Pedantic question about placement of Dali surround speakers

xeonman9000

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Hi everyone, I'm probably being a bit overly pedantic, but I was wondering about the placement of my new Dali's in a surround configuration.

I have a pair of Oberon 5s for the front and a pair of Oberon 1s for the surround. Now, each speaker in a pair is marked either left or right, so obviously I put the Oberon 5 marked left at the front left and the Oberon 5 marked right at the front right, but what about the surround? I'm asking as Dali recommend the surround speakers to be placed behind you facing directly forward, therefore, should the Oberon 1 marked left be on the left side (when facing the TV) or the right? Obviously if I turned around, the left speaker would then be on the right side and vice-versa which seems strange.

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Dali's website says the following, but I think "as seen from the listening position" is a bit ambiguous in this situation so wanted to check.

In order to create the best possible stereo image, DALI loudspeakers are designed in matching pairs. Left and Right are clearly marked on both packings and the rear of the loudspeakers.

Place the Left and Right speakers to the left and right as seen from the listening position.
 
While I get matching one speaker to another (the idea being that they are closer to each other than the overall tolerance of the speakers made) they don't seem to be asymmetrical in any way so I don't think it matters. I suspect the marketing department was responsible for the left and right on the box.
 
Hi everyone, I'm probably being a bit overly pedantic, but I was wondering about the placement of my new Dali's in a surround configuration.

I have a pair of Oberon 5s for the front and a pair of Oberon 1s for the surround. Now, each speaker in a pair is marked either left or right, so obviously I put the Oberon 5 marked left at the front left and the Oberon 5 marked right at the front right, but what about the surround? I'm asking as Dali recommend the surround speakers to be placed behind you facing directly forward, therefore, should the Oberon 1 marked left be on the left side (when facing the TV) or the right? Obviously if I turned around, the left speaker would then be on the right side and vice-versa which seems strange.

View attachment 1400356

Dali's website says the following, but I think "as seen from the listening position" is a bit ambiguous in this situation so wanted to check.

It depends how pedantic you want to be here. The literature don't specifically say they are for surround use so I'm afraid you've purchased the wrong speakers. ;)

No really, as stated above there is nothing on the speaker design itself to suggest there must be a specific left/right arrangement, nor is it mentioned in the manual.

As a general note if surround speakers were marked left/right, they'd be placed accordingly when your facing forward toward the screen. The bit about l/r on their site is probably a generic statement.
 
Also I am not sure why they suggest having rear speakers behind you facing directly forward. Do they state that specifically or is it just from drawings?

I would strongly recommend testing possible locations before fixing anything. Even without atmos I found I preferred my rear speakers a little behind me on the side walls with them pointed at my head. They are just above ear height, so that they clear the chair back. Though my speakers are about 2m from my head.
 
Probably has to do with the Dalis wide dispersion tweeter. Dali recommends the speakers are always kept shooting straight, no toe in or they become overly bright sounding.
 
Thanks everyone, I suspect you're all probably right, just a bit of a marketing thing. Having said that, I ended up putting the one marked as right in the left surround position on the basis that it makes more sense for it to be to the right of the surround left one (when looking at them).

I'll definitely experiment with positioning though. My surround speakers are directly behind my sofa and in front of the back wall so if they're pointing straight ahead, even with the wide dispersion, I feel like a lot of the sound will be directed forward beyond past where my ears will be if they stay pointing straight.
 
I'd always understood that speaker orientation is relative to the listener when looking at the screen. The surround left channel is on my left when I look at the screen, for example. With dipole and bipole speakers, the L and R designation follows this pattern. If it were me I would have put the left speaker on the left of the room.

However, I think the above is correct and, in your case, it doesn't actually matter. It'd take seconds to test though.
 
What's your distance from the speakers, rear, and side walls?
The surround speakers are against the back wall, with just a couple of centimeters of clearence, the left one is a similar distance from the side wall too. They are both only about 1.4m from the MLP unfortunately due to the limitations of the room. The front speakers are around 3.4m away.
 
Sorry I don't think I was clear. If you're set up was the diagram you showed what would the lengths of A, B, C, and and D be?
 
Ahhh OK, thanks for the clarification, they would be as follows (note that there are two measurements for A in the diagram; I know they should be equal, but I have to have my sofa further back, so the diagonal A is longer):

A = 2.5m (horizontal distance from front left to front right speaker)
A = 3.4m (diagonal distance from front left/right speaker to MLP)
B = 3.5m
C = 1.4m
D = 1.05m (to side of centre speaker, 1.25 to middle)
 
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In an ideal set up the 2 distances labelled A would match (I'm fortunate in having the distance to the front 3 speakers). 1.4m should be enough to get a reasonable cone of sound from the rears.
 
Thanks Andy, I think the surrounds are just about far away enough, I watched Deadpool last night and the surround sound was very good, though I found for games it all sounds a bit flat. Think I need to have a play with positioning and configuration of levels etc in the receiver.
 

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