Rear Back Surround Speaker Dilema...

Hunter30g

The Home Theater room is a bonus room above the garage measuring 33X13.
It is set up across the short dimension. 60" Sony rear projection with CS2 center, Monitor 60 left and right, Monitor 40 rears, 12" sub. We veiw the TV on a futon only a foot off the opposing wall because of the minimum veiwing distance to the TV. My question is what can I do for rear back surrounds? I have thought I might be able to put them on the floor behind the futon firing up. The room has 42" knee walls and then angles up to the ceiling at about a 30 degree angle. The other option I have considered was to use inwall speakers for the rears. I am assuming the speakers can be calibrated for the close proximity to the listener. Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Early B.

Why bother with it? A 5.1 setup should be sufficient, especially if your seating position is only 1 ft. off the back wall.

wingnut4772

Put them on the floor and see how you like the sound. I would think that would give you a nice ambient effect. If you dont like it, you can always go with plan B.

Early B.

Guess what? A speaker on the floor sounds like it's coming from the floor. That's a lousy position for a rear bookshelf speaker. To make matters worse, it's gonna be positioned behind the futon, and the futon is 1 ft. from the wall. Forget about soundstage, imaging, etc.

You can try it, and you may like it initially because it provides additional "information" in the rear. After a couple of weeks unhook it. I'll bet you're gonna prefer the 5.1 setup.

PolkWannabie

Are they bookshelves ? or bi/dipole's ?

Another option would be to put them off the ends of the futon facing in ... especially if they are bi/di's

wingnut4772

Early B. wrote:

Guess what? A speaker on the floor sounds like it's coming from the floor. That's a lousy position for a rear bookshelf speaker. To make matters worse, it's gonna be positioned behind the futon, and the futon is 1 ft. from the wall. Forget about soundstage, imaging, etc.

You can try it, and you may like it initially because it provides additional "information" in the rear. After a couple of weeks unhook it. I'll bet you're gonna prefer the 5.1 setup.

I think he should try it and see how it sounds.

Schwingding

I like the suggestion for sticking with 5.1. I have 7.1 but rarely notice the rears engaged. Occasionally I do, but I wouldn't miss it if they weren't there.

As for which speakers and where, how about in the ceiling firing down? Several of the polk in wall speakers have tweeters that can be aimed - you might aim them at the back wall so they bounce off and aren't so easily identified as coming from the ceiling.

scottvamp

Why in the hell do people on this forum keep suggesting that 7 channel is useless?
Especially never having the setup themselves.............
I went from 5 to 6 to 7 about four years ago and never looked back. The rear channels never engaging is total ****. It works just like a 5 channel setup. Except now you have sound effects coming from the sides and behind you. Almost all 7 channel pres and recieves send a matrixed signal to the rear surround channels being used all the time. You basicly get 7 channel sound with ALL movies. Having DTS ES Discret 6 channel is a nice treat also.;)
Now you are enveloped in full "360" surround sound. For me 5 channel setups have something missing.

EDIT:Pasted for new thread, dissussion.

wingnut4772

I agree. 7.1 is a big step above 5.1 if you have PLIIX or 6.1 material

scottvamp

wingnut4772 wrote:

I agree. 7.1 is a big step above 5.1 if you have PLIIX or 6.1 material

Both my pre/reciever are at least 4-5 years old and they both use the rear channels along with the sides perfectly.
And i would think with the newer units they have even better more advanced DSP's.

Early B.

scottvamp wrote:

Why in the hell do people on this forum keep suggesting that 7 channel is useless?

A 7.1 setup makes sense IF you have the space for it. Most people don't. Hunter's seating position is on the back wall, so where the hell is he gonna put rear speakers? The fact that he's even considering putting a rear speaker on the floor suggests a lack of good options, and doing so would obviously be far less than optimal. Mr. Dolby would piss on anyone that did that.:eek:

I went from 5.1 to 7.1, then back to 5.1 because it sounded better in my room, and my seating position is also on the back wall.

I agreed with wingnut -- try it and see if it works. It's the only way you're gonna know for sure.

DarrylD

This is probably a typical rookie HT question: in a 5.1 setup, the rear speakers are positioned directly to the L/R of the seating area, and when you go 7.1, there are an additional pair of speakers positioned behind the seating area. Correct?

scottvamp

33 feet is not long/big enough for 7 channel....................:rolleyes:

Early B.

scottvamp wrote:

33 feet is not long/big enough for 7 channel....................:rolleyes:

He said his setup was along the short wall which is 13 ft.