PDA

View Full Version : Speaker Placement 340s



jamon
01-12-2007, 02:05 PM
I have a few questions about the best placement for my HT room. I am using a projector and the screen size is about 9 ft wide. My room is ~13 x 22. So my speakers will be about ~9 feet apart and I am sitting about 13 feet back for the front row. This is all from memory and nothing is bolted down yet so I am still playing with screen size, projector placement, seating etc.

I am using 340s across the front and wondering if these work well with some toe-in. I am also wondering how high to put the left and right speaker. Is it ear height to the tweeter? The center channel will be pretty low as it has to be below the screen.

If there are some general guidelines I would love to read them. My new speakers should be here next week.

James

curtis
01-12-2007, 02:39 PM
The tweeter at ear height is the general guideline.

As for toe-in, it is dependent your preferences and room. Play with it and see what you like.

You may also want to tilt your center to be pointed at the listeners.

tilt
01-12-2007, 04:02 PM
That sounds almost exactly like my room, so let me tell you what I have going on.

My room is 13 x 21 I have a 90in. screen diagonally and 340s across the front.
I sit 13 feet from the front of the room.

I use the speaker stands that ascend sells and would recommend them, they really look nice with the speakers. Generally you should have the tweeter of the front two speakers at ear level which the Ascend stands accomplish. I have a distance of 2.5 feet from the front wall to back of the speaker and 2.5 feet from the side wall to the side of the speaker. I also toe in the speakers about 12 degrees it looks like. I did a lot of listening to music on the system and this is what I came up with. I think room dimensions have A LOT to do with how you set up the system. I was originally sitting one foot back further than now; But I discovered that when I leaned in a little bit the music would sound better, the music became more of a wall of sound and the speakers completely disappeared. I tried to move the speakers closer to me to replicate what I had discovered, but it did not work so I just slid the couch up a foot. So I guess what I am saying is there is not a magic formula just mess around a little bit and it should become obvious when it sounds good especially if you are integrating a sub. Also, for my room I originally had the speakers 1 foot from the front wall, but when I pulled them out further the sound really opened up.

There is a booklet in with your speakers giving you Ascends recommendations so start with this. I then used 2 channel music to refine my setup, movies will take care of themselves since it uses a center channel.

jamon
01-13-2007, 09:54 AM
Thanks tilt

Sounds like I have a lot of playing around to do. I have never had a 5.1 system. Sounds like the center will fill in a lot when you are watching movies. I was worried about the speakers being so far apart for off prime seating positions. Now I have to just wait for them to get to me. Should be here next week. :p
Tilt which sub do you have in that room and where did you place it. I am thinking about getting one of the HSU VTF3 mk3s.

James

tilt
01-13-2007, 12:45 PM
I have been meaning to put this up for a while and today I finally got it done...check this out.
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?p=20253#post20253

Eric

cyberbri
01-22-2007, 12:08 PM
The "toe-in degrees" is kind of meaningless, because it depends on the distance between the speakers and the distance to the listening position. 12 degrees means one thing in my room, and a completely different angle in yours.

But the standard practice is to have the mains on an equilateral triangle. So if it's 8' from the LP to each speaker, then they should be 8' apart. (and 8' to the center channel speaker, so they are on an arc).

However with the Ascends, the recommended distance between the speakers is 0.73 x the distance to the LP. They should also be equidistant from from the side and front walls, symmetrical, assuming your room is symmetrical like that. The further away from the walls they are, the better/bigger the imaging is, usually.

Once you have them in their general location, experiment with the angle and position (keeping them symmetrical) in tiny increments. I personally used dialog or vocal-centric music in 2-channel to try and get a strong center image between the speakers. If the center image is strong, and you don't have any frequency response anomalies (like treble being reduced), you're there or very close. Personally I spent a number of hours a night, experimenting 2~3 nights, plus some weekend afternoons, before I found a location I was confident in.

But I wasn't aware of the "0.73xdistance to LP" formula until today, so I guess I'll just have to experiment some more. I use the Ascend stands, with spikes and disks underneath the spikes for the carpet, so I can take off the spikes, leave the disks, and slide the towers around on the carpet.