Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Derivative Thread on Rear Speaker positions

George,

I'm envious. Question: it looks like your rear speakers are about even with your sitting position rather than behind you. My sofa is, like yours, against the rear wall so I was thinking of putting my rears in the ceiling over the corners of the sofa. But I could probably get a couple of stands behind the end tables and have a rear set up similar to yours. How do the rears work?

Ken

I created a new thread so not to clog the photo thread.

My sofa is about 1 ft off the back wall. So the rears are ever so slightly behind. This is whay it's difficult for me to do 7.1. But for 5.1 I love them in this position. Independent of the quality of rears, sitting up against the back wall is considered bad. One foot isn't considered good either but it is an improvement.

Thanks George. I can probably keep within a WAF and move the sofa a foot or so forward. I have a pair of M30's and a couple of Target stands doing nothing so I'll give it a try.

Ken

they are not Rears, they are Surround! check that link, it has placement and height tips.
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout.html

There are actually no such things as rear speakers by Dolby's definition. There are either Back (for 7.1) or Surround (5.1 and 7.1).

The term Rear, can be given to IMHO the rear most speakers, whether it is the Back speakers in a 7.1 config, or Surround speakers for a 5.1 system. In Meridian terminology, Rear is used for the Dolby designated Surround speaker in 5.1 configuration or Dolby designated Back for 7.1 configuration. When in 7.1, Meridian use the term Side for the Dolby designated Surround speaker.

Hi,
This is an interesting thread as I have just installed my new Meridian P330W speakers as rears.

They are flat against the wall and are approximately 2.3 meters appart and placed directly behind the sofa. My seating position is 2 meters in front of the back speakers and 2.7 meters in front of the front speakers.

I was expecting to be blown away with the sound compared to my KEF egg rear speakers before. However I have not been so pleased. This could be a combination of a few things. My previous speakers were only 0.6meters from my ears in the previous set up and I used to hear a lot of effects. I tend to loose these effects with the new placement. I'm not sure if the speakers are placed too far back. I have turned up the output db in the config program. This helps a bit as I can definitely hear more. The room also needs some more soft furnishings as at the moment there is a lot of hard surfaces around.

I was just wondering if any one has experienced the same problems? and if anyone has any tips I could try to help improve the sound. Perhaps in the configuration program?



Kind Regards,



Carl

My M30's are on the side walls facing in to the seating position, which is on a Sofa on the back wall. (I use wall brackets, Car Boot Sale �2.00, Bargain!!)

They are a little above ear height as a practicle consideration. They sound great, you just dont notice them with good sound mixes.
You would notice if they were not there. Just like a sub really.

Most of us are not lucky enough to have the perfect room, but Meridian kit makes placement as easy as it can be to get a good sound. IMHO

Cheers, Chris

Carl, it sounds like you will need to readjust yourself to hearing a better presentation than you had previously. The rears should be calibrated to deliver the same volume at the listening position as the front speakers. No more, no less. Then it's down to the soundtrack mix to deliver any rear effects that you will hear. Try to ensure that your rear speakers have a clear shot at your ears too and are not blocked by seat backs. Also, if possible angle the speakers to fire directly towards the listening position.

Cheers,

Mark

I switched from dipoles mounted high and forward to direct firing at ear level almost directly to the sides (slightly rearward) they were also of course calibrated.

The difference in both music and movies is VERY different.

So I can understand someone wanting to adjust levels to compensate.

The directionality towards the listener is HUGE for the same level of calibration. THX may feel my dipole setup was more accurate for movie presentation in a home, but I love the way I have it setup now for movies and music.

It probably is more sensitive listener position (which is part of THX goal to minimize). But the sweet spot sounds great.

If I remember correctly, dipoles were originally used for dolby pro logic type setups where there was no real discrete rear information? Their job was to throw a wall of sound to envelop the listener. With Dolby Digital and other similar soundtracks the rear speakers are now discrete sources and as such don't work so well with dipole.

Mark

I subscribe to the "all speakers must image properly" theory and thus dipoles or diffuse soundfields are a no-no. My "rears" are at ear level about 1M behind the listening point.

Excluding a subwoofer, each adjacent pair of speakers should be capable of making a good stereo image on their own. (i.e. For 5.1 the front right and "rear" right should allow a side image.)

This setup is suited for both discrete DVD-A music and DVD-V DD/DTS film soundtracks. I wouldn't go overboard with Dolby's recommendations as they are more film related.

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for the tips Mark!! well appreciated!

I can't unfortunately rotate the speakers so they toe in toward my listening position as they are designed to be flat on the wall. These P330W speakers do have a ribbon tweeter on the unit though.

I am getting used to the different type of sound they produce. The sound is not so "obvious" a pal was over the other day and a movie was going at a low volume and there was something going on with police sirens. He got up and started to look out of the window to nose at what was going on. I just smiled to myself as he was totally fooled by the sound. The sound is a lot more understated as to where it is coming from. What I mean is that in my old set up it was obvious that the sound was coming from this or that speaker.... With the M speakers you just hear the sound. Sometimes it isn't obvious as to exactly where it came from. It really helps now I have a few more soft furnishings around.