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Fred's Setup Thread
#209369 05/26/08 07:41 PM
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fredk Offline OP
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My speakers are supposed to ship today, so its time to get serious about setting them up. For starters, I moved the furniture around on the weekend and did a little cleanup.

I also took a look at cable options. I may end up with flat cable for certain sections, but decided to go with 12 guage speaker wire from home depot for starters (~$.50 per foot).

Once I moved the furniture I noticed a few things that were not obvious from the (not quite to scale) drawing.

1. The couch on the left side will block the bottom of the main speaker on the left side if I place it 1' from the wall(dotted blue line below). The distance from the front of the speaker to the couch is 2'. How much will this affect the sound at the seating position?

2. It will not be that hard to put the surrounds directly at the side (red x below) of the couch cieling mounted instead of on the rear wall. The advantage of this position is that the left speaker will not be firing into the corner quite as much (3ft. vs 1ft). With the rear position, I can mount the speakers lower down. Are there any strong advantages to either position? I also noticed that in the rear position they will be outside the recommended 90-110 degrees off axis recommended by Axiom/thx.



I have put blue boxes for the two most convenient locations for the sub, but will do the sub crawl to see whats best.

I'm looking forward to your comments and suggestions.


Fred

-------
Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
fredk #209370 05/26/08 07:51 PM
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My RF speaker was partially "blocked" by a couch. I'm not sure how much effect it had, but, boy, did it bother me. It was a futon with an extra mattress for comfort. I ditched the extra (guests should be focused on the speakers anyway ).

Although moving the speaker out a little may make the area impassable, I find the long walk around to be preferable to any sacrifice, however marginal, in SQ, real or imagined.



M80s/VP160/QS8s/EP350; M22s; M3s.
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
fredk #209371 05/26/08 07:54 PM
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Fred, everything looks good so far. I'd definitely try out the surrounds in both positions to see which sounds best. Will you put them on stands if you place them on the side?

I think you will get better bass reinforcement with the sub in the corner behind the couch. It may be more localized in that position, especially if you plan to listen to music, but it may work good for movies. You know what I'd do? Get two subs and utilize both positions!

As for the couch blocking the speaker. . .it's not ideal, but, hey, what can you do? Sometimes home decor isn't fair for those of us without a dedicated room. As long as you get some clearance over the arm of the sofa with the drivers you should be okay. Have you thought about risers to lift the speakers up a bit?


***********
"Nothin' up my sleeve. . ." --Bullwinkle J. Moose
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
fredk #209372 05/26/08 08:00 PM
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I think for your side surrounds if you were to mount them about mid way between the back wall and beside the couch you would achieve the best surround field, it should be possible as you were thinking of ceiling mounting them anyway.

So far s the LF main, you will just have to play with it to find out how much it affects it. I have my M22s upstairs in such a positon and I haven't noticed much of an issue, then again I don't listen critically up there either.

For the sub, the back corner is probably the better place as the forward/mid wall position kind of duplicates the LF speaker situation, with the RF main sitting in behind the sub. I also found that having my sub shooting across the front of my mains didn't quite sound right in my room.


Jason
M80 v2
VP160 v3
QS8 v2
PB13 Ultra
Denon 3808
Samsung 85" Q70
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
jakewash #209373 05/26/08 08:36 PM
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I have a similar arrangement with two couches as you do. The left front looks funky, but everything sounds just fine. The tweeters are above the arm rest, so I suspect it doesn’t degrade SQ at all. I moved my 600 all over the room with the corner position as my first choice, but I ended up placing it right where your mid room X is. When the sub is too close to the listening position, I can identify where it is by sound….which is a bad thing. Moving it to the mid wall evened out LFE throughout the room.

Re: Fred's Setup Thread
michael_d #209386 05/27/08 02:06 AM
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Yeah, I don't see the partially blocked speaker as being a problem. At any given time, one or both of my M80s is partially blocked by toys, boxes, fans, the door... No problems with SQ here, but clearly I'm not the most discerning listener.


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
michael_d #209387 05/27/08 02:08 AM
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fredk Offline OP
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Thanks for the feedback.

LF Speaker
- tweeters won't be blocked
- I will have to play a bit with couch positioning to see if it affects anything.

Surrounds
- no stands, it will be wall or ceiling mount
- I will probably get a cople of construction grade 1x4s I can wedge in position to try them behind and beside to see whats best

Sub
- why stop at two? sigh...
- I may actually attempt a DIY since I like to build stuff but that won't be for a while.

That brings me to another setup item: level matching. Most folks seem to use the Radioshack spl meter and there are correction charts for it, but its not available here in Canada any more. The source carries a Scorsche meter, but I don't know if there are any correction charts for it.

Also, having done the 'clap test', I know have a very 'live' room and may end up wanting to quantify that a little. I have seen suggestions on hometheatershack.com for using a full range mike (30Hz-10kHz I think) to see what frequencies are boosted by the room. Has anyone taken this approach?

I got an email on Friday saying my stuff would ship Today, but have not received an email confirmation as of 3:45pm. Its a good thing I have stuff to keep me occupied for the next couple of days.

Its off to home depot tomorrow for lumber and wire. I still need to find an area rug too.


Fred

-------
Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
fredk #209388 05/27/08 02:24 AM
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Eh, I wouldn't stress on the correction charts; just leveling the channels is really important, and you'll be doing that with pink noise anyway.


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
Ken.C #209389 05/27/08 02:26 AM
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fredk Offline OP
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How do you level match (or equalize with a bfd down the road) a sub with an spl meter that is not accurate below 100Hz??


Fred

-------
Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: Fred's Setup Thread
fredk #209391 05/27/08 02:36 AM
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Eh... I just pretend it is. It seems to work out ok. I don't do any equalizing.


I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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