Least worst option for connecting existing speakers wireless for rear surround

[Linwood]

How do you intend to connect them, as surrounds or rear surrounds?

Surrounds if I understand the term correctly.

 

[everettT]

Surrounds if I understand the term correctly.

That would be the correct output but they typically aren't behind the listener but to the sides. I know you're dealing with compromises,.let us know your impressions when you're hooked up!

 

[Linwood]

That would be the correct output but they typically aren't behind the listener but to the sides. I know you're dealing with compromises,.let us know your impressions when you're hooked up!

I can put them out beside the couch (which is where one would normally sit). Thanks for that, I'll plan accordingly.

I may move the subwoofer back there also, as these will handle it, though my understanding is its location is fairly moot. But it might help hide an outlet and some wire I already have for the table lamp.

What I'm thinking I need to get though is another smart outlet so I can turn it off if the main receiver is off (not sure I can tell that either but I can tell if the TV is on or off and have it power off or on accordingly). But that's downstream if it all works.

 

[everettT]

I can put them out beside the couch (which is where one would normally sit). Thanks for that, I'll plan accordingly.

I may move the subwoofer back there also, as these will handle it, though my understanding is its location is fairly moot. But it might help hide an outlet and some wire I already have for the table lamp.

What I'm thinking I need to get though is another smart outlet so I can turn it off if the main receiver is off (not sure I can tell that either but I can tell if the TV is on or off and have it power off or on accordingly). But that's downstream if it all works.

Subwoofer placement is definitely not moot. Your room will create peaks and nulls to a greater degree with low frequency signals that can really impact the overall sound and your experience. If you don't have a way to measure your rooms response with a measurement microphone and software, you can employ the "sub crawl" method as a decent and free alternative. Below is a simple summarization and the method for the crawl.

Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips

Do the Subwoofer Crawl. It's the easiest way to find the proper placement location for your subwoofer to get the best performance and sound.

www.audioholics.com

 

[Linwood]

Subwoofer placement is definitely not moot. Your room will create peaks and nulls to a greater degree with low frequency signals that can really impact the overall sound and your experience. If you don't have a way to measure your rooms response with a measurement microphone and software, you can employ the "sub crawl" method as a decent and free alternative. Below is a simple summarization and the method for the crawl.

Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips

Do the Subwoofer Crawl. It's the easiest way to find the proper placement location for your subwoofer to get the best performance and sound.

www.audioholics.com

Interesting. I'll also look if there is a measurement (I know I can tune its delay with the receiver's microphone, not sure it gives any details). I had always heard your ears can't sense where it is coming from so don't worry, but that the room resonance (maybe not the right word) affects overall sound makes sense. Thank you.

 

[everettT]

Interesting. I'll also look if there is a measurement (I know I can tune its delay with the receiver's microphone, not sure it gives any details). I had always heard your ears can't sense where it is coming from so don't worry, but that the room resonance (maybe not the right word) affects overall sound makes sense. Thank you.

Yes, low bass frequency signals aren't "locatable" below a certain frequency but your room will mess that sound up depending of a few factors. You might not be able to tell were the sub is, but it is still impacting your sound.

 

[lovinthehd]

Interesting. I'll also look if there is a measurement (I know I can tune its delay with the receiver's microphone, not sure it gives any details). I had always heard your ears can't sense where it is coming from so don't worry, but that the room resonance (maybe not the right word) affects overall sound makes sense. Thank you.

Your avr's YPAO program with use of the mic can set levels/delays for your speakers/sub, but you can still override or tune that by changing the delay for the sub channel. Localization from the sub can be an issue, particularly for higher crossover values with a single sub; if you don't have an issue with that, one less thing to worry about.

 

[Linwood]

if you don't have an issue with that, one less thing to worry about.

Well, in this arena a lot of the issue is I don't know what I don't know. So I appreciate the guidance.

 

[Wardog555]

The op must have suicidal thoughts on running wires.
If that fails. Op can drop any planing for more than 3.1 until they sort out their personal anti home theater bullshit

To teach you why they suck. Look at this.

 

[Linwood]

I have been told privately to leave the forum if I am not willing to run wires. So... my thanks to those that helped.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I have been told privately to leave the forum if I am not willing to run wires. So... my thanks to those that helped.

Just guessing, but this seems like the work of @Wardog555.
If that’s the case, you can piss off back to your mums room. Who do you think you are? What a rude POS crap you are. Here and all the other forums I see you on. I’m going to ask @jinjuku to hit you with the ban hammer. Take your advice and shove it.

