How have you mounted your rear speakers? Ear level or higher? Heared its good to go higher than ear level as give the effect of more distance and space etc. Anyone else agree with this?

Also What do you guys recomment for speaker cable? Currently renovating the house and want the rear surround sounds speakers wires built in, just not sure what to go for. Read QED Silver Anniversary XT is good. Any recommendations?

 

I mounted my rear speakers at high level as it was the only place I could put them due to the shape of my living room. Given the choice I would have went at ear level though.

 

Ear level dude and your on the right tracks with QED Silver XT.
IXOS XHS553 @ around £10 per meter also comes highly reccomended.

 

depends on your amp, mine has settings for high level ,mid and low level speakers?
If you havent go mid level, should be fine, i used Monster iirc for the cable

 

Get a Bose and job, jobbed

 

Will mount them ear level then. Can be at any level its not a problem, only need to know to get cables done right. AS im having the house rewire i just suddenly thought about the surrond sounds speakers and where to put the cable for them as would look odd having everything nicly done and then poxy cables going across the walls.

BTW i have not got an amp yet. Just getting some of the hardware in place while renovation is undertaken.

 

as for your amy get an onkyo txsr606 fackin awsome bit of kit what speakers you running?

 

Our's are ear level


Brian

 

Have not got anything for the the system yet, all depends how much money i have left Looking at the Kef 3005.5se though. Just reading on the net and some saying high up for rears and other ear level.

 

My rears are about 40-50cm above ear level, as per the recommendation from JBL. Sounds alright to me.

 

up for day times peeps

 

Right time to come and buy some cable, not sure i can justify price of QED cable though

 

I like them above ear level, i have two setups and the higher speakers sound better to me. As for speaker cable, any thick copper speaker cable will do. Speaking as an electrical engineer, please don't spend £10 a meter on cable, it's placebo effect only..

 

Thats what im thinking Rick! Any you would suggest?

Looks like my speakers are now going higher than ear level too

 

For speaker cable just use any OFC 2x1.5mm^2 cable - it's just copper in rubber ffs. Capacitance isn't an issue with speakers because all amps are bridge-tied these days. If you're burying it in the wall who cares if it looks pretty?

 

Ear level *WHEN YOU ARE STANDING* esp if you are using direct radiating speakers. The object of surround speakers is to reproduce a diffuse sound. If you are using direct radiating speakers at ear level when seated the sound level has to lowered to such an extent that the diffuse sound effects that a surround is supposed to reproduce will be compromised. Same ear level when standing rule applies to dipolar speakers. A good set of dipoles at the correct height are a very worthwhile investment.
Agree totally with Rick regarding speaker cable.

 

Agree with the dipole recommendation - I swapped out a pair or mono-pole rear speakers for dipole and the difference was very easy to hear!

 

also running these speakers! they really are good! my rooms not really big enough for them but still amazing all the same! and the sub is one of the best ive heard for the space it takes up! highly recomended

 

hi rhys ,

mount at ear level as per front three speakers.if you listen to a star wars type movie sound then can travel around the room and not change levels.
wire for 4 rears (7.1)most amps including the excellant onkyo output this now and especially with master audio/true hd source.
two side and two behind 1/4 of room width in

i tried several cables when fitting out my cinema room.had heard good reports of using std grey twin and earth.the type run to sockets in wall.
compared this to std bandridge and monitor audio silver cable thru monitor silver speakers.

its definitly worth the extra for the monitor cables in my experience and i wanted to be proved wrong( i.e use the cheap stuff lol )

monitor silver is relitively cheap here,i can get for e3 a meter.still cost about e150 for cables tho.

cheers
rob v

 

No offence but the above statement is utter crap. All surround amps have surround volume level adjustment that can be especially useful to balance out improperly located speakers ie; ear mounted speakers.
As I posted before a surround speakers function is to reproduce a diffuse, ambient sound unlike the LCR speakers which define the sound stage.
This is especially important with a direct radiating speaker.
Unless your speaker manufacturer expressly recommends ear level mounting (very very few) they should be mounted between 5ft and 7ft off the floor FACT.
The thesis for my recording arts masters degree was on surround system design btw.
If you want to hear Stars wars AS it should be heard buy a THX system and get it properly installed but many dont want to blow 5k on an amp and speakers. Even the most modest home cinema setup can benefit from correct speaker placement.

 

Do you think this cable would be ok for a budget?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...link:middle:uk

 

my rears are about 5 ft up, not really because i know what i am doing, but when i had them at ear hight they where over powering for the person in the seat by them, then moved them to the top of the wall, but sounded too distant (if that makes sense) so brought them down to about 5ft and sound just right

 

Will see how they look at celiling hight i think.

Anyone got any opinions on the above wire?

 

at the other house, i had a 5.1 amp with speakers at the front at floor level, the centre again on the floor and the rears about 7 feet up on the wall as this was the only places i could put them, witht he sub, again, 7 feet up the wall on a shelf as there was no where else to put it

the sound was great as the room was square and made of brick so it bounced nicely in the space

currently at this house i have a 6.1 amp running 6 speakers and the sub
the sub is in the corner hidden away and it really does make a difference where you stand as to how much of it's effects you feel, although i've not found the right place to put it yet as currently you need to be about 15 feet away to fully hear it at it's peak, even with all the knobs twiddled and adjusted on the amp as well as the sub

the peakers i've got are about 4 feet in the air on their stands

plus i've got a 4 speaker centre front which sounds goo just below the telly at ear level and i've got the rear centre stuck under the sofa which also makes itself noticed when it wasn't there as you get mroe of a fill

again, this room is square and with solid brick walls and watching hitman the other day i was pleastantly surprised at just how cinema it sounded, but i'm not sure if it was the film of the set up which made it sound so good

i use some really thin flat speaker wire which cost me about £2 a metre, but i have used around 45 metres of it, even though everyone said that i just needed to do the runs the length they were i made sure that the rears were the same length as were the fronts so i used around 6 metres more than i should have

i'll get the specs of the sub and amp and cables when i get home, but i'm sure the sub is the one from richer sounds (mordant short?) that's currelty around the £200 mark and the speakers are all sony surround's plus i think i've got a cambridge audio 540R amp

 

i have my 2 tower speakers at the front, my center speaker on my cabinet,and two higher speakers which are about 10ft from the floor.. on the rear i have 2 surround speakers in the ceiling. and my sub is tucked away in the corner.

 

i have a centre above the tv, floorstanders for fronts, rears are about 7 feet up, side effects are 2 smaller denons, still not 100% how to mount them so for now 1 is on the mantel, 1 is on the rad ... all running off a denon av receiver, speaker cable from richer sounds, about £1 per metre.
i looked at putting the rear speakers lower but it looked odd & 1 of them would have probably got knocked around.
i decided i wanted a good surround set up but still wanted a front room that was practical.

 

have a look at dolbys recomendation here for speaker layouts......


http://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/z...onsumer/71.pdf

 

It is highly recommended my most high end Hi Fi manufactures that the top of the speaker cabinet should be level with your ears when in you most comfortable listening position.

 

Utter bollocks again.
M+K, Kef, Mission, Krell and Mark Levinson all disagree with you
As does THX which is the defacto standard for quality high end home theatre.
http://www.thx.com/home/setup/speakers/side.html

Next time you are at the cinema take a look where the side surrounds are placed....heres a hint...look up!

 

surely your have to give some creedance to dolby,its their electronics are used for processing

rob v