Speaker Placement NightMares

Large and small have less to do with physical size than with the speaker's ability to play the low notes. If you set your receiver to "small" - it will not pass low frequencies to the main speakers. That's where the cross-over adjustment comes in. Try starting with 100 MHz and adjust till it sounds best to your ears in your room with your setup. And yes, it should be fine to have the sub in the rear, maybe not optimum but acceptable.

As far as speakers in the dining area, larger spaces tend to sound better than smaller spaces. But always remember the SAF*. It's the single biggest key to longterm enjoyment of your system.... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... SAF = spouse acceptance factor

A speaker is considered "large" if it can dip down to around 20 Hz or so. If your speaker can't get down this low with authority, let the subwoofer handle it by setting that speaker to "small". It's less stress on your receiver, and hey, the sub was made to handle these low frequencies. Most speakers can handle low notes, but not with as much authority as a sub can.

Choose a crossover that suits your least performing speaker. For example, in my setup, my centre speaker goes down only to 60 Hz, while the rest of my speakers go down further. So I set my crossover at 80 Hz. I'm not sure how steep the "slope" is; it's not a brick wall, but you want to give it a bit of room. If you receiver offers crossovers for each individual speaker, then do the same for each of them.

Leaving the sub in the right rear corner should be fine. Trust your ears -- if you don't like the sound, move it. Sound at such low frequencies are non-directional, so you can't tell from where they're coming. Sub placement is important, though. Moving a sub just a few inches in any direction can change the sound quite a bit. Experiment with it and use whatever sounds best to you.

Move into the dining area for what exactly? I don't get what you're trying to ask . . .

Good luck!

cheers, vij

I know you mean 100 Hz. : )

Vij, you mean your sub doesn't go that high? LOL. Thanks ....you're

right of course. I've been spending too much time with my computer and

not enough with my stereo...

Thank you very much for the info. I am really overwhelmed by how intricate this is. I think I get the crossover idea. The room where I watch movies is both my living and dining area. Imagine this when I watch movies I am facing north. From the west wall to the east wall is the greatest distance in my room. The western third of the room my dining area and it is only separated by a small Japanese folding screen. The left from and surround speakers aren't in the dining area. They are on the border facing the sofa. What I was getting at is Should I place the speakers proportionate to the entire room or leave the left speakers on the border? I wish there was a way to post a jpg on here because I could quickly post the room details with measurements etc.

Hope this clarifies things.

Thanks for hte reply!! I totally agree with the SAF.!! Lol

Yup Sorry!

one more thing, my sub has a hz dial. what shoul it be set at?

Wow thanks for the fast reply!!! I just translated the speaker details into English. I hope it makes sense to someone. It looks like my surround speakers are the weakest at 45Hz. I can set my crossover as low as 60Hz the next is 80Hz. Thanks for hte info on the sub setting I pushed hte direct button. Is it important if the front speakers are close to the wall or not?

SURROUND Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 80 W Rated sensitivity level 83 dB/W/m Rated frequency range 45 Hz - 100 kHz Crossover frequency 7 kHz Cabinet content volume 7.8 liter Use speaker Woofer 8cm A-OMF diaphragm ×2 Tweeter - 2cm neo balance dome ×1 Size 182 W×952 H×195 Dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 8.2 kg (1 unit) Terminal The gold-plating brass it starts shaving, screw system

SUB Type Amplifier built-in bus reflex type Input sensitivity 2v (speaker input), 68mV (line input) Input impedance 4.7k Omega (speaker input),54k Omega (line input) Utility installed capacity 75w (5 Omega * JEITA) Playback frequency range 30Hz - 200Hz (at the time of FILTER), 30Hz -

1kHz (at the time of DIRECT) High cut-off filter Variable (50 - 200Hz) Cut-off filter change ON/OFF switch 0 (FILTER/DIRECT) Cabinet content volume 16 liter Maximum external size 236w×371hx362dmm Mass 13.0kg Use speaker 20cm cone type External input terminal RCA pin input, one-touch type speaker input terminal External output terminal RCA pin pre- output, one-touch type speaker output terminal Power source 100V (50/60Hz) Electric power consumption 50W

FRONT Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 120W Rated sensitivity level 85.5dB/W/m Rated frequency range 35hz - 40kHz Crossover frequency 3kHz Cabinet content volume 30.3 liter Woofer 13cmA-OMF cone ×2 Tweeter - 2.5cm software dome External size 185w×930H×274dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 14.5kg

CENTER Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 120W Rated sensitivity level 86.5dB/W/m Rated frequency range 58hz - 40kHz Crossover frequency 3kHz Cabinet content volume 6.1 liter Use speaker Woofer 13cmA-OMF cone ×2 Tweeter - 2.5cm software dome External size 500W×146h×168dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 6.3 K g

Clarifies things for me. I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, so your description helped. : )

I think you should keep the speakers proportionate to your HT area, not the entire room. Putting your front left speaker in the dining room isn't gonna help anything. You want the people in the main seating area to have the best surround experience, so arrange all the speakers with your sofa as the centre.

I'm constantly fiddling with my setup -- toeing in speakers, moving the sub, adjusting crossover and settings -- cos I'm always on the lookout to make my gear sound better. It's easy to let the setup overwhelm you, but just take it slowly, ask questions, try all kinds of adjustments, and trust your ears. Good luck!

cheers, vij

If you're adjusting your crossover at the receiver, then set the dial on the sub at the highest it will go.

Or you can just switch your sub to "Direct" it has the same effect but

(probably) by-passes the internal crossover - which is not being used

anyway.

To post a picture, register at an online site like photobucket.com.

