Help Settle A Debate

ajzepp · « **on:** 22 Apr 2020, 06:49 am »

Hey All:

So my buddy has a dedicated home theater room that he built a few years back. In the diagram below, you'll see that it's a rectangular shape and he has some bar seating right behind the main seating. He's currently running a 5.1.4 system, but he's thinking about going to 7.1.4 with his next round of upgrades, which will also include room treatments. In the back of the room he has some pinball machines.

Anyway, he's leaning toward putting the rear speakers on stands on the bar counter or right in that area. This makes me cringe, as he has some nice depth to the theater room, along with some excellent room correction software (ARC). I've suggested that he should put the rear speakers on the rear wall (or mount them on angled ceiling brackets to aim them toward the front of the room), which will expand the soundstage to better utilize the full size of the room. I used to have Magnepan MMG-Ws mounted almost 30' from the front of the room as rear surrounds, and it gave so much depth to the surround stage that it was amazing - that's what Im encouraging him to consider, as well. Further, mounting them on the bar will be very close to the main seating, which will make them more localizable and potentially collapse the depth of soundfield.

So I need some help convincing him that rear placement would be the better option over putting them on the bar. Or, if you think the bar is the better option, perhaps you can explain why that would be, since the mere idea of that is giving me an ulcer. Lastly, if you have another option that you think is better than both, please share.

Thanks!

JLM · « **Reply #1 on:** 22 Apr 2020, 11:33 am »

Have a friend with a very similar setup, but he's almost totally ignored insulation. His room is longer and has a third row of fixed seating with a headphone lounge in the back. His entire front wall is filled with components, he can play almost any media you've ever heard of.

Is your friend trying to optimize the sound to the front or back row? If back row, I'd move the rear speakers back to roughly 8ft from back wall and mount them high, angled toward the center of the room. If front row it looks fine to me.

But I'd chill out and let him do what he wants with his system.

SoCalWJS · « **Reply #2 on:** 22 Apr 2020, 12:47 pm »

Not familiar with his speakers (dispersal pattern), but....

Is it possible to move the side speakers back a little bit so that they are slightly behind the back row of seats, then install the new speakers to the side of the front row of seats?

I don't know how often how many of the seats are in use, and I am making the assumption that the front row center is the primary listening position, but I'd have the side channel directly opposite that location, and the rear speakers just behind the last row of chairs.

Phil A · « **Reply #3 on:** 22 Apr 2020, 01:04 pm »

Quote from: JLM on 22 Apr 2020, 11:33 am

But I'd chill out and let him do what he wants with his system.

Wonderful advice. I have friends I help with a variety of things, including HT, room treatments, subwoofer set-up and computer audio (and some of them are not the most computer literate) and I'll always let them do it however it is easier and fits into their lifestyle. When I had a basement in an old house, I finished it has a room first and a HT second. That was just my preference the way I set the room up. I actually did 6.1 (and later added height channels in the front) as it worked well with the seating set-up in the room and the receiver I was using initially had 6 channels (Marantz SR7300 OSE).

ajzepp · « **Reply #4 on:** 22 Apr 2020, 02:56 pm »

Guys, the “cringe” comment was obviously tongue in cheek. Hes one of my best friends and he is asking for my advice on set up. So no need to be concerned about his theater. He’s well in control of it.