[Paul_A/V]

I am going to use a pair of Little V's for the surround sound channels in my Home Theater.  I need some stands for these speakers and have been looking at the models ACI offers.  The height of these stands are in question because Dolby recommends the surround speakers be above ear level.  So I am polling other ACI owners for their experiences and recommendations on this matter. 

1) Should surround speakers be at or above ear level?
2) What's a good stand to accomplish #1?


Thanks for the help,

Paul

[Mike Dzurko]

Paul:

Any chance of wall mounting? If so, either of these will work well:

http://www.audioc.com/accessories1/misc/brackets.htm

[Paul_A/V]

Mike,

Thanks for your reply.  I could mount the surrounds on the wall but that gets complicated since my home theater is made of the following, http://franchising.owenscorning.com/bfs/products/ .

Getting something wall mounted involves a call to my local Owens Corning contractor and more money.  I do however have a bulkhead above the location I wish to place the surround speakers but it's facing the back of the room.  I wonder if a mount exists specifically for mounting on a bulkhead?  Does anyone know of such a thing?

Thanks.

[Paul_A/V]

So it turns out that if the surround speakers are placed at a 90 degree angle to the prime listening position then I can mount them on the bulkhead facing the front of the room.  The prime listening position happens to be just below that bulkhead.  My original thought was to have these speakers at more of a 110 degree angle but this configuration will work out better for when I expand to 7.1. 

However, the mount still needs to allow the speaker to drop below the bulk head.  I am looking at possibly using a flat panel TV ceiling mount like the one here, http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082802&p_id=4051&seq=1&format=2

I have to measure to ensure the length is appropriate and that the 20 degree angle adjustment is enough to angle the speakers correctly.  Any thoughts on this approach from anyone?

Thanks.

[Mike Dzurko]

Paul:

Looks to me like that will probably work. When you use wood screws to attach to the rear of the speakers, make sure the screws are 3/4" long for max. holding without going through and possibly into the crossover.

[Paul_A/V]

Thanks for the advice on the screw depth Mike. 

I also found this mount which would keep me from having to put a hole in my drop ceiling.  I could mount this right to the bulkhead.

http://www.omnimount.com/pro/product.aspx?ProductId=d0ed2f20-fa15-461c-817a-766db3c9d997

This should drop the speaker below the bulkhead.  If anyone has experience with Omnimount products, please chime in.

Thanks.

[Paul_A/V]

Mike,

Just a general question about the LV's and placement for surround channels in a 5.1 setup.  Given a choice between placing them at 90 degrees or 130 degrees from center relative to the primary listening position, which would you choose?  Also keep in mind that the secondary seating positions are along the walls between the primary seat and the TV (see below where '|' is the TV, 'S' is a seating position, and '-' is a proposed surround speaker position).  There is also significant space behind the primary seat, ~15 feet.

     |
S        S
S        S
S        S
-    S   -

-         -

Edit: I will also be using this system for 2-channel and multi-channel music playback.


Thanks.

[Mike Dzurko]

Paul:

Here's a link to the specific Dolby recommendations. You want to come as close to this as possible. If I am interpreting your drawing etc., correctly, your surrounds are going to be way back compared to the Dolby "ideal" so you probably want them as wide as possible to help compensate for that:

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

[Paul_A/V]

Mike,

Thanks.  I am aware of the Dolby recommendations but I also wanted to get your opinion as it relates to these particular speakers and your experience with both multi-channel movies and music. 

So if I read this correctly you suggest the 90 degree location versus the 130 degree?  Even for multi-channel music which I have read suggestions for that place them slightly back?  Again I am trying to tap into your vast experience using multi-channel systems as well as your engineering experience developing loudspeakers for these systems.

Thanks again for all of your help.