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Thread: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

  1. #1
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    Default Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Which of the speakers available can go against wall if placeing behind AT screen.
    I see most have port on the back, I'm guessing can't place them against the wall ?
    Working with a $2000 budget for LCR, trying to fill small 12Lx10W area in basement for home theater.

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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    The HTM-200SE's are sealed and would work while bringing you way under budget.

    The Sierra Luna is front slot ported and the Horizon is also front slot ported so those would work too.
    Ed

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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Dave has mentioned that even ported speakers can be placed quite close to the wall. I think if you are crossing them over at 80 Hz, you can put them 2 or 3 inches from the wall. I can't remember what he said exactly.

    I looked into this as well three years ago when I purchased my Sierra 2 to go behind a AT screen. I'm a little bit behind schedule so I don't have an AT screen yet. But, I'm planning to put my Sierra 2s behind the AT screen. The bigger challenge for me is fitting a subwoofer behind the screen, since I was midpoint of front and back wall as placement of those. Because of that I need between 1.5 to 2 feet, which gives plenty of room, even with putting absorption on the front wall behind the center speaker as recommended by MSR acoustics.

    If I were you I would go with either the HTM 200s or the Lunas because of the smaller space. This is because the other obstacle you need to be more careful with is the distance you are sitting from an acoustically transparent screen. Accucal measured many popular screens to see if they performed as the manufacturers claimed. Seymour has screens with an ultra fine weave where you can sit about 8 feet away to be safe from seeing the weave. In their regular Center Stage AT screen you needed to be about 10 to 11 feet away to avoid seeing the weave. I would want to flush mount those satellite speakers on the front wall and then either hang or mount the ultra fine Seymour screen about 8 inches from the front wall (I think you usually want at least a little breathing room, I'm not sure why this is needed though). This way you could sit about 8.75 feet from the front wall and still have about 3 feet of space behind your couch for surrounds to give you an enveloping soundfield behind you.

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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Quote Originally Posted by N Boros View Post
    Dave has mentioned that even ported speakers can be placed quite close to the wall. I think if you are crossing them over at 80 Hz, you can put them 2 or 3 inches from the wall. I can't remember what he said exactly.
    That's pretty much it, and in my experience with rear-ported speakers mounted near/on walls this has worked fine. The only negative is that with typical baffle step compensation (something the speakers' crossover circuits do to compensate for the way bass frequencies propagate in every direction), the bass response will be slightly bloated, but this impacts all speakers, not just rear-ported ones. The main difference is that rear-ported speakers need at least a few inches of space to "breathe" (not impede the flow of the small air mass moving in and out of the port)--usually 2-3 inches will do.

    By the way, the HTM-200SE appears to have less baffle step compensation because it is expected to be placed near or right up against walls, which makes sense, although they're still fine to use on stands away from walls, too--they'll just sound a bit less "warm" than intended in the latter case. Similarly, most of us can live with the other speakers being placed closer to walls than they're designed for--they'll just sound a bit "warmer" than intended. I don't think there is a "perfect" way to do this, and designers often seem to shoot for a middle ground in this respect. I'm not sure where the Luna stands on this, but I don't think Dave was shooting for a "leaner" mid-bass sound specifically for placement against walls (correct me if I'm wrong--it's just an impression). In any case, if you're going to be using room correction or some other equalization, as many people do these days, then there is even less to worry about.


    Quote Originally Posted by N Boros View Post
    If I were you I would go with either the HTM 200s or the Lunas because of the smaller space. This is because the other obstacle you need to be more careful with is the distance you are sitting from an acoustically transparent screen. Accucal measured many popular screens to see if they performed as the manufacturers claimed. Seymour has screens with an ultra fine weave where you can sit about 8 feet away to be safe from seeing the weave. In their regular Center Stage AT screen you needed to be about 10 to 11 feet away to avoid seeing the weave. I would want to flush mount those satellite speakers on the front wall and then either hang or mount the ultra fine Seymour screen about 8 inches from the front wall (I think you usually want at least a little breathing room, I'm not sure why this is needed though). This way you could sit about 8.75 feet from the front wall and still have about 3 feet of space behind your couch for surrounds to give you an enveloping soundfield behind you.
    Good advice for optimization. The Lunas should fit nicely into the budget, and by the way, for the center I would simply use a third upright (vertically-oriented) Luna for the widest, most even horizontal dispersion. By the way, conversely if I were going with HTM-200SEs instead, then the center should be horizontally oriented (wider than tall) because, unusually for speakers, it has wider in addition to more symmetrical dispersion that way. The front left & right can be oriented horizontally, as well, or oriented vertically with the tweeters on the inside--I'm not sure which works better overall, but Ascend (Dave) recommends the latter for the front left & right in the manual, so I'd go with that.

