Front presence or no?

[Squishman]

I have my system set up in 5.1 at the moment. Speakers are fronts: Klipsch R-28F, Klipsch center, Rear surrounds are amazing homemade speakers in Minimus 77 cabs. I do not have a good spot for middle surrounds. I have a nice pair of souped up walnut Minimus 7's that are currently not being used. But I am considering using them as a front presence option. My questions is would it be a good set up if the m7's sit on top of my fronts? My fronts are very close to the corners and the manual says the front presnce speakers should be 1.6' to 3.3' outside of the fronts. No room for that. If I should definitely not place them on top, how about a couple feet (or more or less?) above them on the back wall, which is approx 32" back from the front edge of them. Or just forgo the fp idea and continue with my awesome sounding 5.1?

 

[Joe B]

When I upgraded last year I looked into 7.1, Atmos, etc. With the small size of my room (1400 cubic feet) I decided to just replace my 5.1 system with a better 5.1 system. The fact that I am not able to take advantage of all the latest formats when watching movies does not bother me that much. I still get to fully experience multi-channel SACD playback. If your 5.1 system is "awesome sounding" as you say, relax and enjoy it. Don't stress over it.

 

[Squishman]

Thx Joe. I'll probably take your advise and leave it as is.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Iirc, front presence are to go directly above about 3'. Front wides would go as mentioned outside of the mains. I've seen plenty of people enjoying front height speakers. Even more than rear surrounds. I went rear surround since I had enough room behind the LP. Almost 6'. If you have the speakers, go for it. If you don't like it, take em down.

 

[Squishman]

So William, I am really glad you replied. I decided to try them. I put them 3' just above the mains. Then configured the system and tried them out. I like it a lot! It makes my fronts sound 7' tall. Just terrific.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Nice!!! I've been tempted but having 7.3 has taxed my waf. We're planning a redo so hopefully....atmos.
Btw, glad you took the chance and glad it worked!

 

[Squishman]

The newly mounted speakers are walnut Minimus 7's (4" woofers). Or at least they used to be. The only thing original are the cabinets and the woofers, which are good ones. I bought a rebuild kit famous on ebay and he sold me much improved tweeters to go with them. My rears were Minimus 77's (5" woofers). Bought a 77 rebuild kit from him with the same tweeters and metal coned woofers. They push a tremendous amount of air. They used to be my mains.

edit: "were" meaning the only thing original are the cabs.

 

[Pogre]

Front height, huh? I've read folks like it better than rear surrounds. I have 2 extra sets of speakers..

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Front height, huh? I've read folks like it better than rear surrounds. I have 2 extra sets of speakers..

Go for it poges!!! At least that's free. Waf payment notwithstanding. Lol

 

[Squishman]

How do I get my receiver to play just the mains and the front presence speakers with music? "straight" and "2 ch stereo" won't do it. If I click "7 ch stereo" they come on of course, but I don't want the center on.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Good question. Not sure you can. What's your receiver? 7Ch stereo is annoying to me, but sometimes I like Pro logic IIx. In your case that would be PLIIz. In my avr, you can shift the sound field in pro logic to the front more if you don't like how the rears add to the sound.

 

[Squishman]

It is a Yamaha RX-A1060. I'll just check to see if I can do that in Pro Logic, but I don't have Pro Logic! That surprises me, but that's cool. I never used it with my previous receivers since Dolby Digital came in vogue. Doubt that that would've worked anyway.

 

[Squishman]

Listening to music from my iPod, if I have it on 7 ch stereo, what is actually coming through in the center channel? My system just sounds great with music in 7 ch. But like I said, I'd prefer if I could do it w/o the center. I am sort of a purist to some extent, so 2 channel should be up my alley. I just like the sound of the whole room with good quality speakers all around! But what is happening in the center? I can imagine, or hope that the whole left side is left and the whole r is r in 7 ch. Thanks.
ps, so you don't have to scroll up, I have Klipsch R-28f for fronts and great bookshelf speakers for front presence and ditto for the rear surrounds

 

[Pogre]

Listening to music from my iPod, if I have it on 7 ch stereo, what is actually coming through in the center channel? My system just sounds great with music in 7 ch. But like I said, I'd prefer if I could do it w/o the center. I am sort of a purist to some extent, so 2 channel should be up my alley. I just like the sound of the whole room with good quality speakers all around! But what is happening in the center? I can imagine, or hope that the whole left side is left and the whole r is r in 7 ch. Thanks.
ps, so you don't have to scroll up, I have Klipsch R-28f for fronts and great bookshelf speakers for front presence and ditto for the rear surrounds

My son used to insist multi channel stereo sounded better to him. One day we sat down to listen and he said, "I just like the way multi channel fills the room". I replied by turning the volume up to -5 (extremely loud with my system) and asking "does it fill the room enough now?". He nodded his head yes.

Most music is recorded and mastered in 2.0 stereo. IMO, multi channel totally messes up the imaging, soundstage and makes my music sound... odd? I might run multi channel for a party or something, but never to sit and listen.

 

[Squishman]

I like to listen whilst lifting weights. I have weights in my home theater room. Multi-use room. ha. But I get that as far as what is intended in stereo recording. If I am sitting and listening, my recliner is in the primo spot. That is when I do prefer 2 ch.
But what is in that center channel in 7 ch? Just a mix of L and R I assume. Sucks. Love to turn that off.
Anything detrimental if I just unplug one of the banana plugs from it when listing to music? Of course, I am savvy enough to not let them touch anything if unplugged. Haven't tried that yet. Any issues with that idea? Of course this is assuming that left 3 are left and r 3 are r in 7 ch.

 

[Pogre]

I like to listen whilst lifting weights. I have weights in my home theater room. Multi-use room. ha. But I get that as far as what is intended in stereo recording. If I am sitting and listening, my recliner is in the primo spot. That is when I do prefer 2 ch.
But what is in that center channel in 7 ch? Just a mix of L and R I assume. Sucks. Love to turn that off.
Anything detrimental if I just unplug one of the banana plugs from it when listing to music? Of course, I am savvy enough to not let them touch anything if unplugged. Haven't tried that yet. Any issues with that idea? Of course this is assuming that left 3 are left and r 3 are r in 7 ch.

I assume the same. It probably sums l/r to the center channel. Have you tried just unplugging it?

 

[Squishman]

Just unplugged it. Easy fix! This'll be better for stereo imaging. Just gotta remember to plug it back in afterwards.

 

[Squishman]

For listening to music. I've changed my mind. I like 2 ch stereo (the way things ought to be!) much better than full system with the center unplugged. For TV, movies or Netflix though, full system of course.