7.1 speaker placement when couch is against the wall

Recent visitor email:
I recently moved and room setup has me puzzled. I have the speakers and system for a 7.1 system. Issue i have is couch for viewing is against wall, making difficult for the two rear surround speakers. What would be best placement?

Answer:
The best I can suggest is to put the side speakers about 2 - 3 feet off the back wall and mount the rear speakers over your head above the couch. You might want to adjust the volume of the rear speakers since they will be so close. This should make the best of this non-optimal situation. The other suggestion is to make it a 6.1 setup with the same suggestion for the 1 rear speaker.

In-Wall Speaker Placement

With In-Wall/In-Ceiling speakers, placement is a doubly important consideration. Here are three guidelines to follow:

• You should install your new In-Wall speakers where they’ll deliver the best sound to the area you’ve chosen.
• You should install In-Wall speakers where they’ll have minimum impact on your décor.
• You must install In-Wall speakers where they won’t impinge on existing wiring, plumbing, or HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) ducts. If you’re not sure, Find out!

If you’re concerned that you might not be able to select a good location and install the speakers to your satisfaction, call a carpenter or someone with drywall experience to help. However, if you’re handy and aren’t intimidated by drywall or what may be behind it, you’ll need just ordinary coordination and a few tools to do the job well.

In-wall speaker placement

Sound Issues

Acoustically, In-wall speakers are similar to bookshelf or floor-standing speakers. They’re subject to the same conditions rooms impose on all speakers. With that in mind, here are some suggestions.

Main Speakers: Try to put the main speakers (Left and Right for stereo; Left, Center, and Right for home theater) in the same wall of your listening/viewing room. If you can place your speakers in the long wall, so much the better.

Use the “Rule of Thirds” whenever possible. This suggests that the best placement for your Left speaker is approximately 1/3 of the way along the wall in which you’re going to mount the speakers. Similarly, the best place for the Right speaker is usually 2/3 of the way across the same wall.

Make sure that the speaker-to-listening/viewing position distance is the same for each speaker.

Remember that the “Rule of Thirds” is a guideline only. Some professionals recommend placing the main (Left and Right) speakers so that they form an equilateral triangle with the prime listening/viewing position

and from each speaker to listening/viewing position.

Caption: Speaker rule of thirds

If your room won’t allow this, don’t be overly concerned.

Just place your speakers as close to this ideal as possible and enjoy the sound.

Reflections from side walls have a major impact on your sound so try not to place your main speakers close to them. Remember that the “Rule of Thirds” is a guideline only. Try not to place your main speakers so they’re exactly the same distance from the closest side wall. A bit of asymmetry here is actually preferable.

When you take the time to place your Main speakers, you’ll enjoy better “imaging” (the apparent placement of individual instruments or voices), and more depth.

Also, remember that the tweeters in your In-wall speakers can usually (check your manual) be positioned so that they aim directly at your listening/viewing position.

Placement of Surround Sound Speakers

Surround speaker placement is challenging. If you’re using a pair of bookshelf speakers, you have two options.

If you’re primarily a music listener, place them on the back wall of your listening/viewing room but a bit closer to the side walls than the “Rule of Thirds” indicates. Make sure the tweeters are at approximately the same height as are the tweeters of your front Left, Center, and Right speakers

>>> Diagram of surround sound speakers for music listening

If you’re a movie mogul (or just enjoy ‘em), mount the surround speakers on the side walls flanking your primary listening/viewing position. Make sure they’re slightly behind your couch or chair and at least 1.5 to 2’ above ear level.

>>> Diagram for surround sound speaker placement for movies 5.1 system (without subwoofer)

Try not to place furniture between your speakers and your listening/viewing position. Make sure you can see all your speakers when seated there.

Where to place speakers in a room

Main Speakers placement

Try to put the main speakers (Left and Right for stereo, Left, Center, and Right for home theater) along the same wall of your listening/viewing room. If you can place your speakers along the long wall, so much the better.

Use the “Rule of Thirds” when placing your speakers if possible. This suggests that the best placement for your Left speaker is approximately 1/3 of the way along the wall behind your speakers. Similarly, the best place for the Right speaker is usually 2/3 of the way across the same wall.

Make sure that the speaker-to-listening/viewing position distance is the same for each speaker. Remember that the “Rule of Thirds” is a guideline only. Some professionals recommend placing the main (Left and Right) speakers so that they form an equilateral triangle with the prime listening/viewing position.

Reflections from side walls have a major impact on your sound so try not to place your main speakers close to them. Remember that the “Rule of Thirds” is a guideline only. Try not to place your main speakers so they’re exactly the same distance from the closest side wall. A bit of asymmetry here is actually preferable.

When you take the time to place your Main speakers, you’ll enjoy better “imaging” (the apparent placement of individual instruments or voices), and more depth.

Surround Sound Speaker Placement for Music

Multi-channel music is usually mastered in a studio with direct radiating speakers placed in pre-determined spots. The standard for surround sound speaker placement calls for them to be on or close to the back wall, so my placement suggestion for surround sound speakers is to place them on the back wall facing the front speakers. With music, the artists and producers want you to hear where the sounds are coming from so the best way to do that is to use monopoles (speakers that radiate in only one direction) aimed directly at the listener. That way, you can tell that the rhythm guitar is back left while the lead guitar is front center (or whatever . . . ).

Movie soundtrack reproduction is a different beast. Originally, surround sound info in a theater was reproduced by an array of speakers located along the side walls. (Still is, at least in most theaters). Thus, the surround information was not firmly placed in space – you could tell it was there but you weren’t supposed to know exactly where “there” was. Remember that most movie surround information is what’s called “ambient” information – crickets, wind, rainfall, leaves rustling, etc. – and didn’t carry any really important cues.

The whole point of home theater is to try to “shrink” the theatrical experience so we can enjoy movies at home. One of the ways to duplicate the aural atmosphere is to make sure that we can’t precisely locate the source of this ambient information. THX originally specified dipole speakers for surround use as they presented a very diffuse, non-localized soundfield. The only way to do this with direct radiating monopole speakers is to locate them so they aren’t aimed directly at you. That way, the sound bounces off of walls and ceilings enough to confuse the ear/brain combination so that it can’t figure out exactly where the sound is coming from.

Hence my suggestion that the surround speakers go slightly behind the prime listening/viewing position and well above ear level.