Rear speaker height help

[matt220992]

Hi everyone, my first post

I have a 7.0 set up and im really happy with the front set up and where it all is but I have put the rear speakers up near the ceiling angled slightly downwards towards my seating possition.
What im wandering is if I put them down to ear level or just above ear level (whichever seems best these days!) will I notice a significant improovement in surround effects in films?
Because I don't want to move them unless I know for sure im really missing out on performance, as it will mean reshuffling a lot of furniture and finding new places for things! The left wall has shelving most of the way up it with stuff on which is why I originally placed them so high up, over the top.

So yeah am I loosing all the great rear soundtracks over my head or will it make no huge difference?

Matt

 

[JonathanAV]

Hello Matt,

Great that uve joined the Forum

Its always a hard point (I think) when it comes to surround speakers & there location, with so many types, Bi-pole, Tri-pole etc.
I have found that if you keep surround speakers at ear level height they can be to much if close to your ears/listening position, if you have a large room & can keep them ear level with a good distance from your listening position they should work & this is also ideal if you are using 7.1ch (a further set of surround speakers behind you) but if not keep your rear speakers behind you at an angle directed to your listening position.
If your reciever/amplifier/processor has sound levels/adjustments I would try this first before moving the speakers i.e. adjusting these settings on your reciever/amp could create a suitable sound affect.
Myself at present am using ceiling speakers for rears & find a very good effect (but I have them set up with a sound meter etc.)

Hope this helps,
Jonny

 

[matt220992]

thanks

I noticed a bit of a lack of surround effect after listening to a friends surround system (which is acctually my old system that i sold him!!) but i was sitting on the end of the sofa and the speaker was about half a metre from my head and at ear level so maybe my view has become distorted a bit!
It could be that most films just dont have prominent rear soundtracks unless your ear is to the speaker!!

I will try increasing or just changing the levels a bit to see if I can improove the sound field as you said and if that doesnt help perhaps invest in some better speaker brackets to give me a bit more flexability in possitioning them where they currently are. Otherwise im extending cables and all sorts so I'll see what i can do wothout moving them for now.

Also the settings I currently have; On my Sony Amp Ive set the surrounds as small speakers and set the crossover at 70Hz which is the lowest they can go. I've auto calibrated them but then also set them manualy so i've fiddled with levels before but because of dodgy acoustics ive had to set some very high and others very low. This means I am limited to how much more volume i can get from them if i want to keep it balanced. The EQ on all the speakers is flat except the main front two where ive put the bass up 2dB to make up for the lack of subwoofer. Is that how the EQ should be or is it worth tinkering with bass and treble on everything?

M

 

[JonathanAV]

Hi Matt,

Your old system that your friend has with the rear speakers that close to your listening position I think is to close, you dont get that true surround effect with them that close (I believe anyway) If you are lucky enough to have a large room I would have them as far as possible from your listening position & I agree 100% that some films have better sound effects than others, I have even noticed this on some Sky HD films but even more so with SD DVD & Blu ray.
First good film to test your system is 'Batman Begins' it was the first film to be recorded in Lossless sound (Dolby HD sound) but sounds brillant in 5.1 DD.

I have also had similar problems in the past with only certain places to position rear speakers without having to re-lay speaker cables etc, if you can get cheap or 2nd hand brackets for them it might just help. How high are the speakers? sometimes you can place them to high. If they are satalite speakers I would place them approx half meter above your listening position & at least a meter away from you (if you can)

I have took a quick read at your Sony's Instruction manual on your Amp & think you have done what you can do by Auto Calibration etc
I wouldnt tinker to much with the EQ if its Calibrated.
It might be because you dont have a Sub in your set-up that it could be the problem. Because your rear speakers are set as small speakers you will lose that full range effect.
If you get your rears in the best position possible then maybe borrow a Sub off a friend, it might solve your problem

Hope ive helped & not you more
let me know, Jonny

 

[matt220992]

I agree they were too close which is why I think I noticed such a huge difference when I got home to my set up!
I havnt acctualy seen Batman so I'll have to get hold of that it does look good, but I have the Dolby and DTS Blu-Ray Test Demo discs which have some great new trailers and best surround sound moments in both films and music in 1080P and in beautiful Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD some of which are in 7.1 which are nice!

Yeah I probably will try and get some better speaker brackets that way I can angle them a bit better and see what I can get out of them.
To be honest they are probably too high at about 2m (the bottom of the speaker about level with an average sized UK bedroom door).
I would have them at about head height (half a metre ish above listening possition) when im standing up so there not ear level but not too far away either. I have got about 1m and 1.5m either side of my chair probably just a bit more so width wise they should be good. But as I said on the left wall it would be a big operation to move them down that far or any real distance so I dont know really.

As far as the Amp settings go im going to have to come back to you in about a week because the amp has been sent of for repairs, nothing major just a firmware upgrade. The amp wouldnt take a seperate audio feed if it was recieveing video through hdmi, a know manufacturing software fault that they've now fixed; mine was just an early buy!! So that should be back next week all nice and fixed gonna miss her tho!! lol

But I think I'll try watching a few trailers with different rear speaker settings on small or large. I reckoned small was better because on small setting you get a crossover option for the rears which you dont with large setting. I think it assumes if they are large they can handle the full range, and i didnt want my rears to be bottoming out on big bangs and things so i set them at 70Hz which is as low as they are rated to go.

The sub could be an issue but my fronts are Eltax Millennium 500s which have a three way bass reflex and have 2 tweeter 2 midrange and Four 250mm woofers between them so i would have hoped they wernt lacking in bass but I see what your saying. Unfortunately I dont know anyone who could lend me a subwoofer so I think i'll have to overlook the subwoofer as a possible fix

Thank you so much for all you help, for looking through manuals and stuff! Very kind of you
I'll certainly keep you posted on how it goes

M

 

[JonathanAV]

Yeh, your rears sound like the pefect height if it was THX Di-pole or Tri-pole speakers, but these speakers are full range (sounds comming from every angle! lol)
My old Kef THX speakers years ago had to be placed about the same height you mentioned but they were beasts
If you cant lower them id try just tilting them more.
Its hard in any room to get the right sound field. Im still dreaming of building that home cinema room when my Lotto numbers come up
I dont have a Sub yet either (since moving house 3 years ago) but my Kef 205's shake the house & neighbours lol Yours also should be good enough without a Sub

my Tag Mclaren Processor is also playing up & it has to be sent off for repairs in the next week or so.
Something always goes wrong when im skint

Cheers, Jonny

 

[matt220992]

Sounds like were in exactly the same boat mate!!! Right down to amp repairs lol.
In the void of sound that will be this week, because of the amp, Im gonna scour ebay for four suitable but more importantly budget speaker brackets so when the amp returns I will hopefully have or be in the process of doing somthing for the rear speaker situation, I think pointing them more accurately is going to be my only simple fix, but I think it should work pretty well.

I'll keep you updated
Share the dream cinema idea by the way, like your thinking

Matt