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Floorstanding speakers as surround speakers and placement

poopy

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Hi all,

I have recently upgraded my front left/right floorstanding speakers. As a result, I have a spare pair of floorstanding speakers that I may use as surround speakers (otherwise I will sell them). Usually I place my surround speakers behind my couch following (as much as possible) the dolby recommendations in a 5.1 setup, see the link below pp. 26

https://www.dolby.com/siteassets/te...atmos-installation-guidelines-121318_r3.1.pdf

In this configuration, my surround speakers are somewhat behind the couch - Indeed, I can’t do 110°/120° as recommended due to furniture constraints but I can do about 130°.

Here is the rub: the back of my couch (this is a recliner couch) is slightly higher than my floorstanding speakers, and moreover, the distance between the couch and the wall is about 2 feet. So, if I want to use the floorstanding speakers, I’d need to raise them.

Would that be enough to have only the tweeter above the back of the couch (and then above my head), or would I need the two woofers as well above the back of the couch? In this configuration, I’d need to raise the speakers by about 2 or 2 1/2 feet.

With the bookshelf speakers used as surround speakers, I would use a bespoke stand so that tweeter + woofer is above the back of the couch. This corresponds to having the tweeter at around 5 feet from the floor.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
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poopy

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Yes this should be okay, as long as the front of the woofer is not completely blocked by the coach

I would have between 1/2 and 1 foot between the back of the couch and the woofers.
 
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poopy

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is there a direct line of sight between the back of your head / ears and the woofers? then it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'direct line of sight', but the woofers will be hidden by the back of the sofa.
 
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poopy

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if you were to sit 'backwards' would you be able to see the woofers?

No. For illustration purposes, I have attached a picture found on the Web. Imagine the back of the couch is as high as the speakers and the distance couch-speakers is say 1/2 foot shorter. If I were to turn my head around, I wouldn't be able to see the woofers.
Klipsch-7-2-Surround-Setup.jpg
 

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poopy

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The picture attached above is almost same as my setup but my couch as a higher back (up to my ears about) and I have a bit less space between the couch and the speakers. I could have 1 foot distance by moving the couch forward.
 

abdo123

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If I were to turn my head around, I wouldn't be able to see the woofers.

That could potentially be a problem, but if it sounds alright it's alright.

From my perspective there does seem to be a direct line of sight, but you know best.

1626898701826.png
 

DVDdoug

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It depends on how much of a perfectionist you are... I wouldn't be too concerned as long as the tweeters aren't blocked. The surround sounds add a lot to the "experience" but IMO the sound quality from the rear (and-or sides) isn't as important as the fronts.

My rear speakers are hanging "sideways" hear the ceiling and angled down which probably isn't "correct" but . They are also older "floor speakers", probably 2-feet high, not "towers".)
 
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poopy

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Replying to abdo123:
In your case your head seems to be above the back of the couch, so you can see the woofers. In my case, I would be able to see maybe half the woofer below the tweeter because my eyes are just slightly higher than the back of the couch if I'm sitting and turn my head around.

Another solution could be raising the speakers un such a way I have the tweeter + 1 woofer above the back of the couch. Like I would do with the bookshelf speakers.

The problem is that I want to avoid to have to raise the speakers to high for stability reasons.
 

AdamG

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It should work fine. As long as the tower tweeters are clear of the couch blocking them your good. Another words if you had a Frikking Lazer hooked up to the tweeters would the beam strike your head and not the back of the couch. Aka direct line of sight.
 

abdo123

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Replying to abdo123:
In your case your head seems to be above the back of the couch

if your coach blocks the back of your head then there isn't much that you can do. but as long as the tweeter is not blocked then it should be 95% fine.

most Home Cinema setups have long chairs and it's not a super big deal.
 
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poopy

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It depends on how much of a perfectionist you are... I wouldn't be too concerned as long as the tweeters aren't blocked. The surround sounds add a lot to the "experience" but IMO the sound quality from the rear (and-or sides) isn't as important as the fronts.

My rear speakers are hanging "sideways" hear the ceiling and angled down which probably isn't "correct" but . They are also older "floor speakers", probably 2-feet high, not "towers".)

I'm certainly not a perfectionist :)
Objectively you're right.

In my case, I don't want to have the situation in which having floorstanding speakers is best but sound worse because of poor placement. That's why I'm asking for some advices.
 
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poopy

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It should work fine. As long as the tower tweeters are clear of the couch blocking them your good. Another words if you had a Frikking Lazer hooked up to the tweeters would the beam strike your head and not the back of the couch. Aka direct line of sight.

I can easily raise the speakers to have the tweeter slightly above my ears, i.e. pointing to the top of my head.
 
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poopy

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if your coach blocks the back of your head then there isn't much that you can do. but as long as the tweeter is not blocked then it should be 95% fine.

most Home Cinema setups have long chairs and it's not a super big deal.

Actually my speakers have 4 drivers, 1 tweeter, 1 mid and 2 woofers. I can have the tweeter and the mid driver just above my ears by raising the speakers by 2/3 foot.
 

AdamG

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Actually my speakers have 4 drivers, 1 tweeter, 1 mid and 2 woofers. I can have the tweeter and the mid driver just above my ears by raising the speakers by 2/3 foot.
Experiment and find what works. A tower speaker is a far better choice for home theater use imho.
 
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poopy

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Experiment and find what works. A tower speaker is a far better choice for home theater use imho.

Yes I was meant to do some experiments. The main problem was to find something 2 or 3 feet high to raise the speakers to have all drivers above the couch. But I couldn't find anything robust for the speakers to be stable and without additional resonances. So before doing some DIY stands, I was wondering if that was worth.

I'll focus on what you and the other guys recommended, so this means for me it's much easier to find small robust stands.

Thanks all for your suggestions :)
 
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poopy

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The distances from listener to speaker sound way too close for driver integration to happen with a 3-way floorstander.

In theory, you're probably right. It may be the case that bookshelves placed high on the wall will sound way better. That's what I want to test.

In fact, I have a pair of each type, floorstanding and bookshelf. I have a umik2 so I should be able to take some measurements. Will try different heights for both pairs.
 
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