Surround Speaker Placement

wolves10

I've recently finished everything for the audio part of my home entertainment centre. . . I've been buying things seperately... and even made my surround speakers. Despite what lots of people say about making their own speakers, they sound really really good. They have 10" 250w pyramid originals, 40-25k HZ, and the tweeters are your radioshack special.

Now my question.. i've read that rear surround speakers should be placed at ear level, pointed TOWARDs the listener.. the speakers are pretty large and heavy though.. (about 2 1/2 feet tall) well, there not huge but I havent seen stands or anything for these type of speakers

im not sure where i should place them.. should i make a type of cabinet that they can sit on. (easy enough. . . carpentry is a hobby) or tilt them up towards the listener.. im not sure what to do.. if anyone doesnt know what im talking about.. which im sure you dont.. ill post some pics of my problem if you need them..

CSi30
4 custom 10" surround speakers
panasonic SB-WA100
panasonic SA-HE70 Reciever

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

if your a carpenter, id recomend, build two identical shelves, put them directly behind u or directly beside u

wolves10

ok.
that i can do, but once they are on the cabinet thing, which direction should they be aimed?
(they would have to be directly beside me..room isnt big enough to have anything behind the couch)

...should they be blasting right towards me, or towards the front of the room.. i've actually seen both of these ways done in friend's home theatres but i'm not sure which way to actually do it.
thanks

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

im telling ya, just put them on the side walls - or u could try infront of u...before u put the shelves up, place the speaker on various spots on the wall to see which sounds best to u..

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

I use to have my surrounds in front, if u have a small room - u wont notice the difference

ohh yeah, welcome to the forum, beware its addictive

wolves10

oh theres plenty of room to place the speakers on either side of the couch... they dont need to be in front of me..
is that what you mean?
you still havent really answered which way the speaker should be pointed.. oh.. see what sounds best..
hmm.. what direction are the speakers (rear surrounds) aimed in the majority of home theatres? like towards the tv, straight forward, or straight toward the listener

and mount them on the walls? hmm i dont think that will work. i was thinking more along the lines of making an actual cabinet thing.. like a stand.. yeah.. a stand :S

thanks for the welcome. . . and yeah i can see how i just might be here often.
thanks for your responses too

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

- oh theres plenty of room to place the speakers on either side of the couch... they dont need to be in front of me..
is that what you mean?
you still havent really answered which way the speaker should be pointed.. oh.. see what sounds best..
hmm.. what direction are the speakers (rear surrounds) aimed in the majority of home theatres? like towards the tv, straight forward, or straight toward the listener

and mount them on the walls? hmm i dont think that will work. i was thinking more along the lines of making an actual cabinet thing.. like a stand.. yeah.. a stand :S

thanks for the welcome. . . and yeah i can see how i just might be here often.
thanks for your responses too -

If you have plenty of room on each side of the room, build stands - and put them there..lol! Then if it dont sound right, slowly move them along the wall until u get them to sound right...(to your ears)
My surrounds, just fire towards the mains, but my room is so small - i wish i had them firing towards each other on the side walls...In other words, towards the front of the room or to the listener (whatever sounds better to you. yeah, this place is fun - lots of 'Wise' guys here..lmao! no problem

ohh yeah, to see how others have theirs setup, look at the system showcase for a couple of examples

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

mine are mounted to the ceiling, i like the sound better than ear level because the sound is above u and it really makes it all sound around u, above u and so on

Frank Z

The surround speakers (either Side or Rear) should NOT be pointed directly at the listening position. Keep in mind that sound from the surround speakers are basically for effects and ambience. Try WWW.Dolby.com for more info or even this link;

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/advice.php?article=placement

A neat little trick is to use a couple of 6' step ladders as temporary stands and try different locations to see which sound best to you.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

listen to the old guy, i agree -- all the way wit em, hey mid ****, so your saying it bad to tie a string to each top of your speaker, hang them from ur head and let the drivers fire into ur ears? DANG! i knew that was a bad idea....well id say this, just skip all the ear level crap - and mount them suckers on the top of the wall and get it over with..lol! their out of everyone's way and they make ur entire soundstage sound really effin weird

Frank Z

Sid,
Don't forget your amazing "Belt-o-Subs" and your back pack mounted "Wall of Amps" for that real 3D effect!

Don't make me get the Stun Gun again!!

I'm warning ya!!!

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

LOL! belt-of-subs....lmao! I decided not to do that...;), but i might buy me another M&K later on down the road...

Wall-Of-Amps...well dang, i done purchased one, I got 2 more to go....lol!

******PLZ NOT THE STUN GUN*********! I PROMISE TO BE GOOD! LOL!

To go ahead and tell ya my future purchases.....
2- 2 channel adcom amps
Xbox
3 controllers
games
yeah yeah

wolves10

thanks guys for all your help.. but as much as i would want to mount these on the wall above everything.. there pretty big... i think ill go with the front firing placement.. towards the front spkrs.

hmm... just another question that comes to mind. how much of a difference would it make if these speakers were on stands, at ear level.. or just sitting on the ground... not at ear level... is it really noticable? like.. worth building stands to get these things off the ground a bit? thanks

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

it'll sound like s***! lol, the bass will over power the speakers, and treble will be flat - from what I have heard with other speakers

wolves10

hmm thats no good. heh.. i guess i need them stands...
oh and i've been reading up on www.dolby.com and.. from the little pictures it looks like the speakers are aimed directly at the listener.. heres a few examples
http://dolby.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/dolby.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=x6jNgXxg&p_lva=&p_faqid=135&p_created=1013441850&p_sp=cF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTcxJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=

(look at the pictures at the bottom)

--and yeah i cant find any more little pictures..
im now pretty confused..
aimed towards the listener?
aimed toward the ceiling?
aimed toward the floor?
aimed toward the tv?
aimed toward the back of the room?
aimed toward the window?
aimed toward the cat?
aimed toward the stain in the carpet?
aimed toward the centre of the room?

