Speaker placement

Casa2 · Oct 21, 2007 7:38 pm

I've been reseaching home theatre speaker placement. The 5.1, 7.1 jargon used to confuse me, but like most things, it's easy once you know.

(5.1 = 5 full range speakers (front-left, front-cente, front-right, rear-left and rear-right plus a woofer (low frequencies) that you can place wherever is convenient.

7.1 = as above plus two more rear speakers)

Now, everyone mentions that the front three speakers should be at roughly ear level. I assume that the viewing screen should be roughly at eye level or at least bracket eye level.

Now here's my problem. My ears are at about the same level as my eyes (wierd I know). This would mean the the cenre-front speaker would be somewhere in front of the screen :shock:

So, what's the story. Where should the front-centre speaker be and where is it put in practice?

Cheers,
Casa

arkraider · Oct 21, 2007 7:49 pm

Hi Casa, I am sure Rod or Matt will be here soon, but in the meantime....
In the perfect world yes all the front speakers, just like the cinemas, would be behind the screen and all the sides and rear speakers aren't too high up the wall, but all angled downward.....

At home we can atleast angle the side and rear speakers and generally the front ones work with asthetics..... as long as they are 98-100% Left-Centre-Right, it will still sound great.
Also depends on whether you have floor standing left/right speakers or they are wall mounted speakers.....

Hope this helps..

mattwalker · Oct 21, 2007 9:38 pm

Depends on the technology...

LCD, Plasmas and CRT (Old style) TV's are easy. The speakers are usually to the sides or along the top or bottom. When A 5.1 system is used in a system that involves one of these setups it is possible sometimes to use the inbuilt speakers for the centre channel speaker. This, although not always ideal, is sometimes a good way of having the speakers in the centre of the image.

When this is not possible the speaker can be placed either above or below and "aimed" up or down to appear to be at the same level as the left and right speakers.

The other side of video is projectors.

Projectors are a lot less flexible when it comes to speaker placement. Screen sizes for projectors are usually very large and normally in excess of 90 Inches.

With a screen of this size it is near impossible to get the centre speaker at the same height as the left and right speakers.

With a normal screen:

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The centre speaker would need to be place above or below a screen material like his. In order to combat this issue perforated screens were invented:

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The aim is always to make the centre speaker appear to come from the centre of the image being viewed, not always needing to line up as such with the outside speakers.

Casa2 · Oct 21, 2007 10:32 pm

Thanks arkraider and Matt for the feedback.

Matt, you mentioned that with LCD/Plasma/CRT it is fairly easy to locate the front-centre speaker. Is it an actual speaker or "created" from the front-left and front-right?

I can see how the perforated screen provides a solution to the "problem" that our eyes and ears are at the same level. Now, I'm going for a screen that would retract into the ceiling. Can these be perforated?

From what I can gather, the best practical solution would be to mount the front-centre speaker on the ceiling and point it to the centre of the viewing area. Is this OK?

Cheers,
Casa

mattwalker · Oct 21, 2007 10:45 pm

Casa2

Thanks arkraider and Matt for the feedback.

Matt, you mentioned that with LCD/Plasma/CRT it is fairly easy to locate the front-centre speaker. Is it an actual speaker or "created" from the front-left and front-right?

With TV's it is easier as you just place the centre speaker on or under the screen. ie the centre of the screen is usually within 30cm of the centre speaker.

In some cases you can use the screens in-built speakers as the centre channel removing the need for a seperate speaker.

Casa2

I can see how the perforated screen provides a solution to the "problem" that our eyes and ears are at the same level. Now, I'm going for a screen that would retract into the ceiling. Can these be perforated?

Perforated screens are available in fixed or motorised.

Casa2

From what I can gather, the best practical solution would be to mount the front-centre speaker on the ceiling and point it to the centre of the viewing area. Is this OK?

Either the floor or the ceiling.

In this particular install it is above the screen.

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In this one it is behind:

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In this one it was ceiling speakers faced downwards (not usually recommended):

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and in this one they are down the bottom on the left and right of the TV (see white rectangles)

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It is not always what is sonically best. Sometimes visually and financially come in to play too

Casa2 · Oct 21, 2007 11:26 pm

Matt,

From what I've gathered, I'll probably go for a speaker box mounted on the ceiling just in front of the projection screen pointing down so that it rougjly aims at ear level for the lounges at the rear.

I have the added complication of using the one wall for:
1) Projection screen
2) LCD TV
3) Window with a view.

If I can put the speaker on the ceiling then it leaves all three functions OK.

Thanks for your hlp.

Cheers,
Casa

mattwalker · Oct 21, 2007 11:29 pm

No Problems....