Speaker stand height and positioning query!

[Raghav_K]

Hi,

i have attached pics of the room which houses my HT setup.

The room is 20ft in width and 11ft in length.. Viewing distance is around 9ft!!

I currently have Yamaha rx 675 w dali zensor 3 as fronts, and will be adding a subwoofer within this week!!

Planning to get zensor vokal as centre and a pair of zensor 1 as surrounds sometime next week.

as you can see, space is at a premium and have these 2 options

1) push the sofa a bit forward and place the stands + speakers in the rear, which reduces the viewing area further (TV is 46inch so i guess moving closer would be not easy the eyes?)

2) stands + speakers on either side and turned towards the seating area.

I know both are not great options, but of these two which is better??

And what should be the optimal height for these surrounds?? While seated, my ear level is approx 37.5 inches from ground!

Thank you!!

 

[ghatgepatil]

:sad:.... you would have been a lot better with satellites instead of BS! Its looking too cramped, IMO.

 

[elangoas]

Bipoles / Dipoles should do for your seating arrangement rather than a BS + Speaker stand...

 

[Raghav_K]

Elango, bipoles are meant to be wall mounted? And can they be mounted behind the sofa?

And any good bipoles recommendation? Zensor 1 costs around 21k, so any good bipoles in that range?

 

[Raghav_K]

:sad:.... you would have been a lot better with satellites instead of BS! Its looking too cramped, IMO.

I used a wide angle lens to cover the whole area so there s some distortion of space in in the photo... It's not cramped now, but it will be if i have to move the sofa towards the tv!

Will post a normal pic tomorrow!

 

[magma]

For Surround duty
Just both them on the sides of the sofa

no big deal

 

[mpw]

space is at a premium

try wharfedale WH2 - wall mountable.. see pics on the net.. good price too..

i know - timber match - dont worry too much - surrounds dont do much of a duty in movies and for TV or soaps ( or to hear Arnab Goswami ) watching.. you wont notice the diff

mpw

 

[elangoas]

Elango, bipoles are meant to be wall mounted? And can they be mounted behind the sofa?

And any good bipoles recommendation? Zensor 1 costs around 21k, so any good bipoles in that range?

Yes. Bipoles are meant to be wall mounted. No harm is mounting behind the sofa....

Wharfedale diamond Bipolars are around 15 - 18K...

 

[ranjeetrain]

Challenges of small spaces

You can solve this problem in one of many ways.

Solution one: Use a normal satelite speaker pair. Stand mount it slightly above the ear level. Fire it focusing on the rear wall slightly angled in towards the seating position. Use the audyssey setup or equivalent to tweak the sound levels.

Solution two: Use a bipole speaker pair. Position it firing sideways, it's rear facing the rear wall with some space between the speaker and the wall.

Solution three: Use a dipole speaker pair. Position it along side the sofa with the speaker facing the listener (without any toe in with the wall). Leave some space between the speakers and the wall. You will need to play with the distance between the sofa, speaker stand and the wall to get the position right.

These solutions are in the increasing order of cost, complexity, and sophistication. Last one will give you the best ambiance experience while the first one is the simplest and cheapest. In all the cases, you will need to calibrate the speakers for the best result.

 

[Raghav_K]

^ @Ranjeetrain: 2 and 3 are complex for me can you tell me more about solution 1? are you suggesting something like this??

Also would using bookshelves and mounting them like this work?? (guess this is what magma is suggesting)

this would be the simplest And ranjeet, is solution 3 similar to this, except with dipoles in place of bookshelves?? in that case what would be the advantage?? If not, then can you explain solution 3 in detail??

Thanks for the responses guys!! really grateful

edit: second pic came from here, http://4seating.com/home-theater-seating-blog/audio_dolby_reference.htm#s3.2

 

[ranjeetrain]

^ @Ranjeetrain: 2 and 3 are complex for me can you tell me more about solution 1? are you suggesting something like this??

Yes. You need to play with the angle to get the imaging right.

Also would using bookshelves and mounting them like this work?? (guess this is what magma is suggesting)

Yes, this will also do. Just don't put them too close to the wall. Better if the speakers are bipole.

And ranjeet, is solution 3 similar to this, except with dipoles in place of bookshelves?? in that case what would be the advantage?? If not, then can you explain solution 3 in detail??

Yes, solution three is similar to solution two. Difference being two uses bipole and three uses dipole. Also the speaker orientation needs to be different.

Go for the solution you can achieve with least worry for now. Later you can change if you are not satisfied.

 

[[email protected]]

Change the entire position setup.. Try positioning it to the adjacent wall (blue window side/opposite wall) & you will get a big head room for optimum performance. Dont forget to use a door stopper prior it hit your speaker stand. Happy R&D !

 

[Raghav_K]

Change the entire position setup.. Try positioning it to the adjacent wall (blue window side/opposite wall) & you will get a big head room for optimum performance. Dont forget to use a door stopper prior it hit your speaker stand. Happy R&D !

Considering that too... Will have to do that if this setup doesn't work well...

 

[Raghav_K]

Guys one more doubt! How high should the surround speakers be, when placing them on the sides of sofa? At ear level or above ear level?

Planning to go for bipoles + side stands for now!

My ear is 95cm above the ground, and lets say the speaker length is 25cm, what should be my stand size?

 

[elangoas]

Guys one more doubt! How high should the surround speakers be, when placing them on the sides of sofa? At ear level or above ear level?

Planning to go for bipoles + side stands for now!

My ear is 95cm above the ground, and lets say the speaker length is 25cm, what should be my stand size?

Approx < 1 feet higher than your ear level...

 

[magma]

Biploes are to be placed way above your ears sir
PLease confirm that with your speaker dealer or read up a bit ( i may be wrong )
the last diploe stands i made we 50 inches and 42 inches in height
However at these heights there is only one stand you can condier since its the only one that will be stable so high with a 10kgs speaker a top

http://www.hifivision.com/audio-vid...er-stands-soundfoundations-14.html#post540884

Regular surrounds would like their tweeters 2-3 inches above your ear