Computer room 5.1 layout and vertical position of speakers
I currently have a 5.1 setup in my living room that I'm very happy with. All the speakers are on stands and at the proper locations. I want to also have a 5.1 layout in my computer room but am having considerable difficulty figuring out how I'll lay it out... mainly due to the differences between viewing positions, walls, etc.
Having a couch 10 feet away from the wall makes it very easy to lay out the 5.1 in the living room. Left, center, and right all go against the wall and the surrounds go on stands next to the couch (just like in the Dolby diagrams). But stands wouldn't work very well for the computer room, I don't think. The computer desk is naturally against a wall. For the front speakers, if I put them on stands they'd be too far "back" (almost even with my listening position instead of pushed forward as they should be). Wall-mount seems to make the most sense to get them as far forward as possible, but I probably would have to mount them about 6 feet off the ground to make it work with my room layout. For surrounds, stands definitely would be awkward since they'd have to just sit in the middle of the room behind my chair and that would just look stupid and I'd run into the stands and trip over the wires all the time. So I could wall-mount them too, but one problem there is that my desk has to be perfectly centered in the room for that to work (probably not a problem where I live now, but I want my setup to be move-proof since I move a lot).
So if I did wall-mount all speakers at about 6 feet high, would that be a problem? I could angle them downward, but I'm afraid of the soundfield seeming too high (though I know they make ceiling speakers for home theaters so maybe it'd be ok). I can't seem to think of any better options though. The distances are going to be all messed up too... the surrounds will be much further from my head than the fronts, but I can adjust the levels to compensate for that I guess.
The main motivation for this is surround gaming.
Having a couch 10 feet away from the wall makes it very easy to lay out the 5.1 in the living room. Left, center, and right all go against the wall and the surrounds go on stands next to the couch (just like in the Dolby diagrams). But stands wouldn't work very well for the computer room, I don't think. The computer desk is naturally against a wall. For the front speakers, if I put them on stands they'd be too far "back" (almost even with my listening position instead of pushed forward as they should be). Wall-mount seems to make the most sense to get them as far forward as possible, but I probably would have to mount them about 6 feet off the ground to make it work with my room layout. For surrounds, stands definitely would be awkward since they'd have to just sit in the middle of the room behind my chair and that would just look stupid and I'd run into the stands and trip over the wires all the time. So I could wall-mount them too, but one problem there is that my desk has to be perfectly centered in the room for that to work (probably not a problem where I live now, but I want my setup to be move-proof since I move a lot).
So if I did wall-mount all speakers at about 6 feet high, would that be a problem? I could angle them downward, but I'm afraid of the soundfield seeming too high (though I know they make ceiling speakers for home theaters so maybe it'd be ok). I can't seem to think of any better options though. The distances are going to be all messed up too... the surrounds will be much further from my head than the fronts, but I can adjust the levels to compensate for that I guess.
The main motivation for this is surround gaming.