Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Speaker Placement

I have wondered about the magic numbers that some of these magazines have published.

At the Home Theater Shack test they said their speakers were 56" away from the side walls, and 123" apart, so the width of the room was 19.5' wide.

They also said you so you should have the speakers a good 84" (7') from the wall. The M100 are 17" deep, so the front of the speakers are about 8.5' from the wall.

According to an expert placement guru Jim Smith, the listener should 1.2x away from the speaker as the distance the speakers are apart. So that would make your head 12.3' away from the speakers, or 20.8' away from the wall. There also needs to be at least 5' behind your head to the back wall. So the room needs to be around 26'x19.5'.

That is one heck of a big room. For the most of us who don't have room's that size to dedicate to listening, then we must compromise. If you move the speakers to being only 6' apart, then your chair can be 7'4" back from the speakers reducing the room size needed down to 20'x15.5'.

Now I wonder, if you are trying to do home theater, does the 5' from the back wall still apply, or do you need more?

Now I have almost finished my listening room. It feels pretty big, but nowhere near the numbers above. The room is 15.5' wide by 17' deep at the largest dimensions. There is a 1' jog in at the front left of the room for the electrical panel, and a 1.2' jog in at the back right of the room where the furnace room wall is.

Based on the distances of 5' behind my chair (i'll even give myself 4' for the furnace room bit) and the 8.5' from the front wall, that leaves in my room 3.5' from my head to the front of my speakers. I guess that I will have to live with far less than the recommended 7' offset from the rear wall.