Speaker Placement Height

[Desert Dog]

I'm about to under take the project of purchasing my surround speakers to start building my system. I'm limited on my knowledge of system set up, thus my question. We just had our house built and I thought I would be smart and have them pre-wire for surround. Well they did but I think the placement they used might be too high on the wall. Here is a photo of the placement. I hope to get a 42" Plasma to mount on the wall about 12" higher than the TV set is now. Any suggestion s would be great. I was looking at the Bose (I know, I said I was new) or an in-wall speaker. Any guidance would be great.

 

[Tritonman]

As a general rule you want your front three speakers to be angled or level with your ear at your listening position. So by the looks of it you may have some wires exposed a few feet down from the in wall plates. You could of course take the plates out and then cut new holes a few feet down accordingly then refill the holes with sheet rock if thats what you have there. I would hope they left you enough wire to possibly extend the plates a few feet down.

As far as inwalls are concerned there are many brands out there to use depending on your budget concerns. We would have a better understanding if we had a budget amount.

 

[Desert Dog]

When you say angled do you mean a speaker mounted at that height but angled at the ear level? Cutting the dry wall will be a pain and I would like to explore all options. My budget will be about 350.00 for the front and center channel. Around 500.00 total for all 5. Not including sub.

 

[Tritonman]

When you say angled do you mean a speaker mounted at that height but angled at the ear level? Cutting the dry wall will be a pain and I would like to explore all options. My budget will be about 350.00 for the front and center channel. Around 500.00 total for all 5. Not including sub.

You can mount them at that height and then angle toward your listening position. You dont have to cut the drywall if you dont want to.

 

[Tritonman]

As far as inwalls are concerned you can try Polks inwalls..or there is a very reputable online company called Home Theater Direct that also sells inexpensive inwalls. I have personally dealt with Home Theater Direct so I can vouch for them. There customer service and return policy is outstanding.

The problem with inwalls is tha bility to angle them. i beleive that both companies i stated above have the ability for the tweeter to be angled.

 

[Desert Dog]

O.k ..so if I don’t want to reposition the hard wire locations, in-walls are probably not my best option. So "surface mount" seems to be the best way with some type of wall brackets to get the angle needed for the best sound. Are there a few surface mount brands that are reasonably priced that you recommend? Thanks..

 

[Tritonman]

I personally started my home theater with a set of the Home theater direct brand and I was very pleased with them..until I got more powerful equipment etc and had to upgrade.

For $649 you can get their level two 5.1 set which includes a sub. You get a 5 year warranty on the speakers and a 2 year warranty on the sub. They also sell the brackets needed for their speakers at about $39 a pair.

Athena Technologies is another budget minded set of speakers which can be had for about the same price if not less..their set also includes a sub. Im not sure if these can be mounted though.

The Polk Audio RM6800 is another small set that includes a sub and they can be mounted. I think the mounts for them can be bought for about $20

Those are just a couple I can think of off the top of my head. These are all small "bose" style speakers except for the HTD level 2's. Im not sure if small is the direction you are going..but based on your budget thats pretty much what you are limited to.

 

[AVRat]

Another highly recommended setup is HSU's Ventriloquist which can be paired with their subs for added savings.

http://www.hsuresearch.com/