HT Setup

[minendo]

I recently re-arranged my living room and need to figure out the best way to mount my surround speakers. I believe these are supposed to be at listening level (~3-4 feet off the ground), but that is not an option. My thought was to mount them near the ceiling and angle them down at about a 45 degree angle. Will this work? If so, what is the best way to do this? My surround speakers are Infiniti bookshelves that way approximately 10-15 lbs each.

 

[MustISO]

Rear surrounds should be placed either behind the listening position or to the side (and slightly behind) about 2 - 4 ft above the listener. I have fairly large rear speakers and I ended up using TV mounts for a 20" TV. They're extremely strong and can be adjusted a few different ways.

If the side or rear walls aren't possible you can mount the speakers on or near the ceiling and angle them with speaker mounts. Do the speakers have threads (bottom or back) for a screw?

 

[Muadib]

My brother in law did the same thing you want to do, and afterwards wondered why it sounds so bad. Find a way to do it the right way. Speaker stands will do the job.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Muadib
My brother in law did the same thing you want to do, and afterwards wondered why it sounds so bad. Find a way to do it the right way. Speaker stands will do the job.

The problem is for the room setup speaker stands are not an option. I could get the rears mounted 3-4ft off the ground, but the others would have to be mounted higher and angled down. This is a 7.1 setup I am trying to set up. Should I just stick with the 5.1 setup?

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Muadib
My brother in law did the same thing you want to do, and afterwards wondered why it sounds so bad. Find a way to do it the right way. Speaker stands will do the job.

The problem is for the room setup speaker stands are not an option. I could get the rears mounted 3-4ft off the ground, but the others would have to be mounted higher and angled down. This is a 7.1 setup I am trying to set up. Should I just stick with the 5.1 setup?

I still have yet to see the need for a 7.1 setup, because so few films use it. That might change though with Blu-ray & HDDVD. So if you already have the speakers, I would give it a shot. Are the speakers that you are mounting up high going to be the left & right back channels? See this room layout.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Muadib
My brother in law did the same thing you want to do, and afterwards wondered why it sounds so bad. Find a way to do it the right way. Speaker stands will do the job.

The problem is for the room setup speaker stands are not an option. I could get the rears mounted 3-4ft off the ground, but the others would have to be mounted higher and angled down. This is a 7.1 setup I am trying to set up. Should I just stick with the 5.1 setup?

I still have yet to see the need for a 7.1 setup, because so few films use it. That might change though with Blu-ray & HDDVD. So if you already have the speakers, I would give it a shot. Are the speakers that you are mounting up high going to be the left & right back channels? See this room layout.

According to that setup it would be the left and right surrounds not the backs.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Can you just try it out temporarily how you're proposing without damaging your walls? I have my surrounds 4' above my listening position and my rears are right at ear level due to a number of reasons.

Dolby says

"Of course, it's not always possible to place your speakers exactly as shown in our diagrams. The diagrams give a range of placement angles, so you have some flexibility. Sometimes you'll have no choice but to mount the surrounds directly behind you, but if you follow the guidelines as closely as you can, you'll have good sound.

Ideally, your front speakers, high-frequency drivers, or tweeters should be positioned at ear level (when you're seated). Our recommended height for the surrounds is above ear level, as soundtracks are likely to be optimized for that location."

If you can try what you're proposing without destroying your walls, do it and see how you like it. Honestly with a lot of movies I have a hard time hearing if there's anything at all playing on the surrounds and rears vs. how good they sound due to placement