How high should my rear surround speakers be? (Stand recommendations)

[Bearjamin]

I'm looking to stand mount a pair of Q Acoustics 2010i as rear surround speakers and wondering how tall the stands should be.

On the one hand, logically ear level is optimal height and that's what most sources suggest. However, that hight would mean the speaker is partially blocked by the back of the sofa.

The other option is getting a taller stand that will let the speaker clear the rear of the sofa, but then it's not going to be at listening level as recommended.

I'm my case, an 80cm stand with the 30cm tall speakers would be at listening level (Pixel T80 seems good). But a 100cm stand would let the speaker clear the back of the sofa (Atacama Nexus 10i possibly).

Or does none of this matter too much if your AVR has room EQ optimisation? Will that adjust well enough accordingly? I'm planning on getting a Marantz with Audyssey (I need a slim AVR).

Interested to hear anyone's experience and recommendations. Ideally, in either case I want a decently weighted stand without worrying about toppling over and with cable management (I have a cat).

Thanks

 

[lucid]

Who are these "most sources", and how credible is their advice?

Let's start with the basics. For 5.1 surround, the speakers nearest the prime listening position are side surround rather than rear surround. The speakers should be somewhere between level with the listener, or just slightly further back. They're not rear surrounds as in 'definitely behind the listener.'

When you get to 7.1, that's when you have the opportunity to have rear speakers. These ones do live behind the listener.


The height of any surround speakers depends on the speaker type, the clear line of sight, and the space available.

For a domestic installation, there are two choices of speaker type for surround duties. They're either monopole such as your Q Acoustics which means they fire straight forward, or they're diffuse such as dipole or bipole speakers. Diffuse speakers create a more enveloping surround field. Either monopole diffuse will work in a 5.1/7.1 surround system. Diffuse are useful in typical British living rooms and home cinemas where the closest seating position may be under a metre from a surround speaker.

Monopoles are a better choice if the intension is to add height speakers for Dolby ATMOS and DTS-X. The reason is that the surround channel sound track is mastered in a different way; so rather than being a sound field it's actually a collage of individually placed sound objects. In order for these to appear in the correct space then it's better if the speakers are able to image with some precision.

Coming back to your question about height, the first requirement is that there's a clear line of sight from your ears to the speakers. Second, the speakers should ape the height set-up typically used in the audio suites in post-production. For this, the surround speakers should be above ear height. Recommendations do vary, but roughly 1ft (apprx 30cm) is an acceptable compromise.

Remember that thing about clear line of sight? Well, if the speaker were at ear height, and you were the person sitting closest to it, then your head would be blocking the sound for the person sitting next to you, and possibly theirs blocking the sound for you from the opposite speaker. Having the speakers above everyone's head height means there's a better chance of an even sound field reaching everyone.

 

[Bearjamin]

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. I admit I used the wrong nomenclature. I do mean surround speakers for 5.1 setup (to the side and slightly back of mlp) rather than rear surround 7.1.

I think that 'clear line of sight' comment makes the decision easier. I guess I didn't really think about other people's heads blocking sound from the speaker!

Thank you for your insight