LR Surround speakers, angle it?

[bmwguy]

Newbie here in fact first post..

Having just purchased the 3 340SE in front and 2 170s in the LR surround about 1 month ago and just got done setting it up in the basement, sounds fantastic BTW, I have a question in regards to the angle of LR surround speakers.

I have the 170s mounted on the Omni 2.0 but due to the weight of the 170s, Its kinda angled, so that the tweeter is directed down and toward the listen ears. When I listen to music, it's kind of direct and I believe I am hearing a lot more of the 170 than I really should.

So the questions is whether I should angle the entire speaker so that the tweeter is aiming toward the ears, OR should the tweeters be directed and face the other surround speaker and let the sound bounce above the listening level?

My setup is Denon receiver 2807, 340SE in front, 170s in surround, HSU VTF 2 MK III.

Tia,

[cyberbri]

I have my surround speakers like yours, on the side walls behind the couch, angled down and at the listening position. I just have them calibrated 2dB below the level of the main speakers.

[drewface]

i was just reading about this last night after following some links in another thread:
http://www.zinszer.com/ht-speakers002.htm
http://www.nsmaudio.com/brochures/htsetup2.html

from what i read, surround speakers do their job better if they are NOT angled towards the listening postion, because this creates too much awareness of their postion, as you said. by angling them somewhere else, the sound is dispersed more into the room. the first link there is a good, short read on the subject.

[BGHD]

So the questions is whether I should angle the entire speaker so that the tweeter is aiming toward the ears, OR should the tweeters be directed and face the other surround speaker and let the sound bounce above the listening level?

Since I have a mixed music/movie setup, I use something in between, with surrounds "slightly" tilted towards listening position. If were a strictly HT setup, I believe faced toward each other would provide a more diffuse soundfield. If strictly for multichannel music, ear-level directed towards LP. At least, this is what I learned from my limited research on the topic.

[BGHD]

OTOH, here's a response from Ascend to the same question I asked a couple years ago. There response was a little different than what I found from my research and what drewface mentions.:

Q: With 170s as surrounds in 5.1 setup, 90 deg directly L & R and 2-3ft
above listener, would I still point them directly at each other for movies
AND multichannel music? Or, point down toward listener? I'm trying to make
it good for both multichannel music AND movies.

A: This is a good question...For home theater and music, having the
speakers on the sides, aiming towards each other (at the listener) is ideal.
However, for music, you *might* be better off having the speakers at
ear-level while for movies, 2-3 feet above the listener is preferred.

[audibleconnoisseur]

What's up guys...

This interests me as well. As some of you know me already, know that I installed my 200's in-wall and angled them down about 45deg towards the LP. I have had good success and things sound really nice. I also have a corner to corner LP so that MAY change the dynamics a little!? The point is that I wrote to the guys at the link above and sent them to the prior thread that shows my setup to see their opinion. I will post to let you know when they reply. I hope it is positive but I know they should be up and forward if possible. However, I also know that the centers are usually near ear level and at the LP. My situation is just different than many so I did the best I could with what I have been given! To be continued...

[bmwguy]

Just to give everyone an update.

I decided to play around with the Omni mount and NOT angle the LR Surrounds. It's less stressful for the ears now as the sound is dispersed above and not directly aimed at the ears.

I recommend that you give it a try.

[ebh]

my surrounds (200s) are on stands laying sideways, behind the couch. i do angle them in just slightly so that they don't point right at each other, but i keep them up high and do not aim them at the listening position. (i.e. i rotate them a little around the Y axis, but not at all on the X axis, or angled in slightly, but not down at all).

I find that this produces pretty good results--i almost never localize the speaker, and sound moving from back left to back right or visa versa does so in a convincing way, with sound transitioning from a side to the middle and through to the other side. i would think it best, as bmwguy suggests, to try not pointing the surrounds at the listening position (at least not aiming it downward). i may set mine to aim exactly at each other, tho i'm not sure the bit of "toe-in" makes a big difference either way.