Front Speakers Placement Help

[tyoung@sj]

Hi,

Living Room: I have my 52" (width 50") TV mounted 27" from the left side of wall and it is centered with my sofa which is 11' away from the TV. I have L/R 4"x8" satellite speakers that I would like to mount to the wall and looking for suggestions. I like to follow the optimal recommendation setup according to the manual (6' to 15' between L/R and 1/1.5x, 24" away from the wall) but unfortunately the room won't allow such setup. Currently, there are 2 options that I can think of. Any thoughts/suggestions would greatly appreciated.

1. Wall Approach: Mount the speaker 24" from the left side of the wall which is pretty much touching the TV. The distance between the L/R would be about 50". Applying the 1.5x formula, the optimal seating distance is 70". My seating distance is 132".

2. Seating Distance Approach: Mount the L/R 7' away from each other. About 10" from the wall for the left and 17" spacing between the speakers and the TV.

Thanks,
Terry

 

[AVRat]

Something akin to option 2 would be best.

 

[Chitown2477]

I agree that option two is better. It will give you a braoder soundfield and make your surround sound experience more realistic.

 

[HDPCsound]

The best positions for front speakers is on the front of you, at equidistant points to the left and right, of your original listening spot. Option 2 is the one that suits better.

 

[tyoung@sj]

Thank you for the responses. Option #2 it is. I have a follow up question related to the center channel. The L/R speakers will be mounted align or close to the top of the TV. Should I mount the center below or on top of the TV? Does it matter at all?

Thanks,
Terry

 

[son-yah-tive]

Thank you for the responses. Option #2 it is. I have a follow up question related to the center channel. The L/R speakers will be mounted align or close to the top of the TV. Should I mount the center below or on top of the TV? Does it matter at all?

Thanks,
Terry

Top or bottom. We always have had ours on the bottom. It stays hidden that way. But either way is fine.

 

[westcott]

Seating distance recommendations for audio considerations are totally different. I would need to know your room dimensions to tell you where to start and where you should sit respectively.

In a room that is rectangular in shape, the front speakers should be on a short wall and you should sit 2/3 back from that. Avoid the center and back wall of the room.

The further you can get the front speakers from the walls, the better.

And try everything you can to keep the center channel at the same height as your left and right hi-mid speaker drivers.

These are just general starting guidelines. Running some frequency sweeps with a test DVD and an SPL meter will help you optimally place your speakers and sub for the flattest frequency response.

If you want to learn more, I can point you to some links and white papers for more good stuff.

 

[tyoung@sj]

I would love to. Please provide the link.

 

[westcott]

I would love to. Please provide the link.

Here is the link here at Audioholics to the Audiio University. Start here as it is a good foundation for speaker placement.

acoustics-principles

loudspeaker-basics

Here in another link to Harman International. These are pretty deep but if you are really wanting to take your system to the next level that most people never new existed, digest every bit of information you can. You will reap the rewards and all it cost you was some time learning and planning.

Harman International White Papers

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. If you have questions, lots of great people here to help you out.

P.S. We do have an acoustic room, system layout, and setup section. This would also be a good place to hang out after you have had time to get your mind around the white papers.