Help with speaker placement in new home

[timmay8612]

I recently bought my first home and have most of my system set up, apart from surrounds. Before I go hiring somebody or having a friend help me run wires through my walls for surrounds, I want to make sure I have them in the best location that my space will allow. That said, there is ledge that runs around the left and rear sides of my viewing/listening space that I could set a speaker or 3 on, but I'm not sure what to do about the surround right speaker. FWIW I'm using Paradigm monitor 7's, a CC-150 center, and Atom surrounds with a SVS PC-12NSD.

As a side note, would you do surround back speakers in the current arrangement I have?

Pictures:

 

[afterlife2]

Welcome back! Nice clean setup. How many feet are you away from the TV? Looks like 6 to 7 feet away. I have a similar space and recently put up both my surround with no problems. Can you move the couch to a accommodate 2 speakers? Check out chuckker's setup it may help with your setup: http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/pros-joes-systems-gallery/18987-almost-done-4.html#post955412

 

[DD66000]

Being your sofa is up against the rear wall, forget back surrounds...The sound would be more irritating than useful.
As far as the RS, I can not see where the end of that shelf runs out to. Does it run past that end of the sofa? If so then place the speaker right at the end, pointing on a 45* angle.

 

[afterlife2]

Like DD66000 said. Here is mine and the stands you can get on amazon.com or craigslist:

 

[timmay8612]

Being your sofa is up against the rear wall, forget back surrounds...The sound would be more irritating than useful.
As far as the RS, I can not see where the end of that shelf runs out to. Does it run past that end of the sofa? If so then place the speaker right at the end, pointing on a 45* angle.

The shelf runs the full length of the room. The room has two sides, one a mirror image of the area with my home theater gear in it.

The couch is a recliner couch, so its not flush against the wall, its probably a foot out. The ledge is probably 6-8 inches deep, so a surround back speaker would theoretically be placed no more than 20 inches from the back of the couch, or maybe 26 inches from my head. Too close for surround backs?

If I were to aim for a more traditional surround placement, rather than slightly behind and at 45 degree angles, I would almost certainly need stands it sounds like. I have two toddlers in my house, any suggestions on stands that are both extremely stable and physically attach to the speaker in some way?

Thanks for great suggestions so far!

 

[afterlife2]

With a toddler I think this Is your best option for now:

Amazon sells similar speakers and are highly regarded by most on this forum: Amazon.com: Fluance AVBP2 Home Theater Bipolar Surround Sound Satellite Speakers: Electronics

 

[DD66000]

The shelf runs the full length of the room. The room has two sides, one a mirror image of the area with my home theater gear in it.

The couch is a recliner couch, so its not flush against the wall, its probably a foot out. The ledge is probably 6-8 inches deep, so a surround back speaker would theoretically be placed no more than 20 inches from the back of the couch, or maybe 26 inches from my head. Too close for surround backs?

If I were to aim for a more traditional surround placement, rather than slightly behind and at 45 degree angles, I would almost certainly need stands it sounds like. I have two toddlers in my house, any suggestions on stands that are both extremely stable and physically attach to the speaker in some way?

Thanks for great suggestions so far!

OK, looking at your pics again, you do have space on the left wall between the corner and window to hang a surround speaker..so that is not a problem.
So for the RS, like you say you need a stand...seems to me I remember seeing some stands that you fill with sand to make them bottom heavy. But I don't remember which brands...I think I saw them on Amazon.
Another way, if there is wall space, to mount a telescoping mount to the rear wall, say 3~4 ft from the end of the sofa. When not in use the speaker would be against the wall, and then pulled out and rotated towards the sofa when needed.

 

[timmay8612]

I didn't know anybody made telescoping wall mounts for bookshelf speakers. Got a picture, manufacturer, or link? If it wasn't too ugly, it sounds like that might be ideal.

What will I be sacrificing by putting the surround left speaker in the corner on the ledge at a 45 degree angle?​

 

[DD66000]

I didn't know anybody made telescoping wall mounts for bookshelf speakers. Got a picture, manufacturer, or link? If it wasn't too ugly, it sounds like that might be ideal.

What will I be sacrificing by putting the surround left speaker in the corner on the ledge at a 45 degree angle?​

I was considering the size of your surrounds (assuming those are the ones sitting on the shelf) and the elevation of the shelf, maybe a bit low. And the lamp shade location kinda in the way. Is the reason I thought being higher up the wall might be better.
But you can try it first on the shelf. And if you think its ok then its good.
I have my surrounds a bit low (but they are 24" tall) and much farther away from the sofa. I used to have the tops 70" above the floor, when I still lived in my last house in NV.

As for speaker mounts, just do a search on amazon or google, you might find something that will work and look good.

 

[timmay8612]

Is there an ideal height for surrounds? Are they supposed to be above the listener's head? Maybe that should have been my first question.

 

[DD66000]

Is there an ideal height for surrounds? Are they supposed to be above the listener's head? Maybe that should have been my first question.

When you are seated, your ears are about the same elevation of the tweeters on your main L/R. And you want to have the surrounds higher than that so they clear any/all of the seat backs and provide an unobstructed line of sight.

 

[timmay8612]

So it sounds like the consensus is to mount them on the back wall and toe them in at angles towards the primary listening position and they should be approximately 5-6 feet from the floor level. Does that sound right?

Should they be angled down much like you'd angle a center channel so the tweeters are firing at the heads of the listeners or does that ruin the ambient effect?

 

[DD66000]

Its not necessary to angle down the surrounds. In fact at an elevation of say 66", I would not want them angled.