Rear Speaker Height

[lozrobin]

Hi,

I am new to all of this but been dreaming of a surround sound system for years and finally sorting out rear extension but the layout is long and thin and tv will be at one end with sofa half way along face on to TV. There is no rear wall as open plan to kitchen but do have a beam and plasterboard above it 3.5m back from the sitting position and the beam will start about 2.4m from the floor so guess the question is can I get away with putting rear speakers in a 5.1 setup 2.5m in the air 3.5m back from sitting position ?

Not sure I can stretch to something as fancy as Monitor Audio Silver 200 AV12 https://www.whathifi.com/monitor-audio/silver-200-... but the rear speakers in that setup look good and seem to be mounted flush to wall but really not sure about the height and distance back.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Lawrence

[AndyTR]

There are some really helpful articles on the home cinema guide website that will provide all the information you need. I'd honestly have a think about which speakers are going to be ideal in the space. Ideally the Monitor Audio's need to be positioned out from the wall, say 50cm from the back of the speaker. At that price range and in the space I'd be looking at Anthony Gallo, great quality speakers, the droplets are really cool and you could hang them from the beam.

https://www.the-home-cinema-guide.com/surround-sou...

[red_duke]

In a 5.1 surround system the rear surround speakers are supposed to be mounted to the sides of the main seating position and near ceiling height.

It’s only the newer Atmos (5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.4, etc.) layouts that use ear level rear surrounds installed behind the viewer.

[lozrobin]

Thanks for replies I had been reading in a few places that if can’t get surrounds in the ideal by side/just behind position then okay to mount behind in a 5.1 system, the speakers had thus bit of blurb from what Hi-Fi review https://www.whathifi.com/monitor-audio/silver-200-...


‘A final word on the design of those Silver FX surround speakers: their semi-hexagonal design and easily switchable dipole/bipole modes is a real touch for those unable to place them over the shoulders of their listening position.’.

I was just concerned about the distance behind and height as a lot of money if doesn’t sound right.

[tonyg58]

With your layout the way it is, if there is room just buy a pair of in-ceiling speakers and put them in approximately where they should be according to the layout diagram (just put "5.1 layout diagram" in to google and the image will show you the correct angles).
It's not perfect, but it will leave your room looking really tidy and your surrounds aren't active that often anyway.

[anonymous-user]

AndyTR said:

There are some really helpful articles on the home cinema guide website that will provide all the information you need. I'd honestly have a think about which speakers are going to be ideal in the space. Ideally the Monitor Audio's need to be positioned out from the wall, say 50cm from the back of the speaker. At that price range and in the space I'd be looking at Anthony Gallo, great quality speakers, the droplets are really cool and you could hang them from the beam.

https://www.the-home-cinema-guide.com/surround-sou...

Thanks for that link, thats really useful!

[lozrobin]

Thanks for all great replies, I did also post on another forum where someone suggested instead of the FX speakers used these https://www.monitoraudio.com/en/product-ranges/bro... atmos ones instead but as surround speakers, mount them on the beam and they naturally angle down into the MLP - seemed like a good solution, not sure if anyone else done something like that ?

Will take a look at other suggestions, thanks for posting everyone, much appreciated.

[Howard-]

red_duke said:

In a 5.1 surround system the rear surround speakers are supposed to be mounted to the sides of the main seating position and near ceiling height.

With modern discrete surround sound formats this isn't really true. It's not just to create a sense of ambience like the old early-90s Pro Logic implementations, you can have all sorts of sound effects and even voices coming from any of your speakers with "modern" audio formats.

For 5.1, it's generally recommended to have the rear speakers slightly behind and slightly above the listener's head, pointing at the listener.

If the room is long and thin then putting the speakers on stands or on wall brackets either side of the sofa will work well.

[Wombat3]

In my last place I had no option to put them in the ceiling so I used some Sonances with directional tweeters. It worked pretty well. Was particularly good with things like helicopters flying overhead

[Tony Starks]

One thing to account for is how many people are possibly going to be watching a movie at the same time, if its just you and your partner it's easy. Just go on the Dolby site as they have loads of recommendations for placements.

This podcast is also worth a listen with Jon Herron from Trinnov https://open.spotify.com/episode/12LRG6059A1hRxY0d...