Advise on setting up a 7:1 surround system , and which Speaker stands

[admin_exported]

On buying a new house I've finally managed to persuade the wife that we need a home cinema room and have set about building a system.

The room is 6.25m x 3.66m

I've got a Sony KDL 46 EX503, Denon AVR 2310 , Sony bdp360 , Sony PS3

The wife has been very geneous and bought me a B&W 685 speaker package - but this has 2 sets of B&W 685s and i'm thinking 7:1 .

So for the 7:1 do I get another pair of 685s or a pair of 686s , and if the 686s , 685s at the front and back or , front and middle ??

Also what Speaker stands - Partingtons seem good but are only in 1 height or go for the Atacama SLs or Atacama Nexus

 

[Oldboy]

quentin66,

First of all, you lucky man!! I have been looking at this exact speaker package to replace my slightly ageing QAcoustics 7.1 speakers so i can confidently say that if it was me (hopefully soon) i would get another pair of 686's and place them in a genuine 7.1 config which means using the extra pair at the rear/side of the soundstage. The 685's being slightly bigger cabinets i would prefer at the front only for stereo music and some stereo tv and getting an extra pair of these when they will be dealing with surround duties only would seem a waste of money to me as you would want to keep the rears the same ideally so you would then be looking at getting 685's across the entire rear channels! I would get the 686's and keep the layout the same as the 5.1 and just add an extra pair of 686's...just makes sense to me!

As for a choice of stands that depends on what speakers you plan to put on stands? Ideally you would just want the front 685's on stands and the rest on brackets on the wall even the centre if your setup allows because you want the surrounds firing at a higher level than stands traditionally allow to get the full effect. Now it's obvious that with a partner most of that simply won't go down very well lol but the nearest you can get the better so if you are forced to use stands you want them as high as possible and so i would choose the Atacama stands for the extra flexibility. It should be said however that any of the stands you mention would serve you just as well so it's just a case of preference.

I hope you enjoy your new speakers....i'm really rather jealous

 

[Lee H]

Oldboy:

I hope you enjoy your new speakers....i'm really rather jealous

Rather? I'm positively green

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I have a very similar room, (5.2m x 3.5m).

I've set my system up on the long side, not across the short side.

My seating position is 3.2m from the TV which is wall mounted on the end wall, opposite the window. This leaves 2m behind me - plenty of space to put those Surround Back speakers.

I took the route of B&W DS3 dipole speakers as Side/Surround. These are mounted in line with the seating position, 2 feet above ear level.

M-1's cover the Surround Back duties, mounted above the curtain line angled down, nearly 2m behind me. You could use 685/686 in place of the M-1's.

I find, with the Surround Backs mounted further back from the seating position, the spead of sound is tremendous.

The DS3's do a fantastic job to. They really add to the cinema feel too.

Don't know about the stands I'm afraid.