Opinions req on speaker positioning on 7.2 system (1 Viewer)

[Willydoit]

Hi all ,
For aesthetic reasons we are again moving our living room around and are looking to upgrade to a 65 possibly 75" tv above the fireplace. The issue I have is my wife could listen to things through two tin cans and a piece of string and be happy, I on the other hand am a bit more particular and am always striving to get the best sound production I can from what we have.

In the proposed configuration I will be using all cambridge audio minx 21 and 22's to provide the primary 7 channels with at the moment 1 Cambridge Audio X300 sub with possibly an extra cheaper panasonic sub to balance things out.

The room dimensions in the proposed arrangement will be a width of approx 5m wide with a front to rear of around 3.5m ( setup was previously across the room so greater length and reduced width).

One of the problems I have is that the room is dual aspect and therefore has large windows in the middle of the left and right hand sides where I would normally place the right and left surround (middle speakers) and space behind the seating area is probably limited to around a couple of feet between the seating and a wall.

I had originally thought of mounting the surround and rear speakers just below ceiling level angled down towards the seating position however I have been advised that this will not work, that all the speakers should be the same height to provide optimum flow of sound around the room which I can see the logic of.

As it is not practical to place the side speakers on mounts in front of the windows I am seeking opinion on whether having side and rear speakers located at ceiling height ( approx 2m from the ground) angled down and in towards the seating area would provide decent surround sound if the front speakers were at a height of approx 1m from the ground.

If ceiling height was the only option for surrounds and rears would I get better sound by placing the front left and right speakers at the same ceiling height?

While I like to follow sound movement around the room I dont like to hear the sounds coming from the speaker placement if that makes sense, I do prefer just to be enveloped by the sound with no obvious speaker source which is why I rightly or wrongly thought mounting the side and rear speakers just below ceiling height would be acceptible.

Anyway the opinions of others would be appreciated, before it is suggested I dont want to return to just 5.1. I have experimented with this in the current setup and do feel there is a big improvement in sound and enjoyment in the 7.1 or 7.2 configuration.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice provided.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Having surround and rear speakers up at ceiling height and angled down is not bad. Front left/right is definitely worse. I had a system with all of those high (except the center), and when I moved the fronts down that took care of any problem for me.

 

[Willydoit]

Hi Al,

thanks for that, I would prefer to keep my fronts on stands and just raise the sides and rears so long as I still get the sweep of sound. Like most people I have to try to make the best of a poor layout. I note that a number of people have their surrounds up higher but was concerned after being given the advice that it wasnt a good option by the manager / Installer from our local Richer Sounds store who are the primary suppliers for Cambridge Audio here in the UK and his advice was that they should all be the same height.


My concern is that if making the decision I am going to have to commit to it as it isnt really possible to test place all the equipment first due to the existing installation and I would hate to go to all the trouble and expense to find out that the sound isn't as good as we have it now.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Well,they're correct in that having them up high is not the recommended "official" placement, But if you at least angle them, then it's not a sonic loss, it's just a localization problem. Since the surrounds and rear are mostly effects, it's definitely not a noticeable problem for me. Occasionally you'll get a voice from the surrounds, and that's a little weird, but not worth losing sleep over.


I'm not following why you can't try it out. I'm thinking use the system you have or get the new system ahead of time, and then place the speakers up on a couple of step ladders. (Do the surrounds, if you're okay with them, you'll be okay with the rears.)