rears on side, but further back

[patnshan]

Hello,

My wife and I are continuing to make plans for finishing our basement. It looks like we will have one long rectangular area, about 14 feet wide, 40 feet deep. We will be using about a 14 x 18 area at one end for the theater. I realize having no back wall is not ideal, but we cannot enclose the theater area for various reasons. It needs to be open for parties and the like.

So, we will essentially have no back wall. I really wanted to have 7.1, and do not want to have towers or stand mounted speakers sitting in the middle of the room as rear surrounds. I was trying to think about how I cound do this, short of settling for 5.1.

I am likely going to use all direct firing speakers. I was thinking about putting the side surrounds on the wall facing the listening area like DD guidelines suggest. For the rears, I was thinking of mounting them further back on the side walls, maybe 4-6 feet back of the side surrounds. I would angle them inward towards the listening area so that they would act like rear surrounds, only wider apart than ideal, about 13 feet. Has anybody done this? If so, how does it work? Do you think I should just settle for 5.1? I was also considering ceiling mounting the rears, but the ceiling is not that high (8 ft) and my wife doesn't like that idea.

Thanks for any feedback. For the speakers, I am thinking about XL-S, SVS, Ascend, or HTD. I would wall mount the 4 surrounds and the center. The fronts would be on stands. I will have a 92 inch screen and projector.

Pat

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hello,

My wife and I are continuing to make plans for finishing our basement. It looks like we will have one long rectangular area, about 14 feet wide, 40 feet deep. We will be using about a 14 x 18 area at one end for the theater. I realize having no back wall is not ideal, but we cannot enclose the theater area for various reasons. It needs to be open for parties and the like.

So, we will essentially have no back wall. I really wanted to have 7.1, and do not want to have towers or stand mounted speakers sitting in the middle of the room as rear surrounds. I was trying to think about how I cound do this, short of settling for 5.1.

I am likely going to use all direct firing speakers. I was thinking about putting the side surrounds on the wall facing the listening area like DD guidelines suggest. For the rears, I was thinking of mounting them further back on the side walls, maybe 4-6 feet back of the side surrounds. I would angle them inward towards the listening area so that they would act like rear surrounds, only wider apart than ideal, about 13 feet. Has anybody done this? If so, how does it work? Do you think I should just settle for 5.1? I was also considering ceiling mounting the rears, but the ceiling is not that high (8 ft) and my wife doesn't like that idea.

Thanks for any feedback. For the speakers, I am thinking about XL-S, SVS, Ascend, or HTD. I would wall mount the 4 surrounds and the center. The fronts would be on stands. I will have a 92 inch screen and projector.

Pat

Well, since you are still planning, very good, I would suggest some doors, accordion type, perhaps, that can be opened for the full open times but can be closed off for movies? Or, rolling bi-folds, two on each side? Perhaps you could have rear speakers folding down from the ceiling for movies? Then you could take advantage or 6.1 or 7.1 setup.

 

[ScottMayo]

What I'd be tempted to do here is build a sturdy track and hang a curtain on it, one where the curtain can be pushed to the sides to have an open room for parties, and closed for movies. I'd use a heavy curtain, which would help a little with the room acoustics. And then I'd mount small speakers on tracks as well, so they could be slid out at the same time. Done cleverly, they could even be on the same track, and pulling out the curtain would slide the speakers into the correct position. Push the curtains aside, and the speakers mostly vanish into the folds of cloth.

The fact is, rear channel is not often used by movies and there usually isn't a lot of information in those channels - but when it's used you really do what it to sound behind you. You can use small speakers for the rears, because there is rarely anything needing very high fidelity back there. You can get speakers not much bigger than computer audio speakers that would get the job done - and would be easy to mount on a track.

It's not ideal - any speaker small enough to be slid on a track conveniently isn't going to give a decent low frequency response. But you'll have a sub for that. I think this has potential as a decent compromise.

 

[Johnd]

Having no back wall is far less than ideal. It is an acoustical problem. I use heavy curtains with blackout over all my doors (lots of glass) and windows in my ht. The same is a simple solution for your back wall. They can remain open at all atimes other than when you are watching a movie.

I have done exactly what you suggested (rears along the sides). While the sound is there, the effect is only partially realized. The human ear needs more separation than that in the back hemisphere. I would suggest placing them on stands behind you (whether 1, 3, 6 feet apart, any of these options behind you will give you far better spacialization than on the sides).

Finally, if you insist on mounting the rears on the sides, I would then consider not upgrading to 7.1. You will be missing much on those movies that have 6.1 es/ex, but you'll be "missing" much of it anyway if you place them on the sideall. Conversely, the added depth and spacialization offered by a 7.1 system is one I would do much for, even if that means relocating rear surrounds on stand when you have parties and the like (I am sold on 6.1+ for those movies that offer it). Cheers.

 

[patnshan]

Thanks for the feedback. I currently have my system in a room without a right side wall, and think it does OK with 5.1. I think the rear may be more of a problem.

I like the idea of a heavy curtain. That may actually look cool too (WAF). I think I could get her to go for that. As for the speakers, I was maybe thinking of some ceiling mounted orb's? Then I guess I'd have to use them for side surrounds as well.

The other thought I had is to use QS4's or QS8's in a 5.1 setup, but without the rear wall, they have nothing to bounce to sound off of.

Pat