rgdawsonco Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 I had what I thought was an excellent 5.1 surround setup. KLF-20s in the front, KLF C-7 Center, and KG 3.5 for surrounds. Then one day my teenage son was wresting in the house. They knocked over a KLF-20 and the midrange driver/horn snapped in two. Arhhggg! Then while wating for parts, I put the KG-3.5s up fron and pulled a set of KSP-S6's out of storage for the surrounds. (I was really missing my KLF-20's!) When the parts arrived and I fixed the KLF-20 and then realized I could setup 6.1 surround. (Don't ask me why I never thought of it before.) So I went to Dolby's web site to actually study up on exactly how surround speakers are supposed to be positioned. I arranged the KG 3.5s as side surrounds directly left and right of the listeing position. The KSP-S6's (these are wide dispersion type surrounds) were in the rear mounted about a foot above the ears. Observations: Wow, wow, wow, this is so superior to my previous old 5.1 arrangement, which had the KG 3.5s in the back corners. I am really surprised at how much better it is for movies. On the other hand, music (Pro Logic IIx) does not work well in this configuration, so I've gone back to two channel for music. The other thing I learned was that mounting the surrounds high, as recommended at Dolby, is important. And the wide dispersion type surrounds in the rear work very well for movies (I've never liked them for music, which is why they were in storage). I'm just happy as a clam at "discovering" 6.1 surround. It's the only way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Congrats on finding something you really enjoy. I too was impressed the first few movies I watched in 6.1 after a long time 5.1 listener. After a while I started to really "hear" or notice that speaker behind me. It started sounding very localized, not blending well. I read up a bit and found out that a sound coming directly behind you can actually be interpreted as coming from the front by your brain. 7.1 fixed that and I have never looked back. I find that having two speakers off center behind you is better then one directly behind you. I also agree that higher mounted surrounds are better. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgdawsonco Posted June 16, 2006 Author Share Posted June 16, 2006 Interesting. I haven't had that problem, probably since I have two wide dispersion surrounds in back, mounted several feet apart. But my receiver will only do 6.1 not 7.1, so They are playing the same channel until I upgrade my receiver. I noticed in Klipsch's THX Ultra2 manual that they put the wide dispersion speakers as side surrounds and forward radiating speakers as the rear surrounds. I have it the other way around. I wonder how much difference that makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Got ya, I think you are in good shape then. I misread your original post thinking you actually had one single speaker in the rear. A lot of processors you just tell it in the set up if you have one or two surround backs and it will matrix them if you have two. Originally I had one center mounted rear. When I went to two rears spread out the problems went away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgdawsonco Posted June 17, 2006 Author Share Posted June 17, 2006 Yah, my Denon manual said that two speakers should be used for the back channel and said it is important to spread them apart enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fgarib Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Hey there, You mentioned that the THX Ultra manual states that the wide dispersion should be along the sides... I was wondering that very same thing and am planning on putting them like that... with the SS5's along the sides, and the SB1 Bookshelves behind me. Why had you done it the other way around? Also, I understand the Dolby labs states that the rears should be above ear level... Why is that though? Intuitively it sounds to me that all speakers shoud be AT ear level and, therefore, at the same level to give a better illusion of surround. Doesn't that make more sense? Just wondering, as I'm in the process of changing my HT setup also.. see my "Adding Beef to my HT" post in the HT forum... so any help is highly appreciated. Fauzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgdawsonco Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 I did it the other way around simply due to the room they are in. My KSP-S6's mount on a wall and I have a wall behind me. The KG3.5's are floor standing and I dont have a wall on one side, so I put the floor standing speakers on the sides. I, too, did not give much thought mounting the surrounds higher. Then I read that's what you should do and I mounted my rear surrounds higher. All I can say is that it does work better. It give you a vertical demension to the sound that was missing before. A jet flying over actually flys over the top of you. It does seem to work better. On the other hand, my current surround setup is not all that great for music, so I listen to music in 2-channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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