Starting from Scratch

[Bill DePalma]

My basement Home theater was destroyed over the Christmas holidays, a busted pipe allowed 3 feet of water to invade my basement HT taking out a good portion of my gear. The theater was a front projection, 7.1.4 atmos system with Marantz separates for power and processing. The speakers were  DefTech for LCR and a number of different brands for the rest. Given the opportunity to upgrade my speakers I have decided on the Arendals for LCR but am on the fence about keeping it all Arendal. The theater is mostly for movies but also 2 channel music. If I go all Arendal my budget is going to explode but perhaps it is worth it to keep it all in the family. I don’t listen loud and I have a penchant for old films. That’s my story, would love your input. Thanks

Bil

[Bill DePalma]

Speaking of 1961 surrounds, I am putting together an atmos system and was going to go with the 1961 height modules but I guess they don’t really make a nice fit atop the bookshelf speakers, different foot print, more designed to go on the wall which is a problem in my space. Might be rethinking my purchase plans

[Luis Vazquez]

For Atmos, I would mount the speakers on the ceiling, not sitting on top of your L&R speakers and hoping the “bounce” will reach your ear properly.  I plan on using the 1961 heights mounted on my ceiling; waiting on a friend to help me.  My plan, based on a video I saw with Anthony Grimani (he worked at Dolby, THX, won several CEDIA awards, etc), is to place them roughly 30 degrees in front of my listening position and mid-way between the center and L&R speakers.  Below is his take on Atmos as well as surround speaker placement in general.

 

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[Bill DePalma]

Yes, I knew I was being lazy. I think I am going to go in two stages now, frontsage first and then surrounds and heights. My theater is in an old house, plaster walls that make running cables very problematic. Thanks for the illustrations they are inspiring

[Luis Vazquez]

Prior to mounting my surrounds, I spent several days listening to them at different heights, adjusting Audyssey settings and ultimately agreed that the side surrounds sounded better when placed higher than ear level.  My humble opinion and to my ears, at ear level, the sound was easily localized, fatiguing and exactly as implied… the sound was at ear level.  As I moved them higher, the sound field became larger and more immersive.   I accomplished this by placing the side surrounds on boxes and varying the height with other items until I found what worked best.  Crude idea, but I was testing several opinions on placement, those that swear that they should be at ear level, others that say higher, some say slightly behind you, etc.  I didn’t want to have numerous holes on my side walls that would need patching, so I tried to come up with a way to test the various recommendations.  Below is a picture of my tests and then how they are ultimately mounted to the wall.  This worked for me in my room, might not be the exact Dolby spec, but to my ears, sounded best…

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[laurence-chan]

Luis, I did something very similar except with milk crates and wood shelving.   I too found that at ear height the sound was much too localized, with the tweeters between 10-12in above ear level, the immersiveness is optimized.  Interesting enough, Erin’s Audio Corner dispersion measurements are dead on for my setup.  Anyhow, after getting the optimal height, I was able to order my current Pangea speaker stands.

[Bill DePalma]

Good to hear, since in my pre-flood setup I was a bit sloppy with my side surrounds. Curious if you like the height speakers shown in the image? Arendal heights are pricey, I will reuse my Klipsch heights for now.

[Luis Vazquez]

Sorry Bill… are you referring to my image?  Asking as those are the 1961 Surrounds; the heights are wedged shaped; see attached for differences.  The Arendal Surrounds are a different design than most bookshelves or surrounds from other vendors.  The 1961 is a triaxial design, where as the 1723 is somewhat similar, yet you can disable the extra drivers; there are other differences, please refer to the product pages for more details.  I prefer my surround channels to be more defused sounding as I feel it’s more immersive; therefore, why I went with the surrounds instead of the heights or bookshelves.

https://arendalsound.com/types/surround/#products

 

 

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[Lukas]

Great recommendations so far guys. I also always encourage customers to try different setups and positions as this is very much a personal preference. There is not just one right way to do it.
I also like my surrounds a little higher than ear level for example.

@Bill

You can absolutely use the 1961 series for the surrounds and heights if you want to stay within budget. We have a lot of happy customers doing that. The 1723 and 1961 are very close in the overall sound signature so they blend very well.
Especially for surrounds and heights it is much more difficult to hear differences, compared to the front.
Definitely stick with one series when it comes to the LCR, that is what I would do.

 

 

[Bill DePalma]

I was referring to the second image of the tower in the background with the height sitting on top. I assume they are both 1961, My old surrounds are dipoles Your space is beautiful

 

[Luis Vazquez]

Sorry, Bill, I got a little confused there.  You’re correct, those are the heights resting on the towers and yes, both are from the 1961 line.  I figured instead of leaving them boxed up, I should “break them in” until my buddy can stop by; he’s swamped at work, so it will be a few weeks before they will be mounted on the ceiling.  Thanks for your comment on my space… I’m blessed that my family enjoys this hobby as much as I do and that they are eager to lending a helping hand… wife and daughter selected the paint and acoustic panel fabric colors, my daughter helped me paint the room and my son helped with the heavy lifting / moving things around.  Kids, actually young adults as they are both in college, helped me with the installation of the acoustic panels; if it wasn’t for my daughter, the 3 ceiling mounted panels wouldn’t be straight… : )