FXi30 placement

brianwayne671

O.K. weird question here. I have my FXi30's placed on the wall directly behind my sofa in bi-pole mode. The question is this: on the back of the speakers they are labeled R and L for the right and left channels. However, if you place them in those locations the drivers 5 1/4's are facing away from the listening area and the tweeter's are facing toward's the listening area. Now I have mine setup OPPOSITE of this because it didn't make sense to me. My drivers are facing in towards the listener. I just don't feel I'm getting terrific surround out of these babies and wondered if it could be something else I did. Did I do it correctly? Can anyone let me know how they have theirs? Thanks.

Bri

Airplay355

i have mine on the back wall above my space for a couch(couch not there yet) in bipole mode. i have the left on the left and the right on the right making the mid drivers face the outer walls...i like the way it sounds. i havent tried dipole on the sided or bipole on the sided yet tho.

brianwayne671

So, is that the way they are setup to be placed? Do I have them setup incorrectly?

Bri

DonCB

I run my FXi30s the same way... They are on the wall behind me... I have the woofers pointed at me ... it seemed silly to have the woofers pointed away, especially when they are run in bi-pole.

Don

thehalo8

I have mine on the back wall where my couch is too. Mine are set with the woofers going to the walls rather than the middle. They are set to Bi-pole and this is the only set up I have ever tried. They sound good to me, maybe I will play with them this weekend and switch them around.

Mike

DonCB

Well if you had them on the side walls a little behind you the woofers would be aimed at you.....

Don

brianwayne671

D*mn, this sure is confusing eh?

jkratzer

I emailed Polk on this and here is their response:

Hello James,
Most folks prefer, and we agree, the best way to mount the f/xi series is to have the side with the larger mid range driver facing into the listening area. So to answer your question, yes, you will want to reverse the speakers, the bi-pole setting is correct.

Sincerely,
Lauren
Polk Audio

Airplay355

im switching them right now lol....thanks for the info

brianwayne671

Hey Airplay, I'm curious. How do they sound now compared to before? Hey Kratz, looks like we're neighbors!

Bri

eclypse

Originally posted by jkratzer
I emailed Polk on this and here is their response:

Hello James,
Most folks prefer, and we agree, the best way to mount the f/xi series is to have the side with the larger mid range driver facing into the listening area. So to answer your question, yes, you will want to reverse the speakers, the bi-pole setting is correct.

Sincerely,
Lauren
Polk Audio

Thats the way they explain it in the manual.. the right way.

danger boy

this is how i have mine set up from day uno.. and it sounds incredible. I have friends who come over to hear my system.. and they can't believe how good the surrounds sound. Most of them use direct forward firing speakers for surrounds.

Mine are the older version of your's. FX/300i to be exact.

anyhoo. i run mine in bi-pole as well. here is the difference. I have mine about 2.5 to 3ft above my listening position. except mine are placed on the side wall slightly behind me. (I couldn't mount them on the back wall. because of one big **** window).

reason for this.. the front of it fires towards the front of the room.. and the rear tweeter fires into the back wall.. and bounces off. the surround sound effect is fantasic. Once i set them up about 3 yrs ago. they never needed any other adjustments... except a good dusting once a month.

happy happy joy joy!

Airplay355

i was thinking about doing that and maybe placing a center in because my receiver is 6.1 but i already hung them up this way and honestly i think my room it too small for 6.1, especially how i have it setup with my furniture.

well they definitely sound different with the mids facing inwards...im not sure if i like it yet. i might switch it back to see which one is more to my liking.

the differences is that you hear more of the surround midrange sounds. im guessing they dont bounce around as well as the high sounds so they might just be lost when the mid woofers are facing outwards.

it seems to bring alittle more attention to the surrounds but i think thats where im sitting more then anything, i dont have my couch in yet so to be in the middle of my system i have to sit on a chest direcrtly under my speakers...the couch will be alitle farther into the room and as soon as i move to the middle of the room it sounds better.

if you wanna really listen to your surrounds watch a movie like signs, or the part in the lion king where simba burps when hes with timone and pumba.

good luck with your speakers

donahue

I think most people get confused by what is meant by left and right when positioning surround speakers. The speaker marked L should go to your left from the sitting position, not looking at the back wall. So if your surrounds are on the back wall, the speaker marked L should fire over your left shoulder and the speaker marked R should fire over your right shoulder. The best placement is also 2-3 feet above your listening position (seated).

