Matching Surrounds Placement & Room Question

[daniel-miller]

Hi,

 

I’m new here and wanted to ask about rear surrounds in a kind of weird spot in our room.

We currently have the 1723 monitors, center and surrounds with two 1723 1v’s on order & arriving soon! Currently running them with an Anthem AVM 70 8K and Musical Fidelity M6X 250.5 power amp.

This is a pretty large room Measuring 30 feet/9.15 meters long + 19.5 feet/6 meters wide + 14 feet/4.75 meters tall.  It has a drop down 3/4 way back.  I have added images, please mind the mess as we are in set up mode!  My spouse would not have us painting the room black and so we settled for as dark a grey as she was comfortable with – also we do have window treatments, etc on order to cover the openings.

I would like to add rear surrounds in the back, but they will need to be installed in one of the “bays” – the shelves come out.  I was thinking about using the 1961 surrounds on arms that extend them past the depth on the locations.  Do you guys think this could be a workable solution?  That way I can still take advantage of the side firing drivers as well as use a lighter weight speaker so as not to put too much pressure on the mounting hardware.

Will be adding heights (and amplifiers to power them next)

Thanks,

 

Dan

 

 

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[Luis Vazquez]

Looks like it’s going to be a nice space.  How far would they be from the rear seating position?  Keep in mind that the 1961s are currently in legacy status, but I think there’s one pair left.

[daniel-miller]

Thanks for the quick response!

The rear surrounds will be about 8 feet from the back seating positions and about 13 feet from the seats in front on those.

I saw there was one or two sets in the outlet, which is why I am asking about those in particular.

 

 

[chris-lukowski]

Any option to mount them on the “projector bulkhead wall” or under the front of it with a ceiling mount? Those cabinets look quite a far way back.

[daniel-miller]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the response!

I could mount to the ceiling of the bulk-head though measurements show they would hang down pretty low and folks would get head checked.

The wall of the bulk head is not low enough to be able to get proper coverage and they would end up being close to where the rear heights will eventually go.

Do you think that 8 ft from the back listening position and 13 feet from the front listening position is too far?  If it is too far for the 1961 surrounds, maybe a more substantial speaker, like the 1723 Bookshelf S would be enough?

[chris-lukowski]

Ah, gotcha. I don’t think 8 feet is too far per se. Closer is better but you’ll be ok. MY 1961 “Heights” are serving as Surround Backs at 8 feet and they work great. I have them running on an BasX A2 to give them all the power they could want. The surround effects can sometimes feel more muted than those from my side surrounds, maybe due to distance but also maybe because that’s how the human ear works with sounds behind your head. You can always boost the levels to make rear effects jump out more. Also it doesn’t look like the 1961 Surrounds are available anymore. And if you’re going to put them IN the cabinetry you might as well use the 1723 S Bookshelf speakers since the triaxial sides on the Surrounds won’t get to do much.

PS – I’m liking the Lovesacs. I just got mine a few weeks ago! :D

[daniel-miller]

I guess that answers that.  I never seem to pull the trigger quite quick enough on the outlet stuff.  I had a bunch of the 1961 heights in my cart a couple weeks ago and decided to sleep on it and they got snatched up before I logged back in the following day.

I guess I’ll have to figure out how to use the 1723 s bookshelves.  I was hoping for something not as deep, and lighter so I can mount to an adjustable bracket extension and get them away from the wall a bit.  I’ll just have to use a heavier duty mount and attachment set up.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[Fsm1th5]

Review your setup as the viewing distance is like watching a phone sized screen.

Always have at least the front wall black at a minimum.

 

To learn about speaker placements. All the information is in these two documents.

People seem to be making random guesses and I won’t speculate on placement.

Rear surrounds go in a specific angle from listening position. It’s not a situation where you can place speakers anywhere you feel like it for your personal preference. This is home theater and its done a very specific way.

I can even share viewing distance information if you wish.

 

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/technologies/dolby-atmos/atmos-installation-guidelines-121318_r3.1.pdf

 

https://dolby.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/700000009YuG/a/4u000000lFHc/UYA0IZeD632SUXVmEPmUcr.wIuhpHp6Q7bVSl4LrbUQ

[daniel-miller]

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback and all the great info!

The viewing distance has definitely been taken in to account.  Currently we have a 10 foot wide screen and the front viewing distance has been set to just under 1.5X the width with the rear seating closer to 1.6X.  Although this is a bit narrower than 36 degrees, we did experiment with closer arrangements and all involved felt most comfortable at this distance.

While not perfectly ideal, we are more than comfortable with the very dark grey front wall.  I would rather everyone involved be 90% happy than one person be 100% and the others not like it, but that’s just me and to each their own.  I am working to paint the ceiling as well and hope to come to a decision on that soon!  Keep in mind, we do have mechanized total blackout coverings coming for all openings.

I have seen the first link you posted but thanks for sharing again!  The second is really informative as well.

I can assure you that there is no guessing going on as far as speaker placement is concerned.  That said, although the dolby info is a very helpful starting point, it is not gospel for all situations and we have to be able to adapt to mitigating circumstances.  We are opting to design an immersive sound experience for this room vs a pinpoint dolby first experience.  I am mounting the rears on an adjustable system and so both height and angle have been measured and considered.

In the end this will be a 9.4.6 system.

And yes, this is home theater and there are specific prescriptions as far as placement, angle, etc.; but at what cost?  In the end our goal is to design a space that is welcoming, usable and comfortable for everyone that supports and encourages our main goal of spending time in it together. To this end both Arendal and all of you have been so helpful in helping us get there, keep it coming!

Thanks again,

Dan

[chris-lukowski]

The Bookshelf speakers are sealed so you wouldn’t have to get them away from the wall. The included wall mount (see below) is designed to make it flush with a wall, but given your setup you might as well skip the wall mount and place them inside the cabinet shelving where your “Now Playing” and other framed picture is currently.

“Please note the 1723 Wall mount is included for the 1723 Surround (S) and 1723 Bookshelf S. For the 1723 Height S, the VESA100 wall mount is included.”

[daniel-miller]

I could definitely use the wall attachments for those, thanks for making me aware that they are a sealed design.  I did use the attachments for the 1723 surrounds and they were fantastic.

I was thinking about placing them on the exact shelves you identified, but with the speakers being 12.6 inches deep and the shelves themselves about 11, I was afraid the overhang would be a bit awkward.  I would also then want to use an isolation device/system to minimize energy transfer from the speakers to the shelf.

As far as attaching them to the wall, I would like the ability to adjust the angles for optimal coverage.

I think in the end I will try your suggestion of placing on the shelves first and see if that will work, if not, I will rig up a wall mounting system that will allow for both left/right and up down angle adjustments.

And now it looks like a set of the 1723s surrounds came up on the second hand market, hmmm, always options I suppose!

Thanks again for your participation in this thread.

Best,

Dan