Height for surrounds

[Inkabodpain]

I will be moving to a new home where I will have a dedicated HT room "HURRAY!" . I know where to place my L/R and C. Where I live now I have my Side- L/R surrounds at ear level and my Back -L/R surrounds the same height, they sound good in that position. Not sure if that height is OK or if I should go higher. At the new place I have play room with height for my side surroundsRS-62's. For my back surrounds RS-52's the only place I could put them is right above the door frame of the storage space for the right rear surround and above the door frame of the bathroom for my left rear surround . Which is about 7FT from the floor to the top edge of the door frame. And from the top edge of the door frame to the ceiling I have about 13 INCHES .TheRS52's would fit within that space. Would that be to high for the surround speakers. Last question do the RS-62's have to be at 90 degrees from seating position or can they be a little further away from 90 degrees. Any advice is welcomed . Thanks !

[Chris A]

Any advice is welcomed .

Boy - did you make a mistake on that one...[6]

Not sure if that height is OK or if I should go higher.

Good height. It looks like the RS-52s and -62s have symmetrical hf horns, meaning that the on-axis response from each hf side (bipolar drivers) is parallel with the floor. I would try to avoid getting them too close to the ceiling to avoid ceiling bounce.

For my back surrounds RS-52's the only place I could put them is right above the door frame of the storage space for the right rear surround and above the door frame of the bathroom for my left rear surround . Which is about 7FT from the floor to the top edge of the door frame. And from the top edge of the door frame to the ceiling I have about 13 INCHES .TheRS52's would fit within that space.

Have you thought about angling the RS-52's down a bit? This would be an elegant solution to having them a bit too high. If you could use a wedge-shaped piece of wood behind the speaker to angle them downwards, that would eliminate any gaps between the speaker and the wall.

...do the RS-62's have to be at 90 degrees from seating position or can they be a little further away from 90 degrees.

One hundred ten degrees is optimal, according to Toole.

Chris [A]

[Youthman]

Take a look at my previous room setup. The RB-35's in the rear were mounted where you want to mount yours. Honestly, they served no purpose there. They were angled down as far as my mount would go but it wasn't enough. The speakers were pointing at my front screen and rarely were heard. I later added the RS-35's to the sides and then a few weeks later bought the RS-52's to replace the RS-35's. Wow, what a difference. The RS-52's on the sides 2-3 ft above ear level sounded 100% better than the RB-35's on the back wall high up on the wall. FYI, my ceiling is 10ft.

You can see some photos of where I mounted the RS-52's here. They are 2-3 ft above ear level and in between my front and rear seats (110 degrees) as suggested.

I have since removed the RB-35's altogether and have a 5.1 system and it sounds fantastic.

If you are able to angle the rear speakers down towards the listening area, that would be best. If they can only fire straight forward, I'm afraid at that height, they won't do you much good.

From my own experience, I have found that a properly placed 5.1 system sounds much better than an improperly placed 7.1 system.

THX Speaker Placement Suggestions

Dolby Speaker Placement Suggestions

Hope that helps.

[Chris A]

From my own experience, I have found that a properly placed 5.1 system sounds much better than an improperly placed 7.1 system.

Actually, Toole stated that any speakers beyond 110 degrees from centerline just didn't add much of anything psychoacoustically, implying to me that 5.1 properly setup really equals a typical 7.1 setup (a fairly controversial comment, I might add, and one that might decrease sales for Harman International, the company that he retired from as chief engineer a couple of years ago).

 

I'm not taking sides on this issue since I don't use 7.1, but I will say that I found very little in Toole's book that I thought was off the mark. [:|] Toole implies that you might be able to not use separate back surround speakers and still essentially get the same performance if you are willing to set it up well as a 5.1.

Chris

Edited October 26, 2015 by Chris A