Rear surround 5.1 slanted ceiling placement

Ankhman

Hi there,

I recently moved, and my new 5.1 home theater room has a slanted ceiling that starts 3' from the floor. My couch will be against this wall facing the TV on the opposite, slanted ceiling wall. I have no problems with placing my Polk front and center channel speakers, but after lots of forum searching I have been unable to find a suggestion for placement/settings for my rear LS/FX speakers. Should I mount them flush on the slanted ceiling (and therefore at the angle of the ceiling) to the left and right of the couch above ear level, or on the rear wall at ear level (can't be any higher because of the slant), or is there something else I'm not thinking of? I am unable to place them on the side walls directly to the right and left of the couch for various reasons. Should I set the speakers to Bipole or dipole? The room is relatively small (around 18x16). I am stumped! I am hoping you friendly folks here at the Polk forums can help me, you've been so great in the past. Please let me know if you need any additional info.

Much thanks!
Jeff~

Ankhman

Hi there! Thanks for the speedy response.

Hehe yeah, my move was not really a 'by choice' situation. I'm one of the many bankrupt, foreclosed people. So my living situation is very much catch as catch can. This comfortable, slanty room is what I have to work with.

We haven't moved our furniture in yet, so pictures wouldn't give you a very accurate depiction of where things are situated. We're moving stuff in Monday, at which point I can post pics.

The whole bankrupt thing means I have very limited cash to work with, so speaker stands are probably not an option at this point. I'm looking for the best wall-mount situation I can come up with in my limited space. I figured since the LS/FX speakers are side-firing, that they might actually work mounted flush to the slanted ceiling with some good wall anchors, but not knowing much about speaker placement (I love my sound but I'm not very informed), I came here for more info.

I'll post pics on Monday eve after we get everything moved in.

Thanks again!
Jeff~

kuntasensei

If it's a 5.1 setup, the surrounds are supposed to go on the side walls, not on the back wall. There are no rear surrounds in 5.1. Just sayin'.

Ankhman

Hmmmm.. the manual for the Polk LS/FX speakers specifies a side mount and a rear mount solution for the model. Are you sure about that?

kuntasensei

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

I mean... you CAN mount them anywhere you want. But as far as proper placement for 5.1, Dolby dictates sidewall placement, 90-110 degrees from the listening position.

Ankhman

Thanks for taking the time to chat about this with me.

Ok, I've seen that film.. but the LS/FX speakers are side-firing and bi-dipolar switchable. I think they're designed to be used either to the sides or to the back. Here, check this from the Polksters:

http://www.polkaudio.com/education/tech_article.php?id=27

So ultimately this is why I want to know if I'm ok mounting them in the bipole position shown in that link, but on a slanted ceiling instead of against a flat wall. The more I think about this I suppose I should just try it and see how it sounds. OR maybe I should just shop at Walmart for a few weeks and buy a decent set of speaker stands for proper side placement.

In any case, thanks for the feedback!

Jeff~

kuntasensei

If you're happy with them in the rear, that's fine. I was just wondering.

BMR

I have wall mounted LS/fx speakers set in a dipole configuration. They are less than 2 feet behind my listening position and sound great. In case you are interested, I have some (Polk LS/fx) speaker stands that I originally purchased that I am no longer using if you are interested in purchasing...

dpowell

Dipole is less directional than bipole. Polk recommends dipole for HT. Bipole would be a better option for multi-channel audio like SACD. The higher you can mount the speakers, the less directional they will seem when watching movies. If you have the time, experiment with them on the sides and the rear to see which works best for your situation.