Dolby Atmos Speaker Placement With Couch on Back Wall

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Oct 17, 2002

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• #1

Hi All,

I'm working on setting up my home theater in the basement of my new house. I'd like to have my couch flush up against the back wall to save space and open the room up.

I already have a reasonably nice set of Polk surround speakers but I have a dilemma. They're larger. 6.5" drivers iirc.

If my couch is flush against the wall, and I hang these on the wall, they'll actually be pretty much right over your head, not behind you.

I'm considering buying in-wall speakers. I think it would look better. But that said, would it be better to have them in the wall, or mounted above the couch in the ceiling, facing down?

Here's a layout of what I'm working with. The triangles are the sound waves coming from the speakers. =)

here's the layout with the surround sound speakers mounted to the walls.

Thoughts? Just mount my speakers on the wall and deal with them being overhead and not really behind the listener?

Buy in-wall/ceiling speakers and put them in the wall right behind couch? Even though they'd be close, they'd at least physically be behind the listener.

Or put them in the ceiling, overhead facing down?

Dec 12, 2001

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• #2

I'd mount them on the wall and angle them toward the MLP a bit. See how that works. I have a similar setup in the living room and I did in wall speakers with the tweeters angled toward the MLP and it works ok, but it's not ideal. If you can get the drivers pointed toward the MLP a bit then you'd get more sound. It's a common problem to try building a HT around an existing room without doing things like pulling the couch out from the wall etc.

Oct 17, 2002

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• #3

MLP? Middle Listening Position?

Jan 2, 2014

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Oct 17, 2002

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• #5

I could possibly build two shelves, mount them on the wall to the sides of the couch about ear level, and set the surrounds on them facing in.

• #6

What are those left and right lines? Are they real walls? If so, mount them there?

• #7

+1 If your doing 5.1 then the speakers should be on the side walls. If you were doing 7.1 you could add speakers in the ceiling above the couch.

• #8

This. Rear surrounds are 7.1, 5.1 they need to be to the side. I have a similar set-up to yours and my surrounds as bookshelves on stands on the sides of the couch about a foot above ear level.

+1 If your doing 5.1 then the speakers should be on the side walls. If you were doing 7.1 you could add speakers in the ceiling above the couch.

Before you do in ceiling for side or rears make sure you have no desire for Atmos/DTS-X down the line.

• #9

I could possibly build two shelves, mount them on the wall to the sides of the couch about ear level, and set the surrounds on them facing in.

As others suggested, mount them on your side walls. You could move out your front two channels width wise a bit, and set your speaker distances correctly in your AVR or use the built in room calibration software(MultiEQ, Audessey, whatever). If you get rear speakers at some point just kick the couch out a foot and mount them behind the couch on the wall.

Oct 17, 2002

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• #10

The problem is that much of the space in the pic is already spoken for. I just didn't include it in the pic. Also, the wall on the right side isn't a wall.. it opens up into another part of the basement so I don't actually have a wall to the right to use.

• #11

Speakers need to be on the side pointing in. That is how a proper 5.1 system is setup. Buy stands and place speakers on them. Or buy ceiling / wall mounts and small speakers that can attach. angle them down towards listening area but mount them to the right and left side of listening area.

I have a 7.2 system in my HT room and I use these to mount all surround speakers to the walls.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WN1GOW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Last edited: Oct 26, 2016

Dec 12, 2001

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• #13

MLP? Middle Listening Position?

Main listening position. Basically the center of where you will sit.

Dec 12, 2001

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• #14

It is acceptable both ways for 5.1. It just doesn't allow expansion to 7.1

• #15

I have my rear surrounds mounted on the back wall, pointed down and in towards the MLP. The speakers are off to the sides however, not directly over the couch. I also have the couch flush against the back wall. Is it ideal? Not really. Does it provide a good home theater experience? Yes it does. That's enough for me and my family. In an ideal world you can get everything placed exactly in the right place. Things are rarely ideal.

• #16

I've seen some nice in wall speakers with adjustable tweeters that can be aimed. Maybe installed in the rear wall at back of couch with tweeters aiming at listening position would do the trick.

• #17

It is acceptable both ways for 5.1. It just doesn't allow expansion to 7.1

Yeah normally in a 5.1 setup the rear speakers are off the the sides and slightly behind the listening position and aimed at the listening position. That is a pretty standard layout.

Dec 12, 2001

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• #18

Yeah normally in a 5.1 setup the rear speakers are off the the sides and slightly behind the listening position and aimed at the listening position. That is a pretty standard layout.

The change in thinking came when we moved to 7.1 surround where you had rear surround channels added to the mix. Obviously things had to change. Now if someone was going to move to 7.1 from a 5.1 setup with the surrounds behind the MLP they have to change the wiring so the speakers behind the listener are in the rear surround terminals. Back when there was DTS-ES and DD EX with the extra 1 speaker it was normal to see three speakers lined up across the back similar to the picture below.

I've seen some nice in wall speakers with adjustable tweeters that can be aimed. Maybe installed in the rear wall at back of couch with tweeters aiming at listening position would do the trick.

I have a setup like that in the living room but I feel that having bookshelf speakers toed in a bit toward the MLP would give a fuller sound. My game room is like that and it's much better. Though I use a 5.1.2 Atmos setup in the game room.

• #19

Lets face it. Surround speakers don't have to do much. Mostly effects and ambient noises. i have a dedicated HT room with a 7.2 surround system. My surrounds are right where they should be at the side of the theater seating and slightly back with the rear channels on the rear wall directly behind the seating.

Feb 23, 2005

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• #20

Not sure which model Polks you have, but if theyre direct radiating I would sell them and get a pair of dipole/bipole (FXiA4 or A6) and mount them on the wall. Running in dipole will be much more diffuse than direct radiating, and reduce localization quite a bit.

Im speaking from experience as I had a similar setup many years ago.

• #21

Not sure which model Polks you have, but if theyre direct radiating I would sell them and get a pair of dipole/bipole (FXiA4 or A6) and mount them on the wall. Running in dipole will be much more diffuse than direct radiating, and reduce localization quite a bit.

Im speaking from experience as I had a similar setup many years ago.

Yeah he's right. When running a 5.1 system those type of speakers work really well. More so in the OPs situation.

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Dolby Atmos Speaker Placement With Couch on Back Wall

Source: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/surround-speakers-when-couch-is-flush-against-the-wall.2489880/

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