7.1 (actually 6.1) in a narrow room?

[wuzzzer]

Anyone on here running rear surrounds in a narrow room? My room is 10 feet wide. Do you feel that it was an upgrade over only having side surrounds? I'm getting a nice bonus from work in August and want to spend a little of my hard-earned cash.

I've been very happy with my KG 3.5s as side surrounds and was thinking of something from the KG line as rear surrounds. Another pair of 3.5s would be great. I'd prefer them to be floorstanding versus smaller bookshelves that I'd have to mount on the wall.

Any advice would be great!

I'm not using a center speaker so that's why I specified 6.1 instead of 7.1. I'm not interested in a center speaker due to the limitations from my TV stand.

[dtel]

I don't know the answer because my room is wider than deep. [*-)] But let me ask a question, if you room is skinny I would think side surrounds would be harder to get right than rear surrounds. I say this because the sides would be very close to the seating position compared to rear where you would have more room. Have you tried your side speakers in the rear to see how it sounds, it may give you the sound your looking for ?

This is all just a guess. [] []

[DU73]

Excellent point dtel, absolutely worth a try.

My room is a approx 3.5 metres across, for my rears I have one on the side and the other behind seating area, not ideal, I have it set up like this not by choice, its the best I can do with the room and walls and to me it sounds fantastic.

[colterphoto1]

depends on where you're sitting and current speaker placement.

height really matters. I have two CW's behind me for standard surrounds ( I know, not right), and added a RS behind and ABOVE and it made a world of difference getting that height component and filling the void in the middle.

[colterphoto1]

If you have the surrounds and seating placed ideally, you'll be sitting about halfway back in your long room with the side surrounds behind you. Ideally the front portion of the speaker will be aimed toward you and the rear part of the WDST will be bouncing off the rear wall.

You may do more good by getting proper surround speakers than adding rear surrounds, I don't have experience with that.

[Just_Strummin]

I think the software places a large signal through the middle speaker for voice. I know your rack won't support it, but I'd replace your rack with another that allowed you to get the middle speaker option. Much more important than rear or side.

BTW, I have my side speakers mounted in the ceiling.

HTH!

[picky]

wuzzer: How does a 10.5'W x 19'D x 7'H room sound for being narrow and small? I am running a 7.1 Klipsch Reference Series (RF7 fronts) setup in there and I cannot imagine it sounding nearly as good without the rear channels! Just ask Michael (Colter), Roger (IndyKlipschFan) or others who have been over to the house what they think of the sound in my very narrow room! Don't be afraid to give it a go. I have an RC7 center, RS7 sides and in-wall RCW-5s for the rears along with an RSW15 sub. -Glenn

[Montigue231]

hey wuzzer, I put kg .5's hooked to surround back on the receiver and mounted them above my mains as front effects..i love this 7.1 over the 5.1 it really fills in some nice sweet sound. My rears and front effects are mounted at the same height in the room close to the ceiling so all the rear affects i can hear up high in every corner of my room..i would say go for it..My room is 12x12 i just abselutely love it.

[IndyKlipschFan]

This is a great example of if you use the wide dispersion sides and rears, you can really make the room "FEEL" much bigger than it is...

[winchester21]

I am running a 7 speaker setup in long- fairly narrow-13' x 24 ft room. Very cluttered multi purpose man cave. Listening position is dead in the middle. Conventional rear/side surround hookup. Works beyond belief for what it is/what I paid. The BIG difference occured when I elevated all of the horns on the Lascalas to the same height as the k horns. PITA but worth the trouble. I am thinking about raising the Cornwalls- side surrounds up as well. 7 speakers worked better for me than 5 or 6- Tried everything beore settling on this config. Playing with speaker placement and height is the key in my very unscientific rookie opinion.

[Islander]

In deciding between 5.1 and 6.1 or 7.1, I'd say the main factor would the depth of the room or how far you're sitting from the wall behind you. The width of the room is not that important. If you're less than 3 or 4 feet from the back wall, there's not much room for a rear surround speaker or two, but if you're further from that back wall, adding rear surround speaker(s) should improve the sound and soundstaging especially if it (they) match the side surround speakers.

[wuzzzer]

Thanks for all the responses! Its good to hear real-life experiences.

I sit about 6 feet from the back wall. My KG 3.5s are just behind my sectional, sitting right next to the side walls, aimed at the main listening position.

There's a couple KG 3.5 pairs that have been on eBay that I've been thinking about. They're medium oak just like the ones I have now so they'd match well both visually and sonically. I like the narrow cabinet of the 3.5, doesn't take up too much floor space.

If I ever find a good deal on a KG floorstanding pair I'll definitely get them. I bought my current ones on eBay for $150 and the seller only was an hour away so I was able to pick them up.