My 2 cents

brianwayne671

Actually Donahue, they are labeled just the way you described. To have the mids facing inward you must do the opposite of that. In other words, the R speaker firing over your left shoulder and the L speaker firing over your right. That's the reason for all the confusion.

Bri

Airplay355

we are in a polk forum, we are always confused about something lol

scottvamp

1)Most of you guys have a 5 channel set up.
2)In a 5 channel set up when using a di-pole type speaker they are supposed to be at the SIDES of you NOT in the back.
3)According to polk in the side configuration the driver should be facing forward. This will "bounce" the sound on to the front stage and back to the listener. I have read a more detailed reason but can't remember right now. A two sided di-pole (especially one with a driver only on one side) is not going to sound anything like a direct radiating speaker. It is suppose to create a spacious ambient sound field (rain , crikets chirping, birds). With a 6/7 channel setup you get the best of both worlds using direct in the rear and di-pole on the sides.

However what ever sounds best to you is what YOUR HT is all about.

I have a typical 7 channel setup with fx500 (di-pole) at the sides of the theater and rt35's in the rear.

Hope this helps the confusion.

jkratzer

Originally posted by brianwayne671
Actually Donahue, they are labeled just the way you described. To have the mids facing inward you must do the opposite of that. In other words, the R speaker firing over your left shoulder and the L speaker firing over your right. That's the reason for all the confusion.

Bri

Agreed. I have the speaker labeled "R" firing over my left shoulder and the speaker labeled "L" firing over my right shoulder. This causes the midwoofer to be facing the audience with the speakers behind me in bipole mode.

donahue

This is not the way that Polk recommends placing these speakers, based on the manual. Here is what the manual states for the FXi30/50:

One FXi speaker is the “left” channel speaker, and
the other is the “right” channel speaker. The serial number label identifies which speaker is
which [figure 2]. The “left” surround speaker should be placed on the left side of the room as you
face the front of the room. The type of surround processor you use will influence your placement
and bi-pole/di-pole switching choices

Does this only apply if the speakers are to the sides? My couch is only about 3 inches from the back wall. What would be the best placement for this setup (it's 5.1 only) ? I do not have the ability to put the speakers to the side. Which setting would be best, bipole or dipole? In this setup, should the left speaker go on the right and vice-versa?

scottvamp

That is correct left speaker left side and the driver will face forward or outside in the rear. In the rear the driver sound will bounce of the side wall and back into the middle of the room depending on how close to the wall the speaker is. This once again creates a DIFFUSED sound. The way a surround speaker is supose to sound in a home theater. Some people like a more direct sound (reason being is it just simply seems LOUDER).
Once again it is all about personal preference.
Direct (bi-pole) is much more perferred for muti channel music listening. Therefor Polk gives you a switch to chose either or.

jkratzer

Originally posted by scottvamp
That is correct left speaker left side and the driver will face forward or outside in the rear. In the rear the driver sound will bounce of the side wall and back into the middle of the room depending on how close to the wall the speaker is. This once again creates a DIFFUSED sound. The way a surround speaker is supose to sound in a home theater. Some people like a more direct sound (reason being is it just simply seems LOUDER).
Once again it is all about personal preference.
Direct (bi-pole) is much more perferred for muti channel music listening. Therefor Polk gives you a switch to chose either or.

Bipole also works better on the back wall if the seating position is almost against the back wall to provide a more diffuse sound. Direct radiators don't have an opportunity to speard the sound out well enough in this situation. This is my situation.

brianwayne671

Hey Airplay, you seem to have tried both methods. Which did you prefer?

Bri

thehalo8

My couch is also only a few inches from the wall, and I have the FXs on the back wall behind me in Bi-pole. In my last place my couch was more in the middle of the room, and the FXs were further apart (they sounded awesome). But now I own a home and have to make sacrifices to my HT for my wife’s sake. Even though they are much closer together, they still sound good.

Before I installed the FXs I used ladders and books to put them at different height levels till I found the height that sounded the best. Then I put my wires up through the wall, through the attic, and down inside the wall and out where the speakers were to be place (that was a ****!!). Conveniently as it turned out the best sounding location for my speakers, the top of the speakers are level with the window which added a nice touch. I will switch my speakers this weekend to the woofers facing in, and give my feedback next week.