Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions 5.1 or 7.1 as well as surround placement

If you all don't mind another post from me:

As I am starting down a speaker upgrade, I realized I should maybe step back and offer some consideration.

I was planning to maintain a 5.1 versus a 7.1 (my AVR is 7.1 capable) due to the room it will be in.

The viewing area is largely against a back wall (There are some chairs to each side about midway between the backwall and display wall). The distance viewing wall to display wall is 15.5'. There is no side wall on one side (there is a counter that separates another room). The other side wall is largely windows.

Doesn;t seem conducive to anything other than a 5.1 with the surrounds above and to the sides on the back (viewing) wall.

Thoughts?

If the couch is right up against the wall you might be correct, as there would not be much room behind you to place speakers. The two speakers on the side wall, if you get Qs8's, would direct sound off the back wall.

Can you move the back seating forward a bit, or if you have a little space, you might be able to place one (6.1) or two (7.1) speakers along the back wall, and move the side surround forward a bit more.

Do you have a picture or drawing of the room?

The couch is up against the backwall. It could be pulled out a little, but hardly much at all due to WAF.

The problem with side walls, is that on one side I do not have one.

This is why I think I am stuck with just surrounds on the rear wall, thus limited to 5.1.

I just finished a very crude drawing in excel that I pasted into a jpg.

Here is a link to it

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r23/floridatacky/layout.jpg

Thanks for your help.
PS I enjoyed your website!

If you are considering the QS series for your surrounds, you'll find they are very forgiving when it comes to placement. The following is from the Axiom FAQ page.

"Where should I place my surround speakers?
Ideally, surround speakers should be either wall-mounted or stand-mounted to either side of the couch or primary listening area, from one to six feet higher than seated listeners' ears, and slightly forward or rearwards of the listening area if you wish. Axiom's Quadpolar surrounds are especially versatile and can yield excellent performance with stand or wall-mounting to the rear as well as at side locations. (see our dedicated stands)"

So, while mounting surrounds to the side of the listening location is optimal, mounting them on the rear wall will work just fine. Just try to mount them at least several feet on each side of the listening area. You don't want them on the wall behind you, directly or nearly over your head. From your drawing, I'd guess you could get them spread out enough.

Thank you. They can be mounted 3 to 4 ft outside the sides of the listening area. So I presume I am correct that my area is NOT conducive to 7.1?

How tall is the counter on the right side? I was just curious if you could mount the right Q with the supplied wall bracket to that, it would be like it was on a stand. Then maybe you could find a similar spot on the left wall.

Otherwise, if you can spread them out as much as possible along the rear area, and maybe angle them in slightly I'm sure it would work. The hard part is finding a way to support them on the wall and angle them since there is a bottom woofer on the speaker.

I know the Axiom Q stands are a little pricey, but maybe they would look nice in the corners of the rear wall facing the listeners. Or, the new Axiom Q Bracket will allow you to tilt/swivel, but it is pricey as well.

Well, your area (room size and dimensions) is sufficient for a 7.1 setup, but the window/wall locations and placement of your couch isn't. If the couch were 3 or 4 feet closer to the display, leaving some space behind it for rear mounted surrounds, and if there were reasonable locations for side surrounds on side walls, you certainly have the space for 7.1.

But, in the real world, in multipurpose rooms, we all compromises a bit when it comes to speaker placement. It's just the nature of the beast. If 5.1, with the surrounds spaced out on the back wall, is the best you can do, then set everything up, sit back, relax, and enjoy the movies and music.

Thank you for the reply. The counter is 41 inches tall. The issue is the only place opposite to it to mount the other would be at 9-10' high (that wall is bascially all
l window, so above the window) or 1' high (below the window)..

I am thinking 5.1 is the solution.

Not sure how about the WAF of moving the sofa out from the wall.

I’m not sure if something like this would work for you:

http://www.redhotcarpetcleaning.com/en-us/ez-moves-permanent-slides.html

Not sure if you have carpet. which they work well on. Never tried them on anything else and not sure I would trust them not to scratch hardwood floors.

This could give you the option of leaving the couch against the wall for normal use and pulling it out to a better listening position for movies.

As has already been said the QS speakers work well just about anywhere but I can’t help but think having a little room behind your couch would help things sound better by allowing more room for the rear soundstage to develop whether you use 7.1 or 5.1.

If you follow sirquack’s suggestion to use brackets the “Full Metal Bracket” and the “Full Metal Ceiling Bracket” both count toward the 5 items needed for the %5 home theater discount. As was already said these bracket allow you the flexibility to angle the speakers for better sound.

Good idea. I have carpeting.
Thank you everyone, I have satisfied myself (I believe) that my original thought of staying 5.1 versus moving to 7.1 was correct for the room I have.

Now what to do with those 2 other channels in the receiver,,,hmmm,,,,