about 8 feet diagonal from speaker to ear (60 degrees maybe)of the center seating position and about 5 feet from the wall to even with the seating positions (if that makes sense).
Pioneer vsx-1120k, B&K Sonata series video-5 amplifier, Polk Rti8, Fxi3, Csi5, and HSU VTF-1
Post edited by stangjason on

Comments

  • stangjason
    stangjason Posts: 341
    edited January 2011
    Probably not the best post of the year or the best pictures either so I'm giving myself a bump. All the pictures are towards the back of the room with the TV to my back.

    If you can spot my speakers you'll see they are on stands fairly low about ear level to a seated person.

    Does anyone think I would be better off putting my speakers up higher on the wall?

    The first picture I would put that speaker on that slender piece of wall near the ceilling and the second picture I would put that speaker up on the wall either on the back wall (right) or the corner on the wall above the door way.
    Pioneer vsx-1120k, B&K Sonata series video-5 amplifier, Polk Rti8, Fxi3, Csi5, and HSU VTF-1
  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    edited January 2011
    Living areas are rarely good listening/theater rooms by design. They are made for people, not great sound. With that said, rear speakers can tolerate alot more room placement issues than mains/front stage can since they are rarely used for anything other than ambient type sound. As long as levels are set on your processor to handle any distance/direction differences that exist, it doesn't matter whether they are placed higher than ear level. Invite 2 tall friends over to test the higher placement options while you test your system and let your ears be the judge.

    I personally might leave them on the stands, somewhat hidden by their surrroundings than to hang them awkwardly from the walls or ceiling for all to see. This is where the smaller satellite or in-ceiling speaker design shines, helping to hide those odd room dimensions.
    HT Optoma HD25 LV on 80" DIY Screen, Anthem MRX 300 Receiver, Pioneer Elite BDP 51FD Polk CS350LS, Polk SDA1C, Polk FX300, Polk RT55, Dual EBS Adire Shiva 320watt tuned to 17hz, ICs-DIY Twisted Prs, Speaker-Raymond Cable

    2 Channel Thorens TD 318 Grado ZF1, SACD/CD Marantz 8260, Soundstream/Krell DAC1, Audio Mirror PP1, Odyssey Stratos, ADS L-1290, ICs-DIY Twisted , Speaker-Raymond Cable
  • stangjason
    stangjason Posts: 341
    edited January 2011
    Living areas are rarely good listening/theater rooms by design. They are made for people, not great sound. With that said, rear speakers can tolerate alot more room placement issues than mains/front stage can since they are rarely used for anything other than ambient type sound. As long as levels are set on your processor to handle any distance/direction differences that exist, it doesn't matter whether they are placed higher than ear level. Invite 2 tall friends over to test the higher placement options while you test your system and let your ears be the judge.

    I personally might leave them on the stands, somewhat hidden by their surrroundings than to hang them awkwardly from the walls or ceiling for all to see. This is where the smaller satellite or in-ceiling speaker design shines, helping to hide those odd room dimensions.

    Thanks I think you've convinced me for now to keep my speakers on stands. I am still considering putting them up high but if I do it'll be on a floating shelf...which by the way might be a good option for others on this board to consider.
    Pioneer vsx-1120k, B&K Sonata series video-5 amplifier, Polk Rti8, Fxi3, Csi5, and HSU VTF-1
  • fishbones
    fishbones Posts: 947
    edited January 2011
    With "little ones" and the amount of stuff you have around the speakers anyway because of space requirements, I would recommend getting wall mounts for them. If not, the odds of them getting knocked on the floor or drivers pushed in by curious young eyes is almost guaranteed (I know from experience).
    ..... ><////(*>
  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited January 2011
    fishbones wrote: »
    With "little ones" and the amount of stuff you have around the speakers anyway because of space requirements, I would recommend getting wall mounts for them. If not, the odds of them getting knocked on the floor or drivers pushed in by curious young eyes is almost guaranteed (I know from experience).

    I second wall mounts for the speakers.
  • stangjason
    stangjason Posts: 341
    edited January 2011
    Joe08867 wrote: »
    I second wall mounts for the speakers.

    I've been thinking it over and listening to them and I think I'm going to have to go with the wall mount setup and hope the speakers don't stick out like a sore thumb. The good new is that I have some wall mounts I bought at Walmart a long time ago for $4 that hold up to 10lbs and luckily my speakers weigh about 8.5lbs.
    Pioneer vsx-1120k, B&K Sonata series video-5 amplifier, Polk Rti8, Fxi3, Csi5, and HSU VTF-1