Speaker placement question

[Roscoe]

Help!!!

I used to have surround sound in my last house. My family has since moved and the spouse insists on the TV and viewing sofa oriented as in the drawing. I couldn't think of any way to place speakers that would work so I gambled and bought a Polk 5.1 SurroundBar. Since my older receiver was 6.1 I put one additional speaker behind the sofa on the floor. Turns out glad I did because I'm terribly disappointed in the SurroundBar in that I don't hear any surround effects at all without the one behind me.

So, now I'm re-engaging on the idea of how to put real surround sound in the room. I have a much newer 7.1 receiver in the mail (for other reasons, not the extra speaker).

Problem remains though, that being jammed back into the corner doesn't lend itself to 5.1, let alone 7.1. I'm still hopeful that I can move the sofa away from the wall some but haven't been successful yet...form over function. Wife's not crazy about the look of in-wall speakers but if that's the only option I can probably convince her, if they can be hidden away well.

I'm reasonably sure jamming speakers that close to the sofa will make it difficult to spread around the surround sound effect, but the good news is I'm the only one who really cares so as long as the center point on the sofa works, I'll be happy...kinda.

If no one has any ideas, maybe someone in the Vegas area can offer up the name of a quality company that can see what I've got and make some recommendations.

Thanks!

 

[snappy_snoopy]

hang in there my friend ok lets see why not place the couch a little further forward and get some small stands for the surrounds and place them in the newly found gaps made by the couch being moved forward. Also if you want place the 2 back speakers behind the couch on 2 extra stands. Good luck i am all out of ideas. Could run speaker cables behind the wall or place them under the carpet or something i guess or could go wireless. Not sure on the wireless option though never tried it myself. My dad is in the market though

 

[Alex2507]

Many insurmountable problems are created because:

the spouse insists

I would rather live without 5.1 than without peace.

Edit: I don't know why I am being a defeatist. You gotta sell her on surround. As one of the admin's here pointed out, in ceiling 5.1 is better than no 5.1. At least one member here loves his.

 

[Rickster71]

Many insurmountable problems are created because:



I would rather live without 5.1 than without peace.

You gotta sell her on surround. As one of the admin's here pointed out, in ceiling 5.1 is better than no 5.1. At least one member here loves his.

You're right my friend!
As soon as I showed my wife how good surround was, she was sold on the idea.
She's into it almost as much as I am now.

 

[Roscoe]

I had it before and she's heard it. She just doesn't care. It's amazing, she's into music...sings in 3 different choirs...but whenever I drive her minivan, I always find the balance pushed to one side or another (she messes with it accidentally when she adjusts the volume) and she doesn't even notice the lack of stereo when she can only here one channel. And she listens to the oldies station where stereo was often instruments on one side and vocals on the other. Nope, not gonna win that one. Need to find a way to make this work without significantly (or at all) impacting the current furniture layout.

Back to the room...I can't imagine in-ceiling working very well given how close they'll have to be to the center viewing position.

 

[Weasel9992]

I had it before and she's heard it. She just doesn't care. It's amazing, she's into music...sings in 3 different choirs...but whenever I drive her minivan, I always find the balance pushed to one side or another (she messes with it accidentally when she adjusts the volume) and she doesn't even notice the lack of stereo when she can only here one channel.

Dude...are we married to the same woman? Kinda tall, dark hair, blue eyes, silver minivan...?

She's been married to a mix engineer (me) for 10 years...she couldn't care less about how music sounds.

Frank

 

[Roscoe]

That's funny...wait, does she like Oreo's and sappy movies?

Back to the topic...anybody know a minimum distance a surround speaker can be before completely losing its effect?

 

[Phil Taylor]

My RR surround is about 2.5 away and it's ok there - placed by/for convenience. LR is about 5.5ft to the other side. YMMV...

THX recommends rear surround be placed together so you might try them in the corner behind your sofa.

 

[Roscoe]

Problem is on one corner there's a window, but it might be workable. Does it hurt to have them high or should they be at listening height?

 

[Phil Taylor]

Problem is on one corner there's a window, but it might be workable. Does it hurt to have them high or should they be at listening height?

It's best to keep speakers at ear level... but sometimes one must compromise - especially when dealing with the WAF. If you have to compromise - rear surrounds would not be so critical an area as some others... ... if you have to compromise....

If you think your wife might complain about speakers on the wall you might try placing them directly behind the couch aimed backward and angled upward to bounce the sound off the wall and window = practically invisible.

 

[Roscoe]

Now there's a creative idea!