Load the pic and post the address here. (For example here's a pic of my

desktop, just copy the address into your browers address bar:

When I get home tonight I'll post a pic of my set up... Might be fun to

start such a thread...

Some of that is badly translated. ; ) No speaker in the world goes up to

100 kHz, and impedence is rated in Ohms. At any rate, if your centre speaker goes down to 58 Hz, then I would recommend against the 60, and start with 80. You can move up from there, but use whatever sounds best to your ears.

I've read that the closer the front speaker is to the wall, the more exaggerated the bass will sound from those fronts. If you like the sound of it, great -- leave it. The back of my fronts are about ten inches from the wall, and they sound fine to me. The experts at Polk Audio recommend that the fronts be placed at least two feet from any wall, large piece of furniture, and especially corners. If you have a small- to mid-sized room to play with, like I have, this can be near impossible to do. Don't let them sit too close to your TV (keep the tweeters 6 to 8 feet apart), and have them sit a few inches in front of the front of your TV. But like I always say, play around with placement and use whatever sounds best to you.

SURROUND Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 80 W Rated sensitivity level 83 dB/W/m Rated frequency range 45 Hz - 100 kHz Crossover frequency 7 kHz Cabinet content volume 7.8 liter Use speaker Woofer 8cm A-OMF diaphragm ×2 Tweeter - 2cm neo balance dome ×1 Size 182 W×952 H×195 Dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 8.2 kg (1 unit) Terminal The gold-plating brass it starts shaving, screw system

SUB Type Amplifier built-in bus reflex type Input sensitivity 2v (speaker input), 68mV (line input) Input impedance 4.7k Omega (speaker input),54k Omega (line input) Utility installed capacity 75w (5 Omega * JEITA) Playback frequency range 30Hz - 200Hz (at the time of FILTER), 30Hz -

1kHz (at the time of DIRECT) High cut-off filter Variable (50 - 200Hz) Cut-off filter change ON/OFF switch 0 (FILTER/DIRECT) Cabinet content volume 16 liter Maximum external size 236w×371hx362dmm Mass 13.0kg Use speaker 20cm cone type External input terminal RCA pin input, one-touch type speaker input terminal External output terminal RCA pin pre- output, one-touch type speaker output terminal Power source 100V (50/60Hz) Electric power consumption 50W

FRONT Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 120W Rated sensitivity level 85.5dB/W/m Rated frequency range 35hz - 40kHz Crossover frequency 3kHz Cabinet content volume 30.3 liter Woofer 13cmA-OMF cone ×2 Tweeter - 2.5cm software dome External size 185w×930H×274dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 14.5kg

CENTER Type 2 ways * bus reflex type Rated impedance 6 Omega Largest input 120W Rated sensitivity level 86.5dB/W/m Rated frequency range 58hz - 40kHz Crossover frequency 3kHz Cabinet content volume 6.1 liter Use speaker Woofer 13cmA-OMF cone ×2 Tweeter - 2.5cm software dome External size 500W×146h×168dmm (the saran net * terminal projection section including) Mass 6.3 K g

Switching the sub's output to Direct does bypass the internal crossover on the sub, but I've read that turning up the dial on the sub to the maximum means that the sub will absolutely not reproduce any sounds higher in frequency than what's on the dial. I could be wrong about that, but as it's being bypassed anyway, there's no harm in turning it all the way up.

yustr, I'd post a pic of my gear, but mine is such a low- to mid-end setup. Even describing it, it seems embarrassingly low-end:

Athena Audition speakers: AS-B2 surrounds, AS-C1 centre (front and rear), AS-F2 fronts Athena Audition AS-P400 subwoofer Kenwood RFU-6100 wireless unit for rear centre speaker (it's crap -- I'm on the lookout for a better solution) Monster HTS 850 home theatre powerbar (a present from my girlfriend -- awww .. . .) Pioneer DV-588A universal DVD player (thinking of upgrading to a Denon 2900 or 2910) Scientific Atlanta 3000SD digital set top box Sony Trinitron 27" 27FS12 CRT TV (five years I've had this sucker!) Sony SLV-N750 VCR Yamaha RX-V750 home theatre receiver

cheers, vij

I'm sorry but I couldn't tell you anything by looking at that model information. That's why I started reading online. I was on ultimateAV and it was so technical I almost went into a coma from concentrating too hard. Also you'd have to be a millionaire to afford all that stuff. I managed to make a diagram of the room. I hope it helps.

There are 2 almost identical diagrams. One is metric. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I was thinking about placing 2 rear surrounds on the window sill. My Amp can do 7.1 but I wasn't sure what type of speaker to use for the rear. I was hoping to get by with a couple of cheap pc speakers until I get some more dough.

Thanks for everyone's help!!!

CodFather

I posted with the diagrams above by mistake. Please read the above post.

Cod

Sure you can put the rears on the window sill. Everybody's gonna say they should be high up, like six feet high, and that's true. But the truth is it still works if they're a bit closer to ear level. They work better when they're higher up, mind you. The window sill should be fine, but if you can get them elevated, do it definitely. PC speakers, well, depending on what kind, they might work, but don't push them too hard. Save up for some bookshelf speakers to use for your rears.

I would like to say though, that 5.1 is perfectly adequate. Movies are encoded in 6.1 at the most (although with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, there will be true 7.1) and the rear channel(s) are for the most part just ambience. You won't really lose anything if you don't have them. So don't feel as though you MUST have 7.1 in order for your home theatre to be perfect and stunning and wonderful. Of course, 7.1 is still better than 5.1, but I'm just sayin', you know.

cheers, vij