Since I’ve replaced my home theater receiver I’ve begun thinking about getting some new surround speakers. I found a really interesting article comparing dipole surrounds to monopole surrounds. This and some other evidence has convinced me that I should be looking there for my surrounds.
I also began thinking quite a bit about speaker placement. My seating is a large sectional couch if you’re sitting on the center of the couch facing the screen the couch lines the back wall, and the left wall, and the right wall is completely open.
I also noticed that most dipole speakers recommend placment at 5-7ft above the floor… This got me thinking because at a larger height I would gain a much better sound scape with people more equi-distant from the speakers instead of sitting right next to one with another 10ft away.
I’m still worried about spacing from the wall, and particularly the open wall… I’ve considered both putting up a small partition wall to help enclose the area as well as give me a good speaker mounting location as well as placing the speakers up higher and angling them down slightly like they do in the theaters… though I’m not sure if this would disrupt the wall reflexting properties of most dipole speakers.
I know some of you out there are really into audio, if you have any advice… I’m all ears…
This is kind of a psychoacoustic problem- I don’t think there’s any “right” way of doing it, just different ways that sound more or less like what you’re looking for.
I think that you could go a long way toward answering what you’re looking for by doing quick mock-ups with cheap used or DIY speakers. If you haven’t already read Linkwitzlab.com, check it out. I built something similar to the Pluto once, and the effect was pretty good for surrounds. Original blog post here: http://jzoe.com/blog/?p=793
I eventually turned them into direct-firing monopoles in conventional boxes, just for convenience and decor considerations, but I think they disappeared a little more convincingly played omnidirectionally.
I do remember reading that post of yours once before…
I would have considered building my own but Cambridge Soundworks was liquidating a lot of their current line of speakers and the S305 surrounds (3 way, 8ohm, di-poles) which normally retail for $350 a pair were on sale for $100 a pair… so I picked up 2 pair to round out my 7.1 setup
At that price i don’t think I would have been able to even buy the drivers to build my own nevermind the enclosures and x-over parts.