Speaker placement

[Rowdy S13]

Ok well Im bored, and playing with my speakers. Ive already read the guides found on this site, and found them to be VERY helpful. But I still have a couple of questions. I have primus 150's as surrounds and was wondering....
1. How high above youre ear should they be?
2. How far behind you should they be?
3. How toed in should they be?
Ive already made a HUGE improvement after reading the guides, and eventhough I wont be in this damn basement much longer, I still want to play. Ive learned alot about how the placement affects alot of things, but I just cant get the surrounds quite right.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[j_garcia]

IMO, they shouldn't be above your ears... They should be at the same level as the mains.

Behind, a few feet at least.

Toed in - depends on your room and listening preferences. You can play with the toe setting to "dial in" exactly the surround blend you desire. Mine fire to the outside of the listeners so you don't hear the full, direct sound from them. Sound stays very directional, but not right in your ear. I also like them about 1dB lower than calibrated level.

 

[Rowdy S13]

IMO, they shouldn't be above your ears... They should be at the same level as the mains.

Behind, a few feet at least.

Toed in - depends on your room and listening preferences. You can play with the toe setting to "dial in" exactly the surround blend you desire. Mine fire to the outside of the listeners so you don't hear the full, direct sound from them. Sound stays very directional, but not right in your ear. I also like them about 1dB lower than calibrated level.

As always thanks for the advice. What would be a good DVD or Scene in to listen to to really make the surrounds satnd out for adjustment? Im probably looking for somthing with a big noise behind you, something that will make you turn around

Sean

 

[j_garcia]

Blade 2 - opening sequence, dts-ES track. LOTS of surround activity on there.

 

[supervij]

Same level as the mains, j? Everything I've read about surround placement says to place them there for m/c music, but two to three feet above seated ear level for movies/TV. Do you really find it better at ear level? Huh. Maybe I'll give that a try sometime.

cheers,
supervij

 

[Yamahaluver]

Surround needs to be diffused sound, not direct so the speakers have to be above your ears, but not way above.

 

[nycval]

5.1 -6.1 7.1

If you are running a 5.1 sys. behind
6.1 or 7.1 they should be just in front not really at ear level but just in front of your ears and a few inches above

 

[supervij]

Even for 6.1/7.1, the Dolby website recommends that the side surrounds be between 90 and 110 degrees. That's not really in front of the ears, but whatever sounds best.

And they say, "Our recommended height for the surrounds is above ear level, as soundtracks are likely to be optimized for that location," but it says nothing about how high above ear level. Various websites around the 'net recommends anywhere between 1 and 3 feet. If a few inches works for you, great, but I wonder if that would make them a little too easy to localize.

cheers,
supervij

 

[saurabh]

Go through this thread and search, this topic has been discussed so many times and with the same recommendations.

 

[supervij]

That's what I thought. Although the tweeters of my surrounds are more like 5.75 feet from the floor. And they sound pretty darn good there too.

cheers,
supervij

 

[jeff23]

Interesting questions, I agree. Always confusing...