Rear speaker distance from seat?

[Lee H]

Hi all,

we'll be buying a new house later this year and my wife has started drawing up the list of what we want from it. My first item was a living room that will allow me to set my speakers up properly, with a good equal front L/R spread and the rears set up properly rather than one being 6 inches from my left ear and the other 5 feet away and 6 inches behind my wifes right ear.

"Makes sense" she said, "how far is that then?"

"Errr, I don't actually know" came the reply.

So, my question is.... How far behind me should they ideally be so they sound fully integrated and create ambient noise rather than being massively directional and not fully part of the sound stage like they are now?

 

[professorhat]

Have a look here. There's no actual distances given for this so I think common sense comes into play, but the diagram gives you an idea in comparison to the distance from your front speakers.

Personally, with a 5.1 system, I prefer the surrounds to be slightly behind the listening position if possible (unfortunately not with my current living room layout). But it's really down to your own preference more than anything I think.

 

[fayeanddavid]

To add to the prof's comments

Positoning could be dependant on the type of tear speaker you are using, e.g. directional, bipole or di[pole

A school of thought suggests that directional should be on the side walls slightly behind you, bipoles, if possible should be behind you on a rear wall and dipoles should be either side of you

These are guidelines, a lot will depend on your final listening position releative to the room walls and the type of speaker you will use

I have dipoles either side of our seated position, neither of us sit in the sweet spot (as it were) but either side, and they work very well, although I think I would really like them just (but only just) behind us, but the room layout doesn't allow

Lot's of info out there, prof's given you THX, take a look at Dolby and DTS sites as well, very informative, and also look at Google for the three types of speaker you can employ.............all interesting stuff

 

[Lee H]

Thanks both. The DTS site contains possibly the cheesiest video I've ever seen!

 

[RobinKidderminster]

I recon most people are stuck with a settee against a back wall. Advice on this might be useful without the expense of new speakers. Like many I suspect - my rears are where they have to be.