Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DSP 5000 speaker stands and use as side speakers

I will be using Meridian DSP 5000s as side speakers in combination with DSP 8000s (main & center)and 6000s (rear). I gather that ideally all the tweeters should lie in the same horizontal plane, which would mean raising the 5000's about 20".

I was wondering what kind of stands you would recommend for the 5000s. Also, because of the elevation, shouldn't the stands provide some protection against the speakers being tipped over? If so, what do you recommend?

Finally, based on the advice in this forum, I expect to place the speakers about 1 1/2 feet forward of the primary listening position. In that case, have you found it better to toe the speakers in towards the primary listening area or to have the speakers face each other?

Thank you very much for your help.

Adam123,

depending on your speaker layout there are certain tolerances accepted. The acoustic center of the speaker is relevant for it's positioning (somewhere between the tweeter and the midrange driver), especially horizontaly. It would be good to start with the basic ITUR setup configuration and then experiment a little.

Sony for example used the ITUR 5.1 setup for their latest SACD demonstration as well. It's good to have a setup that works well with music and film. The ITUR 775 3/4 (4 surrounds) setup leaves some air for surround speaker placement.

Basically, it is recommended that the surrounds should have the same height as the mains, but can be higher and angled up to 15 degrees down I recall.

You can find an english recommendation called SSF1 under www.tonmeister.de in the surround forum section. Most of these setup recommendations require however alot of space many "mortals" don't have

BTW: The Meridian digital speakers should have a good sound dispersion pattern, so depending on the distance to your sweet spot you might not have to lift them up at all.

Although I will never be able to afford the 8Ks I was disappointed to learn that a different tweeter is used then the pictures show on the Meridian page. It looks like the final production has opted for the good old Meridian tweeter, known from the 6Ks, etc.
This makes them look like more (too ?)expensive 6Ks.

Andreas

[This message has been edited by Andreas (edited 03-23-2001).]

Here's the link to the english version:
http://www.tonmeister.de/foren/surround/texte/SSF-01%20engl.%20SV%20(3).zip

Andreas

Andreas,

Thank you very much. Incidentally, what is ITUR?

Adam

Adam,

the ITU-R is a branch of the ITU, the International Telecommunication Union. www.itu.int
The R in this case mean "Radiocommunication".

Many of the telecommunication facilities host "real" reference multichannel studios and are very active in sound research (for example on sound compression formats).

The paper also mentiones on the bottom various unions of which certain standards were considered and which have led to this recommendation.

Many believes are shared as well in the
EBU (Euopean Broadcasting Union)
SMPTE (Society for Motion Picture and Televison Experts)
AES (Audio Engineering Society)
as I understood it.

Honestly, I am not the expert, but the ITU recommendations are the only real international recommendations available as I understood some articles and which are even used by Sony and others in SACD demonstrations e.g. That's why the sound-engineers (Tonmeisters) have made up that paper. I'd call it excellent indepth and free advice.

One further note: You won't find the picture of the 7 speaker layout in that paper (unless they added it). Look at Richard's homepage. He posts in here. On his homepage you find the pictures as well. The 5.1 and the 7.1 pictures are underlying the same principles.

Of course this is all just a recommendation.
You have to find your way, how you like it.

Personally, I would go for the 5.1 layout and add just a single 6th channel in the center back location, if I could. Unfortunately, I don't have enough space for a single hard center back channel speaker to sound good, so I went for two speaker at a 135 degrees spread. This of course nicely fits the Meridian 7 channel system. Maybe one day they also offer the option in the software just for one hard center back channel speaker. I know, you can always just attach on speaker, since both carry the same signal in EX (you would have to add 3 db), but I don't know what happens nowadays with Meridian EZ developed for 7.1 !

Cheers,

Andreas

Adam123,

congratulation to your system,maybe sometime i have also the money for that.Currently i have the L&R as 5500, the center 5000C and the sides 5000 with Philips DSS940(dig.akt)as rears.My layout is close to the ITU recommandations,the only limit is my space.
I also tried different positions,but for me these its the best and also the most logical.
With surround speakers you should only hear the surround from the record,not the "surround" from your listening room.
As i saw in your profile, you are a music lover,go for the sides instead of the single rear speaker.With the sides you get absolutly a wider and more natural stage.Listening to music,i strongly recommend only use the music DSP mode,and if you like, you also can use for small bands, the Trifield mode.All others except ambisonic (with such recorded sources) are cinema modes,the really sound bad to my ears.
Depending on my limited space my L&R are lifted approximatly one foot(32 cm).Comparing
the sound with the speakers on the floor,its a real improvement for the bass and the clearity of the music.As the 5500 have a "little" weight i constructed my own stands.
Its a 0,5 inch(12mm)bowed iron sheet.The shape looking from the side, looks like the letter U,but turned 90 degree.
The short(one inch)part have to be mounted to the wall,otherwise its not very stable.
The long(2 inches)part lays on the loor,on the other side is the speaker mounted with screws in the bottom threads (instead of spikes).With this stand the 5500 looks a lot more narrow.
Hope this helps a little bit

Robert




[This message has been edited by robert.w (edited 03-24-2001).]

Andreas and Robert,

Thank you both for your help. I appreciate it.

Adam

If you want some good cheap speaker stands, go to your local home improvement store (Home Depot in the US) and pickup some cement cinder blocks. They are only a couple of dollars each. You can then spray paint them black and you are good to go.

Stacey,

Thank you very much for your suggestion.

BTW, I find your reviews of Meridian equipment excellent supplements to the manufacturer's handbooks.

Alan