need some help with surround setup

[nighthawklude99]

hi im new and this is my first post. well i have a 5.1 surround system, nothing to special but my question is i have the system set up like is shows in the picture but the back sound stage sounds really bad, i was wondering if moving the speakers the the other location would help at all? the speakers are wall mounted about 6"-12" above my head. i was just curious to see about a better solution, any sugetions welcome.

thanks jason

 

[saurabh]

Your existing surround spk setup, places them too close to each other, defeating their purpose of a proper surround sound field.

Your new setup is more suitable, keep both of them at the same height facing each other and parallel to each other, like you have depicted(both end of couch).

Also you might need to play a little with the surround spk delay settings, remember 1ms = 1'6" appx distance. Keep the delay so that the logical distance makes the spks appear slightly behind you.

 

[markw]

go with the new surround setup. you might want to raise 'em up a little, to maybe 12 -18" from the ceiling.

 

[bpape]

Yup. General rule of thumb is the center of the surrounds to be 6-6.5' off the floor.

Bryan

 

[nighthawklude99]

thanks alot for all the help, ill try your sugestions and see how it turns out.

 

[saurabh]

go with the new surround setup. you might want to raise 'em up a little, to maybe 12 -18" from the ceiling.

For the surrounds, since every person will have a different height and that would also be proportionate to the distance of the ears from the speakers when you sit on a standard sofa/recliner. I have discovered after many attempts a standard measure, place you surround speakers at the height of your ears, when you stand i.e. when you stand with your ear facing your speaker, the speaker cone should be directly parallel to your ear.

With all due respect to opinions, measuring distance from the ceiling is also a standard, but doesnt work if you have more than normal ceiling height, like a double height ceiling that I have.

 

[bpape]

Agreed. That's why the 6-6.5' works as a general rule no matter the ceiling height. It's high enough not to be localizable but not so high as to cause issues with proximitly to the ceiling in most cases.

Bryan