My room is a rectangle

[Jdb]

My room is a rectangle, maybe 15 ft by 25 ft or so. What wall should I put
my TV on to get the best acoustics? Long or short. Right now I have it on the
long wall so the FL, FR and surround speakers are all fairly wide, but am
getting a new TV this weekend so would not mind rewiring and moving everything
if it would make for a better sounding set up. but I do not want to go though
all that moving around if there is no chance it would help. All my wiring is
in my walls/floor so I cant really just place the speakers around to see if it
changes the sound.

Thanks

JDB

[Islander]

Klipsch recommends placing their speakers on the long wall in most cases. One rule of thumb is that the speakers should be as far apart as you are sitting from them, meaning, for example, if they're 12 feet from your listening position, they should be around 12 feet apart. That will give a 60-degree angle between them, which works well for most recordings. That's a good starting point, then you can experiment from there to see what works best in your room with your speakers.

If you mostly watch TV and movies, some home theatre experts suggest that the main speakers should not be too far away from the sides of the screen, since action at the side of the screen will sound like it's well off-screen, giving a slightly distracting effect. I want my music to sound as good as possible, so that doesn't bother me at all.

[jacksonbart]

At least you're learning to think outside the box.

[gnatnoop]

i was going to say my room is a cube...but i see there's already a smart a ss remark posted so i guess i won't...

[George Roland]

You could buy some inexpensive wire from The Home Depot and make some temporary speaker cables so that you could move your speakers and TV around to different positions prior to doing a lot of custom rewiring. Live with it a week or so and see whether you like the difference.

I like Home Depot's 12 guage outdoor wiring--it's stranded copper wire and rather inexpensive. Crimp on appropriate terminators and you're all set.

Once you have dialed in the positions you like, you can redo your preferred wiring installation.

George

[colterphoto1]

For home theater you'll do much better with things oriented in the long direction. Hopefully no one insists on the sofa or chairs being pushed against the rear wall, if you can sit 1/2 to 1/3 the room length away from the screen, you'll have enough depth to allow convincing surround effects.

If you sit against the back wall your brain knows it (from the acoustics and timing of reflections) so it's nearly impossible to get realistic surround effects.

M

[colterphoto1]

Klipsch recommends placing their speakers on the long wall in most cases. One rule of thumb is that the speakers should be as far apart as you are sitting from them, meaning, for example, if they're 12 feet from your listening position, they should be around 12 feet apart. That will give a 60-degree angle between them, which works well for most recordings. That's a good starting point, then you can experiment from there to see what works best in your room with your speakers.

If you mostly watch TV and movies, some home theatre experts suggest that the main speakers should not be too far away from the sides of the screen, since action at the side of the screen will sound like it's well off-screen, giving a slightly distracting effect. I want my music to sound as good as possible, so that doesn't bother me at all.

To expand on this a bit, I always recommend placing the mains speakers about 1/2 the screen width away from the screen. This give a 'wider-than-the-screen' HT effect and also becomes closer to the equilateral triangle for stereo listening. However personally I agree with Pat and love a very wide sound stage so my LS are about 6' each from my 42" plasma. I sit about 12 feet away.

[Chris A]

My room is a rectangle, maybe 15 ft by 25 ft or so. What wall should I put
my TV on to get the best acoustics? Long or short. Right now I have it on the
long wall so the FL, FR and surround speakers are all fairly wide, but am
getting a new TV this weekend so would not mind rewiring and moving everything
if it would make for a better sounding set up. but I do not want to go though
all that moving around if there is no chance it would help. All my wiring is
in my walls/floor so I cant really just place the speakers around to see if it
changes the sound.

I've found that the answer to this question depends on a couple of things:

1) Your preferred listening position - this can be difficult in small rooms. and you never want to sit in the exact middle of the room or close to a wall. If you do pick one of these spots, you're probably going to be dissatisfied until you move that listening position.

2) Your speakers -- I see that you are using a 5.1 setup, and those usually don't go into the corners (except the sub, which always goes best in a corner if you want smooth FR).

I think Michael's (Colterphoto's) advice is good, including using the long dimension of the room. Paul Klipsch's published articles were mostly about turning a 2-channel stereo setup into a 3-channel system by using the wide dimension of the room, a custom mixing box, and his corner horns. I see that isn't your situation.

Chris