:D:D:D:D:D:D that was fun
but still.. where should these rear surrounds be aimed (on a stand which yet have to be made).. ear level... bleh.
thanks

scottvamp

wolves10, I try not to damge people - much. But your $150 Panasonic reciever won't "move" those 10" 250w pyramid originals which are probably 4 ohm anyway. The distortion and actual power on the rear channels of that reciever would make a bose cube sound even worse. Sorry but huge waste of money man. You say u made 4 of these things, are you using the other two as mains? Honestly I am not being mean just want to HELP.
A very cheap set of satillite spreakers would have done a fine job for ya. Hope you are not compinsating for lack of bass responce because a better sub would have fixed that problem. Anyway - hope ya find what your looking for.

scottvamp

MxStYlEpOlKmAn, that sure is a cute little bedroom. Hey did Mom decorate your room for ya? Very Manly!!

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

the wall-paper was picked out by me.....7 years ago! the posters and junk were picked out by me.....if u want to take the wallpaper down, then reconnect my shelves, then all my posters back up (before u do all that repaint my room), be my guest, and go right ahead and brake a leg!



ight, theres the rest of my room....well most of it....HAHAHAH

wolves10

first of all making these speakers was damn cheap.. had all the materials already.. someone gave me the speakers and stuff, all i needed to do was make them and put it all together...

i thought the same thing your thinkin right now, but thought i didnt have much to loose, so i made them, and bought the reciever.. they sounded pretty damn nice and i impressed myself a LOT.. so anyway, i invested in the subwoofer.. which btw, is a 200w dual 5 1/2"
twas 299$.. also sounds really good.. i mean.. it shakes my house..

and about "not moving" the pyramids.. i ripped the suspension in my 150w pyramid (the rears are 150, but they can go lower than the mains) im lucky i had a spare.. (that was an accident btw, turned on music while reciever was at 0db)

and right now, when i turn it up.. i should send you a movie on how much they "dont move"...
either you have an explanation for this, or you think im lying.. but either way ive gotten good out of my money.. havent noticed any problems or anything

oh, and when ive got it cranked up.. theres little to no distortion

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

yeah, thats what my subwoofer said....

wolves10

???
that was weird,,,, MxStYlEpOlKmAn

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

old **** over there is mixed up - if u have a 7.1 setup, u want di/bi-pole on the sides, and regular speakers in the back - but u want the surrounds, in my opinion firing at you if they were ear level, then calibrate it where u dont hear it as much! but I just skipped all that junk, and hung them on the wall! lol! Just build stands, then connect the stands on the walls (make sure there is a 1/4 inch strip higher than the floor of the stand so the speaker dosnt vibrate off) and hang it at the ceiling, im telling ya - it'll skip all the confusion and frustration..

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

Originally posted by wolves10
???
that was weird,,,, MxStYlEpOlKmAn

my subwoofer sounded fine, no distortion - then it blew...sad story, cost me 82.50...

wolves10

haha i see...
well.. mine doesnt sound fine it sounds great :P
but yeah thats weird.. did you have it cranked up to a crazy volume or anything?
ok.. ill do that then will have to make some stands or something..

82.50? hmm well this sub was 299 USD which makes it like 500CND maybe theres a difference there

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

speaking of shelves, i got to get a equipment rack made for my adcom....i have NO where to put it....unless it'll fit on my current shelf.....BACK TO THE DRAWING board

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

my sub is an M&K, i had it half way in volume, -33.00 on receiver playing good ol eminem, and his POS recording FINALLY kicked in

my subwoofer is also 14 years old...

wolves10

oh.. just reading at
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/faqad/advice.php?article=placement

looks like you were right.. preferably have speakers mounted on the walls, aimed directly towards eachother, over the listeners heads.. well, i cant mount on the walls, and i dont think im willing to make a stand 4-5-6 ft high.. so i guess ear level, or just above will do....

wolves10

yeah.. i dont have a TV for this audio setup yet, but when i do i dont think the stand that comes with the tv im looking at will be big enough to house all my audio equiptment.. here comes another project...

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

lol, i really need sleep -- If your really desperate, order wall mounts, that can hold the weight of ur speakers...newayz im bored -- and speaking of a board, i just got back from the drawing board, and heres what i came up with....

well dang, i just noticed i messed up on some angles..

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

i designed a home theatre/desk unit -- cut the desk off and the HT center is huge, add shelves to the sides...and top...etc

wolves10

oh and heres a picture of my speakers...
the red, smaller ones are my rear speakers

red suspension 150 w - woofer 30hz - 4khz
dome tweeters.. im really not sure what these are, when i had them given to me, no box, nothing.. all i know is that they've stood up pretty well at high volumes for clarity and stuff

purple suspension 250w - woofer 50hz - 4khz
tweeters 4khz - 20khz (i think.. no box but it says on the back of the tweeter.. haven't seen it in a while.. its around there somewhere)

subwoofer
200W Active 20hz - 200hz

centre
CSi30 look at polkaudio.com if interested

--seems like a pretty mixed and matched setup.. but thats becasue i got the drivers and crossovers for the surrounds for free.. so i constructed the cases themselves with some wood lying around

tell me what you think
p.s i whited out the background so you couldnt see my wall paper :P > MxStYlEpOlKmAn