# Rear Speaker Mounting Direction



## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

Do you have balance controls for the speakers?


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

Normally they sit BEHIND the seating area facing forward, but if you're like me and lack the room for that then then should sit to the left and right of the couch, pointing at the couch.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Keep in mind that you need a Subwoofer for those speakers. They will not sound anything close to a decent pair of speakers. I use Klipsch RB-41 II's for my rears, RB-81 II's for fronts and a RC-42 II for my Center. Do not need a sub on my setup, because the 81's make up for it.

My rears sit aprox. 49" from the floor to the bottom of the speakers. That way the lamps do not interfere with the sound from the woofers.

The soundbar in the one pic is only for TV only viewing or when watching stuff on the Amazon Fire TV. It is the old Speaker bar that we had. We now have a Vizio E series with wireless Subwoofer that is alot better than the old one.

The only time that we really use the Home Theater is during Football and maybe a action movie. Otherwise everything is Soundbar.


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## McSteve (Dec 8, 2009)

I've got my rear speakers on the side walls, inches from the corner. They're aimed slightly down and forward to hit the midline of the couch. Sounds pretty good, for the few bits of 5.1 content I've watched.


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## 325_man (Jan 20, 2011)

Thanks for the input. Yes, I have balance control and subwoofer.


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

Contrary to the advice you've been given here:


In the ideal set up of a 5.1 system the rear speakers, *according to Dolby Labs*, should be placed on the side walls, directly alongside the main seating area, and directly facing each other, approximately one foot below the ceiling height.


Let the flames begin.:vs_music:


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## ddawg16 (Aug 15, 2011)

ktkelly said:


> Contrary to the advice you've been given here:
> 
> 
> In the ideal set up of a 5.1 system the rear speakers, *according to Dolby Labs*, should be placed on the side walls, directly alongside the main seating area, and directly facing each other, approximately one foot below the ceiling height.
> ...


I agree :drink:


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

ktkelly said:


> Contrary to the advice you've been given here:
> 
> 
> In the ideal set up of a 5.1 system the rear speakers, *according to Dolby Labs*, should be placed on the side walls, directly alongside the main seating area, and directly facing each other, approximately one foot below the ceiling height.
> ...


The standard is actually 2' max above the person's ears for the rears.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

ditto


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

While it's true that sometimes the room won't allow for the proper speaker location, the ideal set up is not as so many here describe. Fact is though, those locations are the absolute worst.

Even Dolby Labs understands the ideal situation isn't always available, and as such, states that in lieu of the side wall locations, the next best location in on the floor, behind the viewing area, facing up.

At NO point has Dolby Labs ever specified having the surround speakers aimed at the viewing area, as the surround speakers are not be "heard", but to provide "fill" (for lack of a better term). 

What you don't want is to have the viewer distracted by sound coming directly at them from any speaker other than the center channel. if you are listening to one of the rear speakers, you are not focused on the picture, and that is not the way the system is designed to work.


I believe we've all been down this road before, so I'm leaving this thread to the unknowing now..


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## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

ktkelly said:


> At NO point has Dolby Labs ever specified having the surround speakers aimed at the viewing area, as the surround speakers are not be "heard", but to provide "fill" (for lack of a better term).
> 
> What you don't want is to have the viewer distracted by sound coming directly at them from any speaker other than the center channel. if you are listening to one of the rear speakers, you are not focused on the picture, and that is not the way the system is designed to work.


Exactly. Rear channels are for background noise, not for direct listening. The last thing you want to do is aim them at your seating position directly.

Think of it like ambient lighting. If you wanted ambient light in a room you wouldn't shine the light into your eyes.


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

TheBobmanNH said:


> Exactly. Rear channels are for background noise, not for direct listening. The last thing you want to do is aim them at your seating position directly.
> 
> Think of it like ambient lighting. If you wanted ambient light in a room you wouldn't shine the light into your eyes.


Ummm, no.
Normal light comes from an ambient light which is why it's important to place them properly. The placement has to be correct in order to turn that normal light into "ambient light"

A rear channel is different. It's not normal "front end" sound coming from rear speakers. It's a specific rear sound track which has been prerecorded specifically as a rear sound track. For example you don't need to do little tricks like turn the speakers away slightly to weaken the higher frequencies because they have been recorded weaker to begin with.


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## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

Bob Sanders said:


> Ummm, no.
> Normal light comes from an ambient light which is why it's important to place them properly. The placement has to be correct in order to turn that normal light into "ambient light"
> 
> A rear channel is different. It's not normal "front end" sound coming from rear speakers. It's a specific rear sound track which has been prerecorded specifically as a rear sound track. For example you don't need to do little tricks like turn the speakers away slightly to weaken the higher frequencies because they have been recorded weaker to begin with.


It's not about strong vs weak, it's about directionality. The idea is that you're not supposed to know exactly where it's coming from.

Pretty much every home theater setup guide worth its salt will back up this idea, it's not like I made it up for fun.


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## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

TheBobmanNH said:


> It's not about strong vs weak, it's about directionality. The idea is that you're not supposed to know exactly where it's coming from.


 Directionality is (partly) about weakening higher frequency sounds (they are very directional).

Again, rear sound tracks are SPECIFICALLY recorded to be rear sound tracks (echoes, duller sound, weaker high end frequency sounds... etc). They are not normal front tracks which need some trickery in speaker aiming to get the proper effect. Obviously the speaker needs to placed in the right location. You can't place a rear speaker in front by the TV, but there are no issues pointing a rear speaker directly at you so long as gain, balance, eq are all properly set.

Indeed on some of the mid and higher end AVR's there is included an automatic gain/eq system which automatically sets up gain, eq'ing, speaker distance and proper speaker balance. You plug in a mic and place it in your normal seating position and then hit the start button. The system will run a series of sound tests on each speaker, (be it 5.1, 7.1, or 9.1 sound) and adjust each speaker for flat responsive and proper gain given the distance involved. Systems like this make speaker direction even less important (to a degree). If you change a speaker's position or direction then run the sound test again and the system will automatically adjust for the new position.


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