Wow. This topic has EXPLODED... Going back to my last post, when I mentioned that you were new to this forum, AlaskanAVGuy, I simply meant that You don't know *me*. You don't know that I like to have conversations or debates about things, but that I never mean anything personal by it. I was in no way saying that you were, in any way, a "newbie" to home AV. Not that I didn't know if you were or were not, but I was talking about me..
However, you keep saying "FACTS" and so forth. Let me give you this "fact" since it comes straight from Dolby's web site:
Here is the direct document link first:
http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/Assets/US/Doc/Consumer/Dolby_HomeTheaterSetupGuide_7.1.pdf You can get there by going here:
Dolby Speaker Setup Click on the 7.1 "button" since we are talking rear surrounds.
Pick your distance to your screen and it gives diagrams of what we have been talking about for a while...
On the screen with the diagrams, on the left you can download the guide (or use the first link that I posted).
On page 2, it states:
Your Environment
An Ongoing Experiment
There is no objectively “perfect” setup. All speakers, no matter how good, are bound by the laws of physics. What you can do is put them in the best locations to take maximum advantage of their capabilities, both individually and within the total system. Remember that the best sound is what sounds best to you. It’s your system. If you’ve set it up and it sounds great, you may not need to read any further.
They openly admit that nothing is perfect. Heck, mixing studios are rarely anything like a movie theater, home theater, or living room.
There are general guidelines, but guidelines are not "facts." There are WAY to many variables. Original source, mixing technician's preferences, mixing studio, sampling theater (where the director gets to hear it for generally the first time), speakers used and their designs and limitations, speaker configuration, room acoustics (oh my, this one is HUGE), the hearing capabilities of the listener, so and and so forth.
Here is an analogy.
FACT: Earlier this year the Hennessey Venom GT Becomes World's Fastest Production Car at 270.49 MPH.
Guideline: Just because it IS a fact that the car can go that fast, doesn't mean that it will work for everyone. Most people would freak out at 120MPH and day that this is MORE than good enough, and attempting to go faster would just not be worth the risks (if you have a perfectly smooth track, proper training on how to drive, a night super long straight away, the driver wasn't too heavy, etc). Therein lies the "variables" mentioned previously.
Just because it can go that fast since Hennessey designed it for that purpose of speed, does not mean that everyone should have one and everyone drives on super long straightaways with no other traffic or stop lights and the roads are perfectly smooth, and they have proper training on how to drive it...
So I would say that the guidelines from Dolby, THX, DTS, and so forth are just that. A commonly referenced *starting point* for what sounds good. That is why they give a range of degrees for placement and not "exactly 11.5 degrees to the rear of the front seating position".
Need another example? The Dolby, THX, and DTS "facts" as they have been called usually show a single subwoofer somewhere up front to the right or left of center. When they show 2 subs, they put one to the left and one to the right of the center channel again. THX does have at least 1 document floating around out there with the subwoofer directly under the center channel.
So that must be the "facts" about sub placement... That it should be exactly as shown in the picture. Well, sorry, but no.
Room modes go nuts, and any single subwoofer install really needs a "subwoofer crawl" to find the ideal placement. Add a second sub, and you can start doing some mathematical calculations and it shows that the middle of the front wall and middle of the rear wall, or the middle of the side walls is best, and yet most of the layout diagrams directly from Dolby, THX and DTS do not reflect this. They put them both up front. (Oh, and 4 subs, one placed in the middle of each of the 4 walls is the best placement location to eliminate the peaks and nulls from the modes of the room, but good luck finding that out on one of their documents). Maybe it is out there, but finding one in general circulation from one of them is next to impossible.
So, stick around and stay a while. Just be aware that this isn't AVS. People here don't go around pissing on other people trying to prove something like what happens over there so much.
I am sure that I will get some negative response. That's fine... I think that this thread has gone down a dark tunnel and really serving little purpose (my post included) so I will try to just stay away. I've got better things to talk about than coming in here just to hear that someone knows a bunch of "facts".
