Are dipoles feasible in my setup (surrounds 5.1/7.1sides)?

I've attached my living room layout.  There is a pretty big volume to fill here.  The front wall is 30', 16' of it is part of the theater area, there is a wall (in green in the picture) that separates the living room from the dining room, however, it is only 4 1/2 foot or so high.  At the very end of this wall, where it opens for a walk through, is a piller about 8" x 8" that goes all the way to the ceiling (10' high).  

 

Currently I'm using cheap direct radiating speakers, on stands that just barely clear the height of the couch (34" to the top of the couch).  I've been reading about Dipoles and I know you all have been suggesting them and actually I think I would prefer them, but here is my problem.  The right side surround would be against a full wall (to the ceiling), it wont be exactly 90 degree from the listening position, I have a door and a window.  The door is about 3' behind the listening position and exactly 90 degree to listening is where the window ends, I say the listening position is flush to window.  I'd have  to mount the right side maybe a couple of inches behind the listening position "null" spot.

 

On the left side I think I have a worse problem.  The side wall does not go to the ceiling, so I have no wall reinforcement (I don't know if this is bad, just wondering).  I'm thinking I'll have to mount this to the pillar I mentioned, which is actually probably a foot in front of the listening position.  I also thought about getting stands, although its hard to find something that will make sure that the speaker is above the couch height of 34", maybe a 36" stand would work and is that high enough if my ear's are level around 35-36"?  Without the full side wall on the left, and the possible disruption of reflections in the kitchen area, would dipoles still be recommended?  Would I be better off with direct radiating?

 

Also, If my surround are @ eye level or even a little above, is it still ok for me to ceiling mount the Rear Backs and aim them down towards listening (I cant really put them against the back wall they would be in the kitchen, so I'd have to make the ceiling into a virtual back wall.

Michael C -
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5 Comments

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  • 0
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    Audyssey Labs

    I think that dipoles will work great.  They point of surrounds is to not localize them.  Mounting the dipoles so that the non-driver face is pointing at the central couch will allow them to bounce sound from the front and back and give you a nice diffuse surround field.

  • 0
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    Michael C

    So even though the center couch is in the front 7'-8' of the room, with the back wall being 16' behind the couch it will be ok?  I guess it doesn't matter that the front or back wall is close/farther than the other?

  • 0
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    Audyssey Labs

    Yes, that will be fine

  • 0
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    Michael C

    Hi Chris, thanks again for the previous info, I picked up a pair of dipole, due to my mount positions 1 of them is at about 86 degree just in front of the listening position and the other one is about 93 degree just behind, I'm sad that they couldn't be exactly 90 degrees but they sound great.  I also upgraded my receiver to one with MultEq XT, it really made for a nice sound field and superb panning as well as a perfectly sounding sound stage.

     

    My new receiver is 7.2 (from 5.1) and I'm going to add some rears probably.  I don't really have the ideal setup to use the DSX front wides that my receiver can do because of a large window on the right side of my room.  In my first post you will see the attachment of my room.  If I did rear surrounds I have two options...

    (1) is to ceiling mount the rears about 4-5 feet behind the MLP on the ceiling aimed to the listening position, at I guess 130+- degrees for the L/R rears?

     

    (2) is to mount them along the back wall in the kitchen which is completely open to the living room, this wall is 13-14 feet behind the main listening position, I'd preserve the same angles.

     

    I'll be using direct radiating speakers for the rears (I think).  Unlike my side surrounds I don't have walls to reflect if I mounted dipoles like my side surrounds (I have a reflection wall on the right but not left).  I've heard of mounting dipoles flipped 90 degree so that the drivers point to the ceiling and the floor, but I don't know if that is recommended or not.

     

    Option 3 - pass on the rear surrounds and use DSX and do the front hides, maybe this will be better?

     

    Thanks again!

  • 0
    Avatar
    Audyssey Labs

    Hi Michael,

    I would vote for Option 3 assuming you can get the Height speakers up high on the front wall near the ceiling.  You need to maximize the vertical separation from the front L and R.

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