Rear speaker placement (seating in alcove)... help!

Ste · 8 Mar 2016 at 19:52

Hi all,

I have a slightly oddly shaped room in my upstairs that I am using for a makeshift home cinema. I might do it properly one day, but for now it's an old couch and some second hand gear. I did however get permission to paint the whole thing matt black which helped the picture quite a bit!

On saturday I am picking up a Pioneer LX83 which I believes has good calibration etc. which will hopefully help. I have Dali Ikon 6's at the front (and a vokal 2 centre, not shown in the picture) and a pair of Mission M77DS dipole for the rear. The question is where should I place the rear speakers given that -

i. The couch is quite near the wall (but I could move it forward a foot or so)
ii. The right hand seat of the couch is central to the screen (despite the crap drawing!) which is where I'd like it to stay
iii. The alcove prevents the rears from being aligned with the fronts

Options I can think of -

i. Align the left rear with the left front and the right rear as far to the right as it'll go?
ii. Have the left rear and right rear as far apart as possible and let the calibration figure it out
iii. Other?

Also - how high should they be relative to the couch?

I am open to widening the front stereo pair if that would help, but I think that any offset vs. the screen would look odd so probably not going to go there. Long term I might knock the alcove out but that's not an option for now!

Here are some pics, any help appreciated! Excuse the quality, the iphone struggled in the dark.

flame696 · 8 Mar 2016 at 23:24

I would move the couch in line with the door and then place the rears on the left and right wall so they are in line with the fronts

lude1962 · 8 Mar 2016 at 23:27

this is the guide you need to look at

Lowe · 9 Mar 2016 at 07:19

In case you're not aware, in a 5.1 array the surrounds are not meant to be directly behind you as per your drawing. They should be just behind but mainly to the side of you - approx 110 degrees.

robfosters · 9 Mar 2016 at 16:26

flame696 said:
I would move the couch in line with the door and then place the rears on the left and right wall so they are in line with the fronts

Pretty much this. Very rough sketch. You also have rear space available for 7.1 if you ever want to expand.

flame696 · 10 Mar 2016 at 14:54

Thats exactly i was trying to say. What you can do with the space behind the couch is add a couple more speaker for 7.1 or have a nice area for all you blurays etc

Ste · 10 Mar 2016 at 19:42

Thanks for the sketch!

The problem is that the couch is then too close to the screen.

I think the longer term would be to square off the room but don't have the budget or inclination for that at the moment. M

For now I can move the couch up a couple of foot to get away from the back wall and will have to hope the dipole speakers help a bit in that area too.

vila · 10 Mar 2016 at 23:01

Ste said:
Thanks for the sketch!

The problem is that the couch is then too close to the screen.

.

How big is your screen - its always difficult to tell from a picture?

Ste · 11 Mar 2016 at 07:42

Hi

It's 100" 16/9. I think there may be people who sit that close but I can't, makes my eyes hurt!

vila · 11 Mar 2016 at 14:49

Ste said:
Hi

It's 100" 16/9. I think there may be people who sit that close but I can't, makes my eyes hurt!

The THX guidelines would put the ideal viewing position at 3 meters for a 100" screen (its roughly the same idea as sitting in the middle of the cinema)

Which looking at your floorplan is pretty much bang in line with the door - might be worth moving the sofa out and preserving with a film to see if you can get on with it, and to allow you the option of rear surround speakers for 7.1 is an option a lot of people would really want.

Richeh · 11 Mar 2016 at 16:49

Setup looks very nice mate

As some have said above they are not actually rear speakers but side speakers. Put them at either side of the couch and they should be fine. Height wise, ear level or 10-20cm above but due to the distance would recommend ear level.

Looking at your diagram your actual issue with the couch there will be the Front Right to Side Right transition of sound may be broken due to the alcove (ie a sound effect from C-FL-SL would be seamless but C-FR**-**SR may not be 'as' seamless). You can combat this with good room calibration software which will be down to your receiver and good sub placement. Make sure you do the knee crawl to find the right spot

Ste · 14 Mar 2016 at 20:05

Thanks mate.

Got it all setup this weekend. Very impressed with general ambiance etc. But yes transitions are a bit obvious. However the mic I got with it didn't work so hoping to source a replacement and run the calibration. Will report back!