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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dread Pirate Robert View Post
    That's pretty much it, and in my experience with rear-ported speakers mounted near/on walls this has worked fine. The only negative is that with typical baffle step compensation (something the speakers' crossover circuits do to compensate for the way bass frequencies propagate in every direction), the bass response will be slightly bloated, but this impacts all speakers, not just rear-ported ones. The main difference is that rear-ported speakers need at least a few inches of space to "breathe" (not impede the flow of the small air mass moving in and out of the port)--usually 2-3 inches will do.
    It is a bit more complicated than this, much depends on the bass alignment of the speaker (bass rolloff and Q) but this is an overall excellent post!
    Last edited by davef; 05-15-2017 at 11:44 PM.
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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Quote Originally Posted by M4rtin View Post
    Which of the speakers available can go against wall if placeing behind AT screen.
    I see most have port on the back, I'm guessing can't place them against the wall ?
    Working with a $2000 budget for LCR, trying to fill small 12Lx10W area in basement for home theater.
    Do you mean directly against the wall behind them? If you are using a sub and cross the speakers over at 80Hz can can also provide ~ 3" of clearance behind the speakers -- any of our rear ported speakers will work fine. If directly against the wall, I would recommend (3) of our Horizons or our new Sierra Lunas. Yes, even our HTM-200's will perform well

    Please feel free to contact us directly. Thanks!
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    David Fabrikant
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  7. #7
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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    I'm moving to a new office and I'll have space for speakers literally on a bookshelf that's 14.5" deep. Out of respect for the office below me, no sub. I'd like to get the 340s, but that's only 4" of clearance behind the speaker. Is that enough? Or are there plugs for the 340s like there there are for the Sierra-1s? (I'd love to do Lunas but the budget does not extend that far.)
    Luna Duo V2 LR, Titan Horizon V2, and Rythmik L22 & L12 in HT, Sierra-LXs in study, S-2EXs and Duo V2 C in bedroom, S-1 NrTs in dining room, S-1s at work, HTM-200s in kitchen. Brother owns CMT-340s and dad has a pair of CBM-170s.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Quote Originally Posted by SunByrne View Post
    I'm moving to a new office and I'll have space for speakers literally on a bookshelf that's 14.5" deep. Out of respect for the office below me, no sub. I'd like to get the 340s, but that's only 4" of clearance behind the speaker. Is that enough? Or are there plugs for the 340s like there there are for the Sierra-1s? (I'd love to do Lunas but the budget does not extend that far.)
    I've had no problems with 4 inch clearance for bookshelf speakers with small ports (less than 2 inches). I'd say go for it. If you're crossing over to a sub around 80 Hz then it really takes the work off of that port as well.
    -Alex
    PS4/Nvidia Shield --> Emotiva XMC-1 --> Emotiva XPA-5 --> Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers and Horizon Center w/ RAAL tweeters (L/C/R), HTM-200 SE (Surrounds), 2x Rythmik F12 subwoofers

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Which speakers can go against wall, behind AT screen ?

    Quote Originally Posted by SunByrne View Post
    I'm moving to a new office and I'll have space for speakers literally on a bookshelf that's 14.5" deep. Out of respect for the office below me, no sub. I'd like to get the 340s, but that's only 4" of clearance behind the speaker. Is that enough? Or are there plugs for the 340s like there there are for the Sierra-1s? (I'd love to do Lunas but the budget does not extend that far.)
    4" of clearance behind the 340's is fine. We generally recommend a minimum of 3" of clearance if running the 340's full range (no sub).
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    Good Sound To You!

    David Fabrikant
    www.ascendacoustics.com

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