I read a lot about where to place speakers in a surround sound set up. All of them seem to assume that I have a room dedicated for a home theater. What if I don't. My living room is where I'll be putting one soon as soon as I get some equipment. My living room is rectangular in shape. I'm going to put the 42 inch plasma tv on the wall one side of the long rectangular in the center. When I'm sitting on a couch facing the TV, to the right of me there's 2 big windows so it's going to be hard to try and mount any right side surround speakers. To the left of me, it opens into the front door area. Behind me the wall opens into the kitchen and dining area. My question is-Do I set up the speakers in the rectangular living room area disregarding the open space to the left and back of me? Will this open area cause any sound problem.
> Do I set up the speakers in the rectangular living room area disregarding the open space to the left and back of me? Will this open area cause any sound problem.
should be fine. Surrounds don't do much work anyways, your front 3 will 90% of it, and your sub (which will hopefully go against a wall or in a corner) will supply the deep bass.
very few rooms are optimal. nearly everyone has doorways, windows and furnature in their rooms in an asymmetrical formation that does degrade sound somewhat, but that doesn't mean that you can't get great sound.
the BIGGEST problem you're likely to encounter in a room is in bass loading. if you have a sub, you can control room boom pretty well with positioning and level adjustments.
if anything, open spaces behind you would help diffuse your sound somewhat. if one side is open and the other isn't, it will affect your late echo balance a little but isn't the end of the world.
in my room, i have a couch to the immediate left of my seat and a hallway to the immediate right. that's probably even worse, especially in a small room, but i still get decent sound.
make the best of what you have. if you're getting too much slap echo, it's very easy to tame with room treatment. i bought a couple of $8 egg crate matress liners and put them on the front side walls to great effect.
if you need to tame echos, it's better to treat towards the front. recording studios have been using the LEDE (live end dead end) principle for years.
dampening around your speakers tames early reflections and improves imaging.
You may want to use in-wall or in-ceiling speakers for those areas that prohibit using speaker stands. Some of these in-wall and in-ceiling speakers have become quite excellent, particularly for the surround speakers. I've heard complete surround systems with in-wall speakers that sounded amazingly good, but they require quality installations and balancing.
Orb Audio, Gallo, and a few others make small speakers that could mount on small wall areas above the windows.
If it is in your budget get a receiver that has automatic acoustic speaker balancing.
Try visiting some retailers that may have these set-ups and see what suits you. At least get their opinions, as it is difficult to determine from your post exactly what will fit your surroundings, will look acceptable, and perform up to your standards.
Budgets are often the crucial aspect of what you can get.
Certain receivers, such as the new Denon avr 3600 with Audyssey will tame phase from reflected sound and smooth out frequency responses. But there are less expensive receivers with calibrated speaker acoustic systems (that while not as sophisticated), may well be adequate for your purposes.
another esoteric possibility to surround speakers is a multidriver speaker by yamaha that looks like a big center channel, but has software that controls the various speakers in a way that can simulate surround sound by controlling the soundwave directionality.
the reviews for it have been favorable, but i'd still go with real surrounds and left/right mains if possible.
-Rip your rugs out. Rugs dampen tone. -Throw any unnecessary furnature out. They block airflow and get in the way of yourself and the speaker. -Remove anything hanging on the wall like paintings. They actually dampen tone too. -If in a large room, move to a smaller room. If that is not possible, get a wall built to make the room smaller. -Get rid of any objects that make noise that may pollute tone - heat blowers, dishwashers, cell phones, kids/children, women, etc.