 

[everettT]

I have been told privately to leave the forum if I am not willing to run wires. So... my thanks to those that helped.

Stick around, most everyone's intentions are good. There's a wealth of knowledge here and we'd love to have you.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have been told privately to leave the forum if I am not willing to run wires. So... my thanks to those that helped.

Wireless is difficult, so make sure you can return what you buy.

My take on this is that installing surrounds will be a huge downgrade in the set up, no matter how you connect it.

The reason is that you will be far too close to the surrounds and it will be a mess.

I think we have far too many systems here that would be far better 3.1 or 2.1. Actually I think very few rooms are suitable for more main speakers than 3.

As I visit friends I see pretty close to zero rooms compatible with a system beyond 3.1. I think this has a lot to do with declining AV sales apart from soundbars.

I am coming more and more to the conclusion that surround, and especially Atmos requires a dedicated space.

If I tried to put multichannel in our great room, my wife would file for divorce and rightly so. But the bigger point is that it would be a downgrade from the excellent 3.1 in the room, which my wife really likes.

 

[Linwood]

The reason is that you will be far too close to the surrounds and it will be a mess.

I can move them off to the side quite some distance if that's the main concern. I don't mind running wires along the baseboard along that wall. How far away would you recommend from the main listening spot?

I know they are supposed to be high -- I need to think about that a bit, see if I can find stands for them, or could wall mount them. But I had not heard that a distance out was terribly relevant, just angles for where?

I just want to emphasize my expectations/needs are relatively low, the speakers high quality but small, the receiver old and decent but nothing special. The room is echo-y, my ear is untrained (and old). I just don't want loud popping noises some complain about, or some weird echo because of excessive latency.

If my son (with young ears) comes over and complains, he can go home and eat his own food.

But I had this system in another home in a separate room where I could run wires and it sounded great. Great = Great to me. If I can get that back in the new home I'm going to be very happy.

 

[TLS Guy]

I can move them off to the side quite some distance if that's the main concern. I don't mind running wires along the baseboard along that wall. How far away would you recommend from the main listening spot?

I know they are supposed to be high -- I need to think about that a bit, see if I can find stands for them, or could wall mount them. But I had not heard that a distance out was terribly relevant, just angles for where?

I just want to emphasize my expectations/needs are relatively low, the speakers high quality but small, the receiver old and decent but nothing special. The room is echo-y, my ear is untrained (and old). I just don't want loud popping noises some complain about, or some weird echo because of excessive latency.

If my son (with young ears) comes over and complains, he can go home and eat his own food.

But I had this system in another home in a separate room where I could run wires and it sounded great. Great = Great to me. If I can get that back in the new home I'm going to be very happy.

The problems are multiple.

For a start the system is firing across the short axis of the room. This is probably something you can't avoid, but it is still unfortunate. It really is a worst case scenario. It is a long narrow room, close to a representation of a tunnel, with openings and huge bass leakage.

Now I have to be brutally honest, those front speakers I see look like a hopeless case. I fail to see how spending money on surrounds could be of any benefit whatsoever.

Honestly, what I am seeing so far in your pictures is incapable of producing anything close to quality, satisfying reproduction.

Your sofa is right up against the opposite wall, and so it is impossible to place surrounds where they will not do more harm than good.

As is so often the best advice is to put funds into improving the front three channels. That always gives a much bigger return on investment.

 

[Linwood]

@TLS Guy thanks. The room is unfortunately what it is.

I'm assuming your "do more harm than good" has nothing to do with wired or not? Is the issue that I cannot get them far enough behind the listener?

As to the front speakers are you just speaking of bigger, did you know something bad about those in particular?

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Well, I got the unit. The good news is the latency in a brief test with a scope was 16.4ms, well within the ability to correct. I did some experimenting with the output from an ESP32 and the DAC inside PC, and both could not produce a clean sine wave even, so I did not bother trying to do any kind of distortion analysis (and I have nothing at all in the audio realm, just stuff for debugging regular digital electronics).

The mediocre news is I can't manage to get it to pair at 5.6ghz, only 5.2ghz, though that may not be much issue.

The really bad news is that I had mis-read my receiver's manual. It covered two variants, and the variant I have has no pre-amp output. So I'm taking already amplified signals as input, which the device can do, but is an awful approach. I have an unamplified zone 2 out, but it can't be adjusted to be specific channels, only a stereo out.

I'm going to go ahead and hook it up the "bad" way and see what happens.