Two surround sound questions?

Question

I read a 5.1 speaker system has to be set up like this:
http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Product%20Reviews/Pics/5.1%20Sound%20system.gif

But my room isn't set up to have the speakers on the left and right of me. It's too big. So the walls are too far away and I don't want to get extensions and it might be too far anyway. My first question is will it matter if all the speakers are in front of you and not set up properly like in the picture above? Will it still be better than regular stereo sound?

Answer 1

doesnt really matter u can spread it out the main thing is that the center speaker should be in center and nothing else matters here is a example

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/articles/hccarticles/techarticles/200201NextFrontier/200201NextFrontier_3.jpg

the thing on the extreme left is the subwoofer u can also place it there hope this helps

Answer 2

A WORTHY QUESTION!

There are some fairly hard rules when it comes to accurate surround sound reproduction. The reason you must have sat least the front left speaker to the left of your video screen and the right one to the right of it (and the center speaker either directly below or above the screen) is so when a character/car/UFO exits screen left, the sound will follow suit.

Otherwise, what's the point...any other way is going to severely detract from the entertainment experience.

The whole purpose of correct speaker placement is to reproduce what the film's director intends for you to experience.

When you can come close to reproducing that intent, then something magical can happen: The suspension of disbelief (or SD).

SD is equal to entertainment. It is that magic moment when you forget you're in front of your TV at home and you're suddenly caught up in the action/adventure/mystery/love story/comedy/documentary. YOU ARE THERE.

Proper speaker placement PUTS YOU THERE where you can experience SD.

MY ADVICE: it would be better to skip the use of surround sound speakers altogether, and just use the front 3 (+ the subwoofer) if you can't place the rear speakers where they need to go.

Your supplied drawing (thank you) shows one of the several fine positions to place the surround speakers. The other is behind you, to the left and right, facing the screen (or at the back of your head actually). The other spot is directly above your head position and pointing down. If you can't do any of these, just leave them disconnected (making sure the wires aren't even hoked up to the surround receiver) .

ALSO kind of important if you can do it: tell the receiver that you're not using rear speakers. There is likely a menu setting for this in the receiver if you can find it. By letting the receiver know, it can adjust will often simulate some surround sound signals by inserting them out of phase into the main left and right front channels. Then if you close your eyes and listen, its amazing how much it can sometime seem liker you hear sound coming from behind you.

That is better than stacking the surround speakers on top of or near the front ones. That won't sound any good at all.

Answer 3

The rules aren't so strict as a previous answerer seems to suggest. Yes they are so strict for some professional setting up sound for someone's home, but here's what i have to say:

It's your house, so you can put the speakers wherever you want. But generally, the rear speakers aren't very loud, and so if they're more than a few feet away, you won't hear them at all. If your system has an adjustment on it for distant speakers, or something like that, you may be able to adjust for it. But you can also put them somewhere behind you. If need be, you can run the wires through the attic and hang the speakers.

It won't really matter if the speakers are in front of you, but you won't get the full experience of real surround sound, and it will be slightly better than regular stereo, because it will seem "wider" to you.

Answer 4

I have lg home theater with 5.1 surround system. So far that i knew if you put all the speakers in the front (asuming the left and right for rear is put in a line up with the front speakers). you will slightly hear the different but not as good as if you put the rear (right and left) speakers were they suposed to be. and i dont know with other product but in my system you can set the volume on each speakers, so even with large distance it will make sure you hear them. For example the front is only 1 meter but the rear speaker have 3 meter from the center point ( this is you in the middle), so set up the rear speaker volume higher than the front speakers.

Trust me you will know the diffrent, there also some kind of a test program on the system, try that to make sure the system is set to it's full potensial with the room condtition.

Hope it's help...

Answer 5

Hi.First of all throw the rules out the window ,you do not need them !There are no two rooms exactly the same and a lot of people do not understand the laws of acoustics. What is the shape of your room ? If it is rectangular,where do you sit.At your seating position are you closer to the side walls or are you closer to the wall in front of you?Are you closer to the front speakers than where you would put the rear speakers ? If you put the surround speakers behind you would they be closer to you than if they were at the side.If that is the case then put them behind you.You should be able to control the volume of the surround speakers to make them louder than normal if they are further away.How far from the walls are your two front left and right speakers.I presume you have your TV midway between the two front left and right speakers (unless you are using a projection screen). Sorry for all the questions but it is necessary for me to help you with a solution.

EDIT :Here is a bit of info.on speakers in a home theater system.The more speakers you have the worst sound you will get. No i know that must sound ridiculous to you because without extra speakers how can you experiance surround sound. Well here is the reason why.Each ear heres the sound from all the speakers.So if you have 5 speakers(front left center front righ left rear and right rear) your ears receive 10 sound arrivals.In a real life situation you only ever hear 2 sound arrivals at any one time,one at the left ear and one at the right ear.If you are at a concert seated say 10 rows back from the stage in the center of the auditorium and someone is playing the violin left of center stage,the direct sound of the violin arrives at your left ear first followed by the sound arriving a fraction of a milisecond later to your right ear. Your ear brain mechanism tells you the location of the violin without you turning to look at it.When the violin is recorded in stereo it is recorded in two channels, stronger in the left channel and weaker in the right and that tells us that the sound of the violin is to the left of center between the two stereo speakers.But what happens is the sound of the violin from both speakers goes to both ears and we hear 4 sound arrivals of the violin instead of 2 as in real life,The ear brain mechanism cannot unscramble the 4 sonic arrivals properly.So in home theater speakers of 5.1 we hear 10 sound arrivals which confuses the ear brain mechanism even more and although you are getting sound all around the room it is nothing like it would be in real life.Even at the Cinema we have the same problem but because a Cinema is many times larger than our own room the effect is not as noticible and sounds much better.

Answer 6

well if you put all the speakers in at the front you wont hear the surround of the rear you'll just hear the fronts and some music if your room is to big then put the speakers in your listen position not far away and if you like what you hear with all the speakers in front of you well thats your answer ,let your ears decided

Answer 7

a million.) specific you will hear the effect, however the wide-unfold relies upon on how the action picture is formatted. case in point, a action picture it particularly is formatted in DTS(digital Theatre Sound) will sound outstanding on a embody sound device: see rapid and livid for a first-rate occasion. a wide-unfold 5.a million embody sound format will sound super too, however the little issues won't stand out somewhat as plenty. 2.) employing an optical cable over an RCA cable is like listening to a CD rather of a cassette tape: The sound is plenty purifier and crisp. My feeling is why spend each and all of the money on a embody device and skimp on the cables? I no expert, yet i'm hoping this helps

Answer 8

the picture shows the surround speakers in their most forward position - ideally they should be a few feet above and behind you you will not get much effect from them that way!

Answer 9

It sounds like the problem is that the leads are not long enough?

If so You dont have to set them up oin the walls, if you watch tv on your bed (or PC or whatever your doing) set them around your bed, or if your watching it on your desk set them